Charlie Crist, Democratic candidate for Governor of Florida.
I'm as cynical as they come when it comes to politicians.
Pols are pols and do what they do. And when it's Republicans, they do their worst. When it comes to voting rights, as Markos pointed out on Tuesday,
Republicans suppress voters because they've lost America. Their cynical racist attack on voting rights is driven by simple math—if everybody votes, they lose.
Charlie Crist is running to regain the governorship of Florida. He's running as a Democrat after serving as a Republican. A lot of folks see Crist's political transformation as self-serving and cynical, since he can't win in the GOP. There probably is some truth to that. But I wonder how much Crist's commitment to voting rights made his stay in the GOP untenable.
Remember, in 2008, not only was Crist a Republican, but a rising Republican star, talked about as a future presidential candidate. He duly endorsed John McCain in the Florida primary (the one that didn't count for Dems) and McCain won the hard-fought and close contest over Romney and Giuliani, basically sealing the nomination. So Crist was riding high then in GOP circles. But a funny thing happened on Crist's path to GOP stardom. He decided that voting rights mattered more than his party:
This is a very big deal: Florida Governor Charlie Crist, to the shock and dismay of Florida Republicans, just moved to extend early voting hours, a move likely to widen the Democrats' lead under a program on which the Obama campaign has intensely focused. "He just blew Florida for John McCain," one plugged in Florida Republican just told me.
The right to vote mattered to Charlie Crist. It mattered more than his party and his standing in that party. It was a profile in courage. And a shock to the cynical, including me. It was a demonstration of character.
It was Charlie Crist's first step out of the Republican Party and it had to be. Because if you care about voting rights, you can't be a Republican. Crist cared about voting rights. More than the Republican Party. So out of the Republican Party he was sent.
There are a lot of "transactional" reasons to support Charlie Crist for governor—he'll support Democratic positions on most issues. But if you want an argument about character—Charlie Crist's devotion to voting rights over his then party is a damn good one if you ask me.