Game almost on.
Charlie Crist, the Republican-turned-independent former Florida governor, has shifted from denial and noncommittal responses to a "could be" Monday when asked on MSNBC about challenging Gov. Rick Scott in 2014.
Crist, who had been crisscrossing the state for President Obama and taking verbal shots at Scott for long lines and counting delays during Floridas election, paused before saying Anythings possible, when asked about the speculation of his own political future.
"I'm not ruling anything in or anything out."
See the interview here.
The question came at the end of the interview that was on the presidential election and voting in Florida.
Crist added that his focus has been the election of Obama, Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Orlando, and Patrick Murphy, and he will next concentrate on the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.
Well see what next year brings, he concluded.
The move would catch nearly no one offguard as it has been the source of speculation for months, with the Republican Party of Florida running a series of attacks called The Two Faces of Charlie Crist to highlight the former governors changing views on issues ranging from his opposition to removing noncitizens from the lists of registered voters to his friendship with U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Sarasota.
In September, Crist deflected speculation about a gubernatorial run when reminded a poll had him defeating Scott in a hypothetical 2014 match-up by saying on MSNBC that I'm thinking about re-electing President Obama.
In August, as the Republican National Convention was under way and Scott was on many lips for accepting a slot to address the Democratic National Convention, Crist -- again on MSNBC -- denied that he had his sights set on office, particularly Scott's.
Im enjoying the private sector very much, Crist told Chris Matthews.
Im going to talk about the fact that I think [President Barack Obama] has been a great leader, that he has really led us in a very difficult time, Crist said.
While Crist would enter the contest as the biggest name, he would jump into a race against former Florida Senate Minority Leader Nan Rich, D-Weston, with additional competition possibly from former Florida Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink and other longtime Democrats who hold elected posts as mayors of Tampa, Orlando and Jacksonsville.
After the 2010 election, MSNBCs Chuck Todd and Samantha Guthrie declared Sink the worst candidate of the year after being defeated by Scott. Crists U.S. Senate run that year was listed as one of the worst campaigns of the year.
Reach Jim Turner at jturner@sunshinestatenews.com or at (772) 215-9889.
