If there are any doubts that former Gov. Charlie Crist intends to run for governor in 2014, the announcement this week that he is releasing a book -- "The Party's Over: How the Extreme Right Hijacked the GOP and I Became a Democrat" -- should end them.
The book is being released in early February, right in time for Crist to begin his gubernatorial campaign.But Crist isnt the first Florida governor to pen a book and there could be lessons from the career of a governor who failed in office despite posing as an author with political expertise.
Dutton, the publisher, is promising a no-holds-barred memoir in which Crist shows why he switched sides and became a Democrat.
Dutton pledges the book will offer insights on Crists journey from inner circle to persona non grata, thanks to his literal embrace of President Obama and his very frank opinions on Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush, Mitt Romney, Sarah Palin, and other top-tier Republicans.
Readers can expect to read why Crist believes that Democrats have the right vision for Florida and the nation" and what hes learned as a member of both parties and why he remains convinced that the two-party system can still work -- with the right leadership. Perhaps Crist gained some insight into why the two-party system can still work when he left the GOP to campaign outside the two-party system with no party affiliation.
Crist offers a focused indictment of the failings of the Republican Party, naming names and identifying where things went wrong, the publisher promises. 'The Partys Over' is as far from politics as usual as you can get.
Actually, it sounds like Crists book is pretty much as close to politics as usual as you can get. Crist plans to run for governor and is using a book and the publicity around it to advance his ambitions and make a little money. Its not uncommon. While there are a few books from politicians that continue to be read -- JFKs "Profiles in Courage" and Barry Goldwaters "The Conscience of a Conservative" come to mind -- most of them, from both Democrats and Republicans, quickly end up in the discount bin of the major booksellers. Win or lose, expect to see Crists book there after the election.
Crist isnt the first Florida governor to try his hand at writing. Before his stormy tenure as governor during Reconstruction, Harrison Reed was a longtime newspaper publisher. After his term in office, Reed continued to write, mostly through a magazine he edited to promote Florida. After failing to defeat Gov. Lawton Chiles in 1994, Jeb Bush teamed up with Brian Yablonski to write the eminently forgettable Profiles in Character. Earlier this year, Bush paired up with Clint Bolick to write Immigration Wars.
Fuller Warren, who served as governor from 1949 until 1953, was also something of a writer. If the name rings a bell, the bridge on the I-95 crossing the St. Johns River in downtown Jacksonville is named after Warren. Whether or not Warren deserves to be honored is a different story.
Elected to the Florida House when he was only 21, Warren served three terms on the Jacksonville City Council and was a decorated veteran in World War II before being elected governor in 1948. Warrens How to Win in Politics is still an interesting read decades after it was first published.
Crist has more than a little bit of a resemblance to Warren. They both studied law at Cumberland University. While he did manage to help Florida in some respects -- such as, for example, signing a law to ensure cattle would no longer roam freely and clutter up the roads -- Warren was the personification of a politician who was more about style than substance.
Warren was even more of a flip-flopper than Crist on a range of issues -- including a matter of much more consequence than running for whatever position is open. When he took office in Tallahassee, Warren ripped into the Ku Klux Klan and promised better race relations. Unfortunately, Warren had been a member of the Klan before taking office, though, to his credit, he signed an anti-Klan bill in 1951. But Warren quickly swung back to the other side. After being term-limited in 1952, Warren ran again for governor in 1956, this time as a vocal supporter of segregation. He placed a distant fourth in the crowded Democratic primary.
Besides being all over the place on segregation, Warren drew heavy criticism for refusing to cooperate with federal investigations of organized crime. Warren even invoked states rights as to why he would not help out the Kefauver Investigation.
How to Win in Politics" indeed. Warren tried to be all things to all voters and ended up as nothing to anyone. Theres a lesson there for Crist who spent years selling himself as a conservative Republican and constantly running for office. While he won three statewide elections, Crist never bothered to run for a second term for any of those positions. Crist also moved from being a conservative Republican to running for the U.S. Senate with no party affiliation after being caught in the polls by Republican primary rival Marco Rubio.
Now Crist has joined the Democrats and is going left on several issues and ripping the party he once led in his new book. It will be interesting to see if Crist repudiates the positions he once held and insists his new home and new stances are better for Florida and the nation. If he isnt careful, the book will only reinforce Crists reputation for saying anything voters want to hear -- much like his fellow Cumberland Law School alum Fuller Warren.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or at 904-521-3722.
