Charlie Crist was officially wed to the Democratic party today in a quiet ceremony attended only be close friends and family. The pair had announced their engagement over the weekend at a White House Christmas party.
Just kidding. The former Republican governor turned a Pinellas County elections office into a full blow media spectacle today that pretty much all but officially confirmed that dude will run for governor as a Democrat.
I mean, why else would his team send out a press release about it and invite just about everyone with a camera to an event in which he merely turned over some paperwork? Check out this photo on the Buzz in which Crist is surrounded by more cameras than Lindsay Lohan after a court appearance. Seems like Crist wanted all the publicity he could get.
According to The Buzz, Crist kept it mum when asked about whether he had decided to run for Gov, but did let it slip that people in the Obama administration had asked him to run. He didn't say who, but did add that the President did not ask him directly.
He also took slams at Gov. Rick Scott, particularly needling him over his rejection of high speed rail, and brought himself further in line with the modern Democratic party by saying he regretted signing an anti-gay marriage petition.
"Would I do it today? No," he said.
Then, perhaps not at all coincidentally, the Buzz also just published a "private poll" commissioned by an "undisclosed client" that showed Crist with a huge lead among possible Democratic primary opponents. The poll showed that 79 percent of Dems have a favorable view of Crist, compared to 58 percent who have a favorable view of former state CFO Alex Sink.
Of course, there's been fishy polls that have shown favorable results for Crist before. Though a poll conducted in September by well known firm Public Policy Polling showed that Crist would trail Sink
in a primary, and a September Mason-Dixon poll showed Sink would perform better against Gov. Scott than Crist overall.
If you're wondering what Crist's platform would look like as a Democrat, well, we already have that figured out for you.
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