Crist will look at indie bid 'later on'

A day after vetoing a contentious teacher tenure bill in Tallahassee, Gov. Charlie Crist basked in the warm embrace of Miami-Dade educators and deflected questions about leaving the Republican party.

"I'm not thinking about that today,'' Crist told reporters at Alonzo and Tracy Mourning Senior High School in North Miami. "We'll look at that later on,'' Crist said of running for the U.S. Senate as an independent against Republican Marco Rubio.

Are you considering it?  "No, not really,'' Crist said. The veto, he added, was not a political signal. "My veto is a signal that I thought the bill was bad,'' Crist said.

He downplayed losing support from former U.S. Sen. Connie Mack and state Rep. Dean Cannon. "There's always a price to pay for making decisions in life,'' Crist said. "In my business, in the political world, you take hits sometimes.''

"The only thing that matters is the people's poll on Election Day,'' he added, declining to evaluate whether Republican leaders in Tallahassee may have misjudged the electorate's response to SB 6. "I really don't know,'' Crist said. "You know, I didn't analyze it politically. I analyzed it in terms of what I thought was right policy at the time for the people.''

-- PATRICIA MAZZEI AND KATHLEEN MCGRORY

Comments

[Kelly Cook]

Crist just proved beyond a doubt that he's political hack / mercenary. He knows he can't win the GOP primary. So he's pandering to what he thinks is his ticket to DC. Fact check: Crist will place a distant third with Rubio walking away with it. This type of political grandstanding is exactly what we DON'T need in Washington at this critical juncture in our history. Find a hammock Charlie, work on that tan, do anything, but just get out of the way of progress for Florida.

[stuntmanmike]

Cookie:

Every election is at "critical juncture in our history".

Now it is time for CC to thread the needle and go Independent. Rubio is too far right and Meek is too far left.

This would then become the race of 2010!

[MMA]

Knowing Gov. Crist for many years, I know for sure that everything he does is looked at politically. He has betrayed his friends, lied to his colleagues, and he has taken a road that can only lead to him leaving the GOP. If he does not leave, he certainly will no longer be welcomed. I could NOT vote for him even if he was the GOP nominee. He is effectively done as a Republican.

[H]

What poll are you looking at?

"...Crist has a viable option: he is running ahead of Rubio in a three-way general election, if he runs as an independent. Crist gets 32%, Rubio 30% and Democrat Kendrick Meek 24%."

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/onpolitics/post/2010/04/poll-crist-ahead-in-general-election-trails-in-gop-primary/1

[Teacher]

Thank you Gov. Crist for having the courage to do the right thing by the people of Florida.

[MikeH]

Teacher,

"Thank you Gov. Crist for having the courage to do the right thing by the people of Florida."

Don't you mean the right thing for your pocketbook? Why are teachers so afraid of being evaluated and held responsible for your work? Everyone else in the real world is. I know there are hard-working, great teachers, and if you're one of them you shouldn't mind getting payed for your great work instead of getting payed for the number of years you've worked and how good of a deal your union can cut from the taxpayers.