By Michael Leahy
Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, April 16, 2010; 2:45 PM
THE VILLAGES, FLA. -- Republican Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, once regarded as a shoo-in to become Florida's next senator, waded into a milling crowd. If his campaign had been going according to plan, his audience here on this night would have been perfect: an elderly, largely conservative Republican throng that included 82-year-old Bob Gammon, who had voted for Crist before and now had a beer in his hand and something he wanted to say.
Crist smiled and put a campaign sticker on Gammon's Hawaiian shirt.
"That hug," Gammon said.
"Oh," Crist said, immediately understanding what Gammon meant. Shortly after Barack Obama's inauguration, the new president had come to Florida to pledge federal help for this economically reeling state -- and Crist had reacted by embracing Obama on stage. "I wish you hadn't hugged him," Gammon said.
"I'm glad I did," Crist said calmly, smoothing the sticker on Gammon's shirt. "He was visiting our state. He's the president. I respect the office."
"I really wish you hadn't," Gammon said. As he moved away, leaving Crist to answer more questions about the hug, he predicted the outcome of Crist's upcoming August Republican primary: "He can't win."
If you're Charlie Crist, this is what a political freefall feels like. One day it is 2008 and you're a popular governor whose Republican admirers are talking you up for the veep spot on your party's national ticket. Then, suddenly, you've infuriated party conservatives, and what you're being fitted for is a political coffin.
According to polls, Crist was once ahead by about 30 points in a primary contest widely viewed as a certain rout, a steppingstone for the 53-year-old Crist toward a bigger national stage and a future White House run. Now, targeted for extinction by "tea party" activists and the right-wing of his party, Crist is behind by more than 20 points, yet another reminder of the intraparty dangers awaiting Republicans viewed as too moderate.
"A victim of the times," is how Susan MacManus, a political science professor at the University of South Florida, characterizes his collapse.
Questions about Crist's political character and loyalty have added to his woes. He was dealt another blow this past week when former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani went on Fox News to say that Crist had lied to him in the months leading up to the Republican presidential primaries in 2008.
Giuliani claimed that Crist, whose endorsement was regarded by GOP candidates as critical in the pivotal Florida primary, had reneged on a private promise to endorse Giuliani for the Republican nomination. It is a charge denied by Crist, who ultimately endorsed Arizona Sen. John McCain, the party's eventual nominee.
"He broke his word, which to me in politics is everything," said Giuliani, who told Fox host Sean Hannity that he is endorsing Crist's front-running Republican primary opponent, former Florida House speaker Marco Rubio,, a 39-year-old tea party darling.
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