Crist May Not Say It, But The Crazies Made Him Do It

Congratulations Governor Crist!

Thank you for saying goodbye to the Grand Old Party and hello to your new found freedom as an independent. Republicans loved the term "Drill baby drill!" last year as liberals and conservatives squared off on the issue of drilling for oil off of our coasts. Yet the Governor and U.S. Senate candidate had the where with all and good sense to change his mind on the matter, especially in the light of the catastrophic oil spill currently spreading in the Gulf of Mexico.

On the heels of that news, the Governor is set to announce his independence from the G.O.P. and run as an independent. Of course, this move may be the result of reading the writing on the wall and not something that is just out of left field.

Naturally, Republican leaders are infuriated at the news and are already threatening Crist to get their campaign contributions returned. They'll coalesce around State House Representative and Tea Party darling Marco Rubio and the election will now be decided in November instead of during the Republican primary held beforehand.

On the Democratic end, everyone in the blue camp has gotten behind Congressman Kendrick Meek. A month ago Swing State thought things looked good for the Dems in this race, granted that Crist would lose in the G.O.P. primary, but now everything has changed. A three candidate general election will definitely spice up the situation, though it remains to be seen if Crist can pull enough moderates away from going either to the left or right.

One thing is for sure, the popular Governor has lost a lot of ground to Marco Rubio in conservative circles these past few months, so if he wants to succeed this fall, he better show why the center-left should make him their Senator.

Bloomberg/Nunn 08'?

The Bloomberg for President speculation got another dose yesterday when reports came out that former Senator Nunn (D-GA) met with the Mayor to talk politics. Being from Georgia, it would be a safe bet to assume they were not talking solely about New York.

From 1010 WINS:

"We've had conversations about frustration with the fact that the process is flawed,'' Nunn said of Bloomberg, who has sent mixed signals about a potential independent White House bid. "I've told him ... it may be time for some serious people to look at what I call a time-out and having people of good faith in the Democratic and Republican parties to come together and address the issues that the parties don't seem to want to address.''

"We have not discussed any kind of joint strategy,'' Nunn added in an interview with The Associated Press. "I have just had conversations with him.''

Nunn, 68, a moderate who earned a reputation for bipartisanship during four terms in the Senate, was frequently mentioned as a potential presidential or vice presidential candidate before he retired in 1996.

Although Nunn says he hasn't ruled out running for President by himself, he clearly does not have the star power that the Mayor of New York garners. Bloomberg might just be the horse that can carry Nunn back into politics with an Independent label. As his politics do not put him with most Democrats (call him a blue dog Dem at best), tacking on that "I" to his name would be a good way to re-brand himself.

Of course, no one from either camp would say anything definitive, so it is still a wait and see situation.

Surprise! Bloomberg Becomes An Independent

The groundbreaking and earth-shattering news of the day is that Mayor Bloomberg has officially changed his party status from Republican to Independent. The one-time Democrat switched to the elephants to run for Mayor of New York to follow in Giulani's footsteps. Although Bloomie continued the pro-corporate atmosphere of the city, he is hardly anything like his "Hitler on the Hudson" predecessor. Now the change in the antecedent initial following his name is more in line with his policies as Mayor.

Bloomberg's statement via The New York Times:

I have filed papers with the New York City Board of Elections to change my status as a voter and register as unaffiliated with any political party. Although my plans for the future haven’t changed, I believe this brings my affiliation into alignment with how I have led and will continue to lead our city.

A nonpartisan approach has worked wonders in New York: we’ve balanced budgets, grown our economy, improved public health, reformed the school system and made the nation’s safest city even safer.

We have achieved real progress by overcoming the partisanship that too often puts narrow interests above the common good. As a political independent, I will continue to work with those in all political parties to find common ground, to put partisanship aside and to achieve real solutions to the challenges we face.

Any successful elected executive knows that real results are more important than partisan battles and that good ideas should take precedence over rigid adherence to any particular political ideology. Working together, there’s no limit to what we can do.

Well that sounded great, but what is it for exactly? Could he have simply made the move (first for the NYC Mayoralty since 1971) to reflect his policies or for loftier purposes, such as running for President. This move followed his speech at Google yesterday that threw a few jabs at Bush and the Republican nominees. For someone that isn't running for the highest office in the land, he certainly is making all the right moves for his best possible shot next year.