How to Destroy a Republican Political Career

The TampaBay.com tells us what Gov. Charlie Crist did right to get elected, and what he's done wrong since them which has put him out of the running for the GOP Senate nomination:

The roots of Crist's demise as a Republican superstar sprouted almost as soon as he took office. He revoked nearly 300 appointments by predecessor Jeb Bush, hailed Al Gore and teachers union leaders, and embraced Democrats' calls to mandate paper trails for voting machines.

Crist wrapped himself in the glow of postpartisanship. After the drubbing Republicans took in 2006, Crist became the national model for successful Republicans, the ultimate bipartisan consensus-seeker.

"He ran for governor and was nominated and elected as a conservative,'' said Republican strategist Roger Stone of Miami, a former Crist supporter. "After he was elected he went on an ego trip and began to believe he was more popular and more important than his party and his principles. It was all about Charlie — the cult of Charlie."

The man who used to call himself a "Jeb Bush Republican" was thrilled when Democratic lawmakers called him one of the best Democratic governors Florida had ever had. He proudly showed off the note from former President Bill Clinton congratulating him for easing restrictions on ex-felons regaining their civil rights.

"A lot of Republicans tolerated Charlie Crist because he could win,'' said Republican strategist Rick Wilson. "It took a long time (for people to start criticizing him) because the people that were uncomfortable with Charlie's departure from conservative principles were really shouted down and told to shut up because this is the guy who can take it all the way."

There is an axiom that politicians eventually find themselves in trouble and when that happens, they need their base to shore them up. Crist never tended to his base, consuming himself instead with hugging the center and left.

It is now thought that Crist, despite protestations to the opposite, will jump out of the GOP race and run as an independent. If so, he'll make an easy win by Republican Marco Rubio much more difficult.