Even though Governor Rick Scott has another year before talk seriously begins about his chances for re-election in 2014, there aren't really any Democrats out in the hinterlands that make the GOP quake in their boots. South Florida state Senator Nan Rich is the only declared Democrat so far, and one poll showed her actually leading Scott this far out.
But the GOP isn't worried about Rich, not really. However, Charlie Crist is a different matter entirely.
The St. Pete resident turned 56 yesterday, and the RPOF celebrated it by bashing his op-ed in the Washington Post that was published on Saturday, where the former Florida governor bashed the current one for his quest to purge non-citizens from Florida's voting rolls.
Crist wrote that "this is just the most recent example of a mean-spirited and all-too-partisan attempt to restrict access to the rolls and to the polls" here in the Sunshine State.
Instead of letting that op-ed die in cyberspace, GOP state party chair Lenny Curry released a statement accusing Crist of being "two-faced."
Why the anger?
Let's face it. If Crist ran against Scott today, he'd win easily. I have no idea whether Crist would want to attempt that – since again right now he's an independent. I have no doubt that whatever Democrats say publicly, they'd welcome into their party with open arms in 2014. And unless somebody of stature in their party explodes onto the scene in the next year, they may hope they can persuade them to join their team.
On to the news – we really don't get the whole idea that talking about trying to regulate the access to guns or ammunition for some people in this country is some out of bounds after Aurora – if you can't have the conversation now, you'll never get anybody to listen is our thoughts. So yesterday in D.C., the polling firm led by GOP pollster Frank Luntz released statistics that showed across the board, even NRA members favor making changes to our gun laws.
St. Pete activists yesterday kept up their campaign on seizing on Pinellas GOP Congressman Bill Young's recent faux pas when asked about raising the minimum wage.
And next week the St. Pete City Council will vote on language for this November's ballot regarding the St. Pete Pier, something that Councilman Wengay Newton has been arguing for, by himself, for over a year and a half. Newton says he'll respect whatever comes out of a vote this fall – he just maintains all he's wanted is the chance for the public to weigh in.
This article appears in Jul 19-25, 2012.