Charlie Crist, Enemy of Insurers, Sees Senate Bid Erode

No politician has aroused the ire of insurers more than Florida Gov. Charlie Crist. But it's the conservative wing of the GOP that's likely to quash his bid for the U.S. Senate.
Crist is a rarity in the Grand Old Party, a Republican populist. He didn't start out that way. But when Crist took office in 2007, insurers were doubling home premiums in an effort to rebound from losses in the hurricanes of 2004 and 2005. Rather than let rates go up, Crist subsidized homeowners with government help.

One could argue that he created the notion of a public option - an issue Congress is now grappling with as it applies to health care - when he expanded Florida's Citizens Property Insurance Co. until it included nearly a quarter of the state's policyholders, thus shutting out private insurers. And when the largest private insurer in Florida, State Farm, threatened to leave, Crist said, "Good riddance."

But the insurers who've tangled with Crist may have the last laugh. He is running for the Senate seat being vacated by Mel Martinez in 2010, but the GOP has a tendency to drum liberals and moderates alike out of its ranks, even if it costs elections, as it did in New York State.

Cuban-American Marco Rubio is mounting a strong challenge to Crist from the right wing of the party where he is enormously popular with conservatives. As reported in Talking Points Memo, Rubio hasn't taken any position on insurance, preferring to attack Crist for his support of President Obama's stimulus package.

Thus far Crist has been lucky. During his tenure, Florida hasn't had any more major hurricanes. But other storms are brewing. Rumors about his being gay, despite his recent marriage, are all over the Internet, and not likely to endear him to the Christian Right. Even more important, scandals involving financial supporters like Scott Rothstein are beginning to get a little too close to Crist.

Make no mistake. Crist is still enormously popular, particularly among independents in the Sunshine State, although recent polls show his support eroding and newspaper editorials are stripping the shine off this once untouchable governor. But independents don't vote in Republican primaries, and those who do are getting progressively more conservative.

So insurers may get their wish. In that case, Crist would have to hang on to the governorship and hope for no hurricanes in 2010.