But now the former Republican Florida governor and failed independent Senate candidate has gone on the air with one of those "I'll get you the settlement you deserve" personal injury ads:

He asks viewers to "visit me at Charlie@ForThePeople.com." How do you visit an email address?

(Via Ben Smith via Sarah Rumpf)

Continue Reading...

1. Rebecca Black's "Friday" to be covered on "Glee": It makes sense when you think about the concept of "Glee" as a metaphor for Black's trajectory: a group of teens hated by the rest of their high school for singing annoying songs.

2. Nic Cage in trouble with IRS for giving too many gifts: Oh, what, they're going after Santa Claus next? Nic Cage is just a really generous guy, that's all.

Continue Reading...

While he was running for U.S. Senate, Crist used the Talking Heads song "Road to Nowhere" in a campaign ad, but he neglected to actually seek permission. Byrne sued him, and this, apparently, was part of the settlement.

Not long ago, Crist was a superstar governor and rising star in the Republican Party. Then the "Tea Parties" happened, Crist was forced out of the party, and he lost what should've been an easy Senate race to upstart Marco Rubio.

Oh, look, Mr. Byrne has already posted his gracious acceptance of this apology:

Continue Reading...

Morrison was appealing the conviction when he was found dead in a Paris bathtub in 1971. The meeting Thursday comes a day after the singer would have turned 67.

Crist can't issue a pardon on his own. He and the three-member Cabinet serve as the Clemency Board. Approval is required by the governor and at least two other members.

The did-he-or-didn't-he debate over what happened at the Miami concert was revived by Crist's interest in the case. The surviving band members say a drunken Morrison teased the crowd, but never exposed himself.

"It never actually happened. It was mass hypnosis," said Ray Manzarek, The Doors' keyboard player.

Manzarek and guitarist Robby Krieger said Morrison's behavior was influenced by an acting troupe that disrobed during plays.

"He was just doing a mind trip -- as they would say -- a mind trip on the audience and they totally fell for it," Manzarek said.

Manzarek said Morrison was far drunker than usual, to the point where they questioned whether he should go on stage.

Continue Reading...

According to Smith, Clinton twice won an agreement from Meek, who has been running a distant third in the race with around 20 percent of the vote, to drop out and back Crist. The first time, he backpedaled after being convinced by his wife that he could still win the race. Then, after another conversation with the former president, he once again committed to dropping out -- at which point plans for a rally on October 26 (this past Tuesday) were made. But again, Meek got cold feet.

Polls have steadily shown Marco Rubio, the Tea Party-backed GOP nominee, on course to win a three-way race, with Crist and Meek splitting Democratic and Democratic-friendly independent voters. Meek's departure, obviously, could have changed the dynamic and positioned Crist to edge out Rubio. Presumably, Crist would then caucus with Senate Democrats.

Continue Reading...

Hey, what’s Gov. Charlie Crist of Florida, who’s running as an independent for senator, doing in a Claritin ad? No, wait a minute, it’s a campaign commercial that just looks like some bad idea churned out by Big Pharma.

In this epically flawed political commercial, Charlie appears on a white background -- what ad folks call "no seam" - with giant letters spelling "Democrats and Republicans" fanning out on each side of him. He promises to put partisanship behind us, and that he will combine "the best ideas of Democrats and Republicans." To make the point, Charlie allows himself to participate in a goofy, and perhaps career-ending gimmick: He rearranges the letters to spell "America." Just like an allergy-relief commercial, where a faux-sincere pitchman merges "No Sneezing" and "No Drowsiness." Check out the ad here (commentary continues below):

Continue Reading...

Continue Reading...

Last week, he said that while the healthcare reform bill was flawed, he would've voted for it. His campaign immediately issued a "clarification" explaining that he would not have voted for it.

Then, yesterday, he told CNN that he backs a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, even though he is "OK" with two dudes living together, or whatever. A few hours later, the Crist campaign "clarified" that the governor just meant an amendment to the Florida constitution. That is, apparently, the "moderate" compromise on the issue.

Continue Reading...

North, for those who've forgotten, squandered what should have been an unlosable election for the GOP in 1994. He was running in a red state (Virginia, then not nearly as purple as it is today), against a badly damaged Democratic incumbent (Chuck Robb, his reputation sullied by stories about wiretapping and marital infidelity), and in a national climate ridiculously slanted toward the GOP (it was Bill Clinton's midterm). Against any generic Republican nominee, Robb would have lost -- and badly.

But North wasn't any generic Republican: The taint of Iran-Contra and his embrace of his party's far-right fringe enabled Robb to turn the race into a referendum on his opponent -- and to win. The silver lining for Republicans, of course, was that North was an aberration: Just about everywhere else in '94, vulnerable Democrats fell, allowing Republicans to take back the House and Senate and a host of governorships.

Continue Reading...

Continue Reading...

The idea that Lieberman could play such a pivotal role is hardly new, of course. His decision following his 2006 reelection as an independent to caucus with the Democrats handed the party a Senate majority. And his not infrequent embrace of Republican talking points and candidates since then has served as a constant reminder that he might yet bolt for the GOP.

But Crist’s surprising endurance in his independent Senate candidacy in Florida -- an effort that was initially dismissed by most Beltway observers as a desperately lost cause -- has complicated the Senate outlook, increasing the chances that Election Day will not yield a clear majority party for the chamber.

Continue Reading...

A survey by Quinnipiac University of 1,133 registered Florida voters shows Crist's independent bid slightly ahead of Republican Marco Rubio. Crist received 37 percent to Rubio's 33 percent while Democrat Kendrick Meek received 17 percent in the poll taken June 1 through 7.

Both Republican gubernatorial hopefuls -- Attorney General Bill McCollum and businessman Rick Scott -- lead Democratic front-runner Alex Sink. Scott leads Sink 42 percent to 32 percent while McCollum leads by a 42-34 margin.

The poll's margin of error was plus or minus 4.7 percentage points.

Continue Reading...

A survey by Quinnipiac University of 1,133 registered Florida voters shows Crist's independent bid slightly ahead of Republican Marco Rubio. Crist received 37 percent to Rubio's 33 percent while Democrat Kendrick Meek received 17 percent in the poll taken June 1 through 7.

Both Republican gubernatorial hopefuls -- Attorney General Bill McCollum and businessman Rick Scott -- lead Democratic front-runner Alex Sink. Scott leads Sink 42 percent to 32 percent while McCollum leads by a 42-34 margin.

The poll's margin of error was plus or minus 4.7 percentage points.

Continue Reading...

Three of this year's Senate contests are poised to test the durability of this rightward movement, with the fates of Marco Rubio in Florida, Rand Paul in Kentucky and (assuming she wins Tuesday's GOP primary) Sharron Angle in Nevada set to provide a clear indicator of whether going hard right is a viable electoral strategy.

This trio has two things in common. First, they're all Tea Party favorites who have toppled (or are poised to topple, in Angle's case) GOP establishment favorites. And second, because of their arch-conservatism, they are — at least on paper — less electable than the more mainline Republicans they vanquished.

Given the climate of 2010, Republicans were staring at near-certain victories in Florida, Kentucky and Nevada. But with Rubio, Paul and Angle, these states will essentially be toss-ups.

Nominating them amounts to a high-risk electoral strategy.

Continue Reading...

Florida authorities say Greer took at least $125,000 in GOP funds for his own personal use, and they charged him with four counts of grand theft, one count of money laundering and one count of running an organized fraud scheme. Officials say Greer set up a company, Victory Strategies, and hired it for the Florida party to raise money -- and keep 10 percent of what it brought in. Greer had resigned his post in February, facing questions about the party's extravagant credit card spending.

But Crist had been a patron of Greer's, taking advantage of his post as governor to install him as chairman of the state party. Crist pushed hard for Greer in 2007, after Greer had raised money for Crist's gubernatorial campaign the year before.

Continue Reading...

The reason is simple: The Tea Party movement -- also known as the GOP base -- isn't that interested in working with the Republican Party establishment. In one key race after another, this could result in the GOP fielding candidates in the fall who are ideologically pure but electorally deficient.

The prime example of this is in Kentucky, a conservative state that never much cared for Barack Obama in 2008 and that has turned even more sharply against him, and against the national Democratic Party, since his presidency began. This, coupled with the feeble economy and the basic buyer's remorse nature of midterm elections, should make the contest to replace retiring Sen. Jim Bunning a cakewalk for the GOP.

Continue Reading...

Byrne's attorney is the same guy who represented sadsack singer-songwriter Jackson Browne in his successful suit against John McCain and the RNC for their use of "Running on Empty."

Continue Reading...

Meek launched an ambitious drive to become the first Florida statewide candidate to qualify by petition. If elected, he'd be the state's first black U.S. senator (his mother, former Rep. Carrie Meek, was Florida's first black House member) and the first black senator from the South since Reconstruction.

Instead, Meek has been a bit player in the drama surrounding the meteoric rise of former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio, who started running five months after Meek, and Rubio's takedown of Florida's once unsinkable governor, Charlie Crist.

Polls show Meek stuck in the teens in a three-way race and losing significant Democratic support to Crist. Some Democrats are starting to whisper -- or say outright -- that it might be time to abandon Meek and back the well-known, well-liked governor, in order to prevent the far-right Rubio from winning in November.

Continue Reading...

This year, Democrats could be positioned to engineer a different switch, this time in Florida, where the presumptive Democratic nominee, Rep. Kendrick Meek, has fallen far behind in a three-way race with Republican Marco Rubio and independent Charlie Crist. Democrats could use the same direct, high-level pressure that forced Torricelli's hand to usher out Meek in favor of Crist’s independent bid -- a move that would give Democrats their best chance of knocking off Rubio. 

To be sure, the circumstances in Florida this year aren't quite what they were in New Jersey in '02. Unlike Torricelli, Meek is not weighted down by immense baggage. And the four-term congressman has deep ties to the national party (he's one of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's favorites), not to mention a solidly liberal record pleasing to the Democratic base.

Continue Reading...

On last night’s "30 Rock," Alec Baldwin's character, the smooth executive Jack Donaghy, told a story about how his mentor in business had taught him how to make love on a pile of money without getting paper cuts. I mention it because you get the sense from Greene that this is the kind of thing he practices.

Continue Reading...