Is it too early to be thinking about this? Jeez, we just endured almost a solid year of heavy election coverage, shouldn't we get a break? Nope, let the speculation for 2010 begin.
Charlie Crist is in a comfortable spot for re-election. Though, Florida's economy has further tanked during his term which may provide an attack point. Problem is, if the economy fails to rebound with Democrats in control of Washington it might be a good year for Republicans.
Over in the State Legislature, expect Dems, emboldened by a new sizable lead in state wide voter registration, to make a huge push to further erase the gigantic Republican lead in both houses.
But the big story of 2010 will be Mel Martinez's Senate seat. He left a bad taste in a lot of people's mouths after his shameful, dirty campaigning tactics in 2004 (that ridiculous "darling of the homosexual agenda" charge in the primaries, and that shady attempt to paint Betty Castor as a terrorist sympathizer). After four years, he hasn't quite pleased conservative either with his immigration policies, brief chairmanship of the RNC, and support for CAFTA. There is some rumbling that he may face a primary challenge, possibly from out going State Spearker of the House Marco Rubio. Some other rumors suggest that he might not even want to run again (though he's already amassed a sizable re-election war chest).
If he survived a GOP Primary, who would he face in the main event?
Congressmen Robert Wexler, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Allen Boyd, Ron Klein and Kendrick Meek have had their names thrown about, as have CFO Alex Sink and Dan Gelber. The Democratic primary might turn into a quite an event as well.
And what about an end to the Diaz-Balart dynasty in 2010? If the demographics in Mario's district continue to change he may face another tough challenge, possibly a Joe Garcia rematch.
But maybe we're getting ahead of ourselves.
