GOP Attacks Crist Before He’s Even a Candidate

Associated Press: “Ever see a couple go through a nasty divorce, and then one side gets angry and starts bringing up old history as the other tries to move on in life with someone else? Well, that’s sort of what the Republican Party of Florida is going through with former Gov. Charlie Crist … When Crist says something nice about President Barack Obama, the state GOP immediately shoots out a press release with something not so nice Crist said about Obama when he was a Republican. If Crist endorses a Democratic candidate, the party reminds people Crist used to say he was a Ronald Reagan Republican. There’s strong speculation that Crist, 56, will challenge Gov. Rick Scott as a Democrat in 2014. He has dismissed talk of a potential return to politics, saying he won’t even think about his future until after Jan. 1.”

“The idea is this: defeat Crist before he can re-emerge as a political candidate with a D next to his name. The unusual part is Crist isn’t a candidate and the attacks began before the 2012 election was decided. It breaks traditional election strategy for a party to begin airing campaign ads for the next election cycle while in the middle of another.”