I Bet Charlie Crist Will Win that Florida Senate Seat

Although I usually vote for any candidate with a D next to his or her name, I am a registered Independent, and I sometimes have differences of opinion with politicians who call themselves Democrats.

Take Ben Nelson, the senator from Nebraska who helped sabotage health care reform and extorted special Medicaid subsidies for his state in exchange for supporting a lukewarm bill. I could never agree with anything he stands for. I certainly wouldn’t agree with his attempt to wangle an exemption for billionaire Warren Buffet as his price for supporting financial reform.

Yet Ben Nelson is listed as a Democrat. And he’s just one of the many fake Democrats that clog Congress. Left to me,voters would give them all the boot at the earliest opportunity.

So, I hear some of you asking, what has this got to do with Charlie Crist?

Well, it’s just my way of explaining why Crist (top left) will get my vote in November. I have nothing against Kendrick Meek (lower photo); he seems like a straight shooter. But, despite the wishful thinking of Democratic pundits, he doesn’t have a realistic chance of getting elected.And I would really, really hate to see Marco Rubio (top right) in the Senate. Coming from the Caribbean, I know his brand of right-wing politics only too well.

As for Charlie, his critics will tell you he lacks ideals, that he is opportunistic, that he isn’t all that smart. But I have watched this guy operate for 15 years in Florida politics, and he doesn’t seem all that bad to me. I believe his heart is in the right place.

His decision to veto that awful education bill illustrates his commitment to the welfare of his state and the people who live and work here.

And compared to the looters who have run Florida for decades, Crist is Snow White. Rubio, for example, is accused of using his Republican Party credit card for personal expenses. And that’s nothing compared with the myriad abuses that state Republican leaders are accused of committing.

From all appearances, they have operated a classic good-ol’-boy network for generations, indulging in the creepiest kinds of cronyism and shamelessly feathering their own nests.

So, sorry about that Kendrick, but I’m filling in the oval next to Charlie’s name this time. And I bet a lot of other left-leaning Florida voters will do the same come November.