Word: crist
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...presidential kingmaker by jumping to the head of the line to hold its primary ahead of Super Tuesday. If Florida commits to Jan. 29, that would mean a line of candidates forming in Tallahassee to seek the blessing of the state's remarkably popular new Republican Governor, Charlie Crist. Another election, another Florida chief executive on the spot...
...Crist is no Jeb Bush. In fact, his record so far is undoing much of what the younger Bush son started. In his first 100 days, Crist announced efforts to provide hurricane-insurance relief, ditch controversial touch-screen voting machines for ones with a paper trail, create a "children's cabinet" to fix Florida's dysfunctional child-welfare services, increase teacher pay by $300 million and reduce the state's overcrowded classrooms, convene a summit on global warming, promote stem-cell research and restore voting rights to felons who complete their sentences (which he did last month). At one point...
That across-the-aisle lovefest couldn't be further removed from the proudly partisan crusade of Crist's predecessor, who fought hard against many of those initiatives. Crist's amiable tack is even more surprising since Bush, who was limited to two terms, left office in January with approval ratings about 60% and the G.O.P. still in control of Florida's legislature. But while Crist calls Bush "America's greatest Governor," he's also aware that another famous G.O.P. statehouse occupant, California's Arnold Schwarzenegger, is prospering by trying to cut deals with Democrats. "I've got two ears...
Like Schwarzenegger, Crist wasn't always known as an ideological moderate. As a state senator in the 1990s, he was called "Chain Gang Charlie" for co-sponsoring a law that revived prison labor in leg irons. But Crist says his hard line on criminals is simply part of what also drove him to renew ex-convicts' voter rights. Instead of ideology, "fundamental fairness was always spoken about in our home," says Crist, 50, sitting in shirtsleeves in his office, beneath a painting of his Greek immigrant grandfather when he was a shoe-shine boy. He speaks daily on the phone...
...next census as the nation's third most populous state - what a potential bellwether and kingmaker it had become. As a result, Florida's leaders have been clamoring for a primary position that lets it flex its new electoral clout. "More and more," says new Florida Governor Charlie Crist, "the nation is looking to Florida...