Ever since being chased out of the GOP by the teabaggers, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist has moved strongly leftward in his (thus far successful) bid to be the candidate of the center left. He's flipped on abortion and offshore oil drilling, protected the teachers union, and has embraced Obama at a time when many are running away. Furthermore, he's surrounded himself with campaign staff from Democratic ranks, and has courted endorsements from progressive allied organizations.
As cynical and transparent as those moves might be, they've been successul, giving Crist a surprising (to me) lead in the polls.
Here's the chart with Rasmussmen:
And without Rasmussen:
Crist has not promised to caucus with Democrats yet -- a step I'm convinced he'll have to do to close the deal with Democratic voters before the November election (though he'd obviously rather keep it ambiguous). But as we watch Crist morph himself into a progressive champion, at some point he'll have to explain this:
It's been several months since Crist jumped ship from the GOP, and I don't think he's addressed this full-on. It sure would be nice for him to do so.