Republicans Abandoning Crist Senate Campaign

With Gov. Charlie Crist vetoing the teacher performance pay bill, prominent Florida Republicans have started abandoning Crists bid for the U.S. Senate. Rep. Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, who takes over as speaker next year, and Rep. John Tobia, R-Melbourne, withdrew their endorsements of Crists Senate bid, and the Capitol is abuzz that there are more to come.

Former U.S. Sen. Connie Mack resigned as chairman of the Crist campaign last night. In his letter to Crist resigning the position, Mack wrote that Crists veto was the chief reason.

Mack had been very active with the Crist campaign, even sending out a fundraising letter for Crist last month in which he vouched for the governors conservative credentials.

Mack and Crist have a close relationship. Crist had served on Macks campaign team when he was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1988. Crist invoked Mack last month in an interview with NPR and has referred to the former senator as his mentor.