The big news this morning is how Charlie Crist has pulled ahead of Tea Party darling Marco Rubio and Democrat Kendrick Meek were a 3 way election held today, instead of the 25+ points he is behind in the Republican primary polling.

Even though he has previously said he wouldn't, people are speculating this might push Crist to run as an independent like Lieberman had to because he couldn't win his party's primary but is a very viable general election candidate.

Do you think Crist will do this, and will it make the Tea Party's head explode if he does because Rubio is the golden boy and a 3 way race would be far more difficult to win than a straight up general election.

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

I hope he does...if you can win the general, why do you need a party?

This is kind of what happened to Specter as well, except that he didn't join the Democrat party in order to get on the ticket. He was 20+ points behind Pat Toomey in a primary, but in a general was slightly ahead/even when everyone could vote.

If he feels he can continue to contribute to the discussion and has enough backing to get on the ballot, then he should definitely run.

This is just one of the problems confronting the Republican Party these days. If the extremist conservatives can take over the primary election they face the possibility of losing the independent vote come November. Specter saw this and switched parties. It will be interesting to see what Crist does.

Looks like Iggy's senses were correct. Crist is set to announce an independent run for Senate.

Won't matter in the slightest. He won't have the cash to do much. Rubio by 7....you heard it here first.