Charlie Crist’s launches next phase of his gubernatorial campaign. (Photo by Neon Tommy)
By Ashley Lopez
Florida Center for Investigative Reporting
This year’s gubernatorial race is in full swing.
Former Republican Governor Charlie Crist, who is now one of the Democrats running against Gov. Rick Scott, has kicked off a book/campaign tour.
Crist also made some high-level hires and recently fired back after the Republican Party of Florida ran ads that blamed Florida’s economic troubles on his job performance while governor.
According to The Sun Sentinel, Crist has a packed week full of national media events.
After months of running a largely invisible campaign to regain his old job, former Gov. Charlie Crist has suddenly emerged from stealth mode.
- On Monday, his campaign issued a web video meant to counter a video attack from Gov. Rick Scott’s campaign. It’s a blistering attack in which he says “guys like Rick Scott” caused the Great Recession.
- Starting Tuesday, he’s set to begin four days of appearances on national cable TV shows, ranging from Bill O’Reilly on Fox News to Stephen Colbert on Comedy Central and Bill Maher on HBO. He’ll be promoting his new book that explains his switch from Republican to Democrat.
- Last week, his campaign made him available, twice, to answer reporters’ questions during visits to South Florida. Facing cameras from most of the main TV stations in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale market, Crist explained he’s “excited about running for governor and I think we deserve better as Floridians than we have now” and said he’s “a happy warrior, and I look forward to the race, and I’m an optimist.”
The new, frequent Crist appearances are a noticeable departure from the way he’s operated since announcing in November his quest to return to the job he held as a Republican from 2007 to 2011. This time he’s running as a Democrat.
…Crist confidantes said they were waiting until they had a campaign infrastructure in place, which has happened with key hires in recent days; that he needed to make his first priority raising money to show he can run a credible challenge to Scott; and that everything is going according to their campaign plan.
One of the most recent hires was Jim Messina, President Barack Obama’s former campaign manager.
According to POLITICO, Messina joined Crist’s campaign “as a senior strategic adviser, providing big-picture advice as the race gets under way…”
Messina will not be involved in the day-to-day aspects of the Crist campaign. He joins another Obama alum, ad maker Jim Margolis, in the effort to aid Crist.
Crist’s campaign saw some turbulence late last year.
In November, Crist’s campaign manager, Bill Hyers, split with the team shortly after it was announced he would join. Hyers had been highly sought after steering Bill de Blasio’s successful run for New York City mayor.
Crist’s campaign blitz comes a few days after Quinnipiac University released a survey that shows Crist is still ahead of Scott 46 percent to 38 percent. Heading up to that last poll, Scott had been gaining a considerable amount of ground, which has since slowed.
The poll shows that the Republican-turned Democrat is ahead of Scott on most issues, and a majority of registered voters don’t think Scott deserves a second term.
Scott, who was behind Crist in the poll by 16 points last March, has gained ground over the past year. Crist led only by 10 points in June, by seven points in November, and now by eight points.
“Scott’s comeback…has stalled after considerably narrowing the Crist lead in 2013,” Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, said in a news release.
The election, which is still several months out, is getting considerable national attention. Since taking office, Scott has been considered one of the least liked governors in the country. At one point, he had the worst polling in the country compared to all other governors.
However, Scott’s poll numbers have gotten better and the governor has made a few changes to his policies. For example, Scott has begun funding state programs that he previously slashed—following considerable backlash.
While it’s hard to tell whether the past year or so has improved his likability among voters in Florida, Scott does have a key advantage in this year’s race: money.
Scott has been fundraising aggressively and successfully for a long time now.
Two years ago he told reporters he wouldn’t have to spend his own money on his re-election like he did during his campaign in 2009. So far, he has been right.
Scott has been raising a lot of money, which has closed the pool for possible contenders.
Crist, who announced his run fairly recently, quickly became the top contender for the Democratic nomination largely because of his name recognition and his ability to raise money.
In contrast, former state Sen. Nan Rich, who is also running in the Democratic primary, has not been as successful as Crist in gaining visibility and raising money in such a short time.