Fields: Democrats Like Me Considering Crist
BY SAM FIELDS
Guest Columnist
With Gov. Charlie Crist’s decision to run as an Independent, I am now one of hundreds of thousands of Florida Democrats who are now not sure how they will vote in November.
Democrats like me– not Teabaggers — will decide who will be Florida’s next U.S. Senator.
Along with being Democrats, we are charter members of the A.B.M. CLUB — Anybody But Marco. We will vote for the candidate that we believe will be able to beat Marco Rubio.
The latest pole has it 38% Charlie Crist, 34% Marco Rubio, 17% Kendrick Meek and 11% undecided.
I suspect those numbers will fluctuate between now and October, when the 11 Percenters like myself will start to make their decision.
Nothing would shore up the election more for Crist than Meek dropping out of the race. The 11% along with the lion’s share of the Meek vote would go to Crist.
Enter the key player–President Barack Obama.
He is the only person who could arm twist Meek to drop out of the race without upsetting Florida’s Black voters.
The best thing Crist has to trade is to promise Obama not caucus with the Republicans once elected. With the Democrats certain to lose some seats in the Senate, that promise could decide who controls the Senate in 2011.
Stay tuned.
May 5th, 2010 at 5:50 am
this is getting bad, sam i agree with you again from a former rep who is now a libertarian.
May 5th, 2010 at 5:58 am
Can anyone explain to me what is so great about Crist? He is a nice man, but is our state in better shape now than it was when he was first elected? Our budget problems have not been solved (and will last for so many years beyond this recession), insurance rates continue to skyrocket, our schools are continuing to be near the bottom in the country, people are moving out of the state, we have no new businesses or industries coming to the state, so many people are out of jobs, and I can go on and on. So tell me, what has Governor Crist done that is so great over the past three years? He vetoed a bad teaching bill? We need to change the complete direction of this state before it is too late, and that means voting for a Democrat. We have allowed the Republicans (Crist included) to control this state so long now and we are worse off because of it.
May 5th, 2010 at 6:05 am
The problem is Meek can’t win. No way. No how. Talk about Crist. What did Meek ever do except ride Mommy’s coat tails? He’s a looooser.
Crist is the only one who can stop a Teabagger representing Florida in the U. S. Senate.
May 5th, 2010 at 6:10 am
You have yet to tell me why Charlie Crist is a good elected oficial other than to say that he isn’t Rubio. Meek has at least done what he said he would do. You know where he stands, and his values are more likely aligned with most voters here.
We keep electing people who stand for nothing, and we get people who do nothing. That is what has happened for the past three years.
May 5th, 2010 at 7:04 am
In all respect, can someone explain to me what Rep. Meek has actually accomplished in his years as a public servant? His major function seems to be making highly partisan speeches to an empty House chamber that are also carried on C-Span.
May 5th, 2010 at 7:37 am
Sam,
As a lifelong liberal democrat, I am repulsed by what you have written here. I also cannot help but agree with you. Before I throw my vote away I would use it to vote against Rubio. The tea party is a fad, and I hope that all the politicians who have cravenly sucked up to them and legitimized their rants are ultimately embarassed, if at all possible, by their associations with these shallow, antiprogressive reactionaries. Florida is truly a political wasteland, nothing good seems to happen here.
May 5th, 2010 at 12:30 pm
I actually agree with many of the comments, including Sam (I can’t believe it). Not that Crist is that great, but he is better than the self professed ‘nobody can be more right wing than I,’ Rubio. Rubio has now painted himself so far right that it smells.
Anything but Rubio is the mantra, and if it looks like Meek doesn’t have a chance (and its looking that way), better Crist than Rubio.
I am still an undecided, dependent upon whether Crist is really independent or just another Rubio in waiting. What he vetos is probably going to make or break him.
May 5th, 2010 at 12:54 pm
Sam has nailed it again.
I will be one of many dems voting for Charlie. He’s gonna win.
May 5th, 2010 at 6:20 pm
What is so great about charlie Crist? Nothing… he doesn’t have a great record of accomplishment as governor – or attorney general. But he is a viable alternative to a right wing nut and an idiot. Thank you Governor Crist for giving us a choice!
May 5th, 2010 at 8:18 pm
Sam’s gonna vote for Charlie Crist? Reason enough for me not to vote for Crist.
May 6th, 2010 at 5:45 am
The Tea Party will fade, but The Beer Party will endure. The one good thing Meek has done is the Class-Size Amendment. It’s positive impact on education can be directly measured to the inverse proportion of Jeb’s opposition to it.
Rubio, Crist, and Meek…sounds like a Confederacy of Dunces.
May 6th, 2010 at 10:16 am
Confederacy of Dunces is a great book. All 3 actors who proposed making it a movie have all died too young. John Belushi, Richard Pryor and Chris Farley.
May 6th, 2010 at 8:09 pm
not only those actors, but the writer, John Kennedy Toole, killed himself before it was ever published. Maybe the story’s jinxed!
May 7th, 2010 at 12:47 am
I agree with Sam. I am also a democrat and I won’t be voting for Meek. I will vote for Crist.
May 11th, 2010 at 2:36 pm
[…] appraiser said that she agrees with Sam Fields, the Browardbeat.com guest columnist. Fields wrote earlier this month that Democrats like him will start to support Crist if they believe he is the only […]
August 30th, 2010 at 12:42 pm
[…] Columnist Sam Fields predicted here months ago that Democrats like him will abandon Meek if they believe he can’t win. The […]
October 29th, 2010 at 2:20 pm
[…] is his May column. I agreed with him […]