Word: cristed
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...Crist's puzzlement at his colleagues' opposition reflects a fundamental divide in his party. If the stimulus debate has solidified Republican ideology in Washington, it has further exposed the party's fault lines at the state level - where many believe the GOP's future direction will be decided after the electoral disaster of 2008. For Crist and other moderate, bipartisan governors like California's Arnold Schwarzenegger and Vermont's Jim Douglas, backing the $800 billion recovery bill taking shape in Congress isn't just an act of economic self-interest; it also lets them showcase a less ideological conservatism that...
...split was first visible in November, just days after the presidential election, at the annual Republican governors conference Crist hosted in Miami. The centrists urged the party to obsess less about demonizing government and pressing hot-button social issues like gay marriage; the right wing warned that the party would all but vanish if it tried to be Dem Lite. But now the philosophical disputes are playing out in a high-stakes game of poker, with each side betting it will come out looking smarter when the stimulus' results are discernible. Should California and Florida, two of the states hardest...
...Crist, who is also up for re-election next year - but won't comment on whether he's interested in the U.S. Senate seat that Florida Republican Mel Martinez is leaving in 2010 - has retained high approval ratings despite Florida's dire straits. He attributes them largely to the fact that "I don't come down on issues in terms of ideology." But that has put him at odds over the stimulus with most in Florida's GOP congressional delegation, including Martinez, whom Crist has lobbied hard in recent weeks to join the so far struggling bipartisan effort Obama...
...Tuesday, Martinez, like most of his GOP colleagues on Capitol Hill, appeared to be sticking to his guns, criticizing the bill for supposedly wasteful spending and not enough tax cuts. But Crist insists those concerns shouldn't override "the fact that this thing is going to pass in any case. This is also Florida taxpayers' hard-earned money, and we have to fight for our fair share of the dollars...
...Crist is not in an enviable position these days, as he gets hit from all sides. Fiscal conservatives say his Accelerate Florida spending hasn't stopped the state's unemployment rate from rising above 8%, while those on the left say his lowering of Florida's exorbitant property taxes has given the GOP-led legislature an excuse to make steep budget cuts in schools and health care - cuts that Crist last month had to step in and reverse amid citizen complaints. "I'm a fiscal conservative," says Crist, "but I just returned from visiting an unemployment office in Orlando...