Crist Can't Be Saved

Crist Can't Be Saved

Florida Governor Charlie Crist, formerly a hopeful and attractive GOP superstar whose name was once floated as a serious presidential contender, is the latest Republican candidate to fall victim to a tea party candidate in a Republican primary. Marco Rubio, the much younger and extremely conservative poll-leader for the Florida Senate primary, is poised to take the Republican nomination away from the popular governor. In past days, as Crist has made some vaguely moderate decisions, he was abandoned by former endorsers and his own campaign staff. Although Crist continues to narrowly lead the general poll, he may never get to run in the general; the deadline for Crist to pull out of the primary and run as an Independent, as many expect him to do, is just over a week away. It is very unlikely Crist would be able to win the Republican primary.

Other Republicans have quickly deserted Crist. Even Senator John McCain, onetime 'maverick' (although, don't forget, he never considered himself one), has said that if Crist runs as an Independent, he can consider McCain's endorsement void.
Is this what the Republican Party has become? Its viable candidates are only those like Rubio, or only those who have the momentum of the tea party behind them, and people like Crist, popular and qualified, are unelectable unless they run left in a last-ditch effort to enter the general. Limiting your electoral pool to only those who completely and totally identify with the most extreme version of your ideology is neither productive nor viable, for, eventually, your candidates will polarize so many voters that they will turn to the Democrats, whether or not they identify with the left in any way.