Each of the three main contenders for Florida's open Senate seat have their charms. Marco Rubio has his unwavering conservative principals and his strong stump speech. Charlie Crist has shown he isn't beholden to his party and its fringe elements, but to the people of Florida. Kendrick Meek has a long record of legislative public service and offers a clear Democratic alternative. But have any of them had Mike Tyson as the best man at their wedding? No. No, they have not.
Yes, Florida is getting some interesting last-minute millionaire entrants into its big 2010 races. We already have running for governor the guy who hates health-care reform but ran a health-care company that illustrates why we probably needed health-care reform. Now the Washington Post reports that billioniare Jeff Greene is seriously considering running as a Democrat for Senate.
Here are some fun facts about Greene:
- He was married in 2007 at his 63,000-square-foot Beverly Hills mansion in a $1 million ceremony to a lady named Mei Sze, who is 20 years his junior. Mike Tyson, the Mike Tyson, was his best man.
- When infamous Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss got out of jail, she lived with Greene for a year.
- As of 2008, he owned five homes and a 125-foot yacht. We're assuming one of them is in Florida(?).
- How'd he get so rich? When everyone else saw their bank account dwindle when the real-estate bubble burst, Greene bet against real estate and made a bundle. From Forbes: He created "his own virtual hedge fund and [bought] credit default swaps that rose in value as subprime mortgages fell."
- Ron Howard got into a legal scrabble with him after the film director rented a house Greene owned, and claimed it was infested with rats.
Greene has plenty of money of his own, which could make for an interesting and powerful candidacy, but we have to wonder what connection he has to the state.
