Just win, baby. That's Gov. Charlie Crist's tune, and the Democratic Party may be humming along with him.
An unconfirmed report from Washington says that Crist and Democrats are engaged in conversations about the party supporting the former Republican's independent U.S. Senate bid.
That would mean the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee quietly pulling, or withholding, resources from the party's nominee in favor of Crist.
"It would be done in a way that no one would even notice," said a Washington, D.C., source speaking on condition on anonymity. Party funding to Crist would be funneled through third parties "that would take a CSI investigation to expose," the source said.
Crist's campaign denied the report Thursday and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee did not return a phone message, but the stealth strategy became more plausible with the release of two polls showing Crist surging in a three-way race against Republican nominee Marco Rubio and Democrat Kendrick Meek.
A Rasmussen poll conducted May 3 showed Crist garnering 38 percent, Rubio gathering 34 percent and Meek trailing badly with 17 percent.
Two weeks ago, before Crist announced his decision to run as an independent candidate, Rubio held a seven point advantage in the race.
At 17 percent, Meek slipped three percentage points in the poll, and that slide troubles Democratic strategists, who note that 42 percent of Florida's voters are registered as Democrats (vs. 36 percent Republican).
A Mason-Dixon poll released Thursday showed Crist leading Rubio 38 percent to 32 percent, with Meek backed by 19 percent.
Though still regarded as the Democrats' front-runner, Meek's path to the nomination has become more complicated with the entry of Palm Beach billionaire Jeff Greene into the race. Former Miami Mayor Maurice Ferre is also running in the Aug. 24 primary.
Meek, who assumed his mother's congressional seat, is serving his fourth term on Capitol Hill, but his lack of statewide name recognition has hampered his ability to get traction in the Senate contest.
Crist, by contrast, is a household name, having held four statewide offices. The governor further raised his profile -- and burnished his crossover appeal -- when he vetoed an education reform bill passed by the GOP-dominated Legislature.
Crist proves particularly problematic for other Democratic candidates because he grabbed 19 percent of the African-American respondents in the Mason-Dixon poll. That left Meek with just 68 percent of the black vote -- a paltry share for an African-American Democrat.
"I think Charlie Crist is a more powerful draw for Democratic votes than Kendrick Meek," Rep. Adam Putnam, R-Fla., told the Washington Post last month.
Meek's office did not return a phone message by deadline.
Crist campaign spokeswoman Michelle Todd said she was "not aware of any negotiations" with the Democratic Party, and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairman Robert Menendez trashed Crist after the governor announced he was going independent.
"As usual, Charlie Crist is putting his political ambition first," the New Jersey senator scolded.
But on Thursday, the DSCC gave Crist some free Internet advertising when it rotated the governor's picture prominently on its home page -- treatment generally reserved for party officials and Democratic candidates.
The governor's face appeared above the headline, "Crist Jumps Ship."
Sidling toward the Democrats, Crist told reporters on Thursday he was "open" to a call by Democratic gubernatorial candidate Alex Sink and three Democratic legislators to convene a special session to pass a constitutional amendment asking voters if they want to ban oil drilling off Florida's coasts.
Pulling lifelong Republican Crist into the Senate's Democratic caucus could be pivotal if, as expected, Democrats lose seats in this year's midterm elections. The upper chamber currently has 57 Democrats, 41 Republicans and two independent who caucus with the Democrats.
Crist has said he intends to caucus with Republicans, but his wording has sounded less than convincing. Skeptics noted that the governor had previously and repeatedly promised to remain in the Republican race. That was before plummeting poll numbers convinced him he could not win a closed GOP primary against Rubio.
Having burned his bridges with the state Republican Party, and now scrambling to build a political campaign and fund-raising machine from scratch, Crist can use all the help he can get -- from wherever he can get it.
Mason-Dixon pollster Brad Coker said Crist has an uphill fight, even as the governor leads in the latest survey.
"It is very questionable whether or not these numbers can hold up over the next six months unless the national Democratic Party and its leaders throw Meek under the bus,'' Coker said.
"For Crist, it's all about aspiration, not principle," says Michael Caputo, a Miami-based political consultant who works for Republicans. "He'll do whatever it takes."
Will Democrats do the same?
John French, a Tallahassee attorney and expert in Florida election law, said he sees no legal reason the party couldn't do a deal with Crist.
"The politics aside, I don't see why it couldn't be done. As long as he continues to run NPA (no party affiliation), there aren't any issues from a legal matter," French said.
"It's not a changing-party situation, where there's a six-month closure period during which you can't change parties."
The Greene campaign discounted the possibility of a Democrat-Crist deal.
"This might be Charlie Crist's dream. But when he wakes up, he'll still be a Republican," said Paul Blank, campaign consultant for Greene.
And moving Greene out of the way to make room for Crist, the Democratic Party might have a fiscal issue. Brandishing a multimillion-dollar bankroll, Greene already donated $30,400 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in August 2009.
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Contact Kenric Ward at kward@sunshinestatenews.com or at (772) 801-5341.
