Peter Schorsch runs the most influential political blog in the state of Florida, SaintPetersBlog.com. He also runs Context Florida, a web service that post ediorial opinions from writers from various parts of the state. Shannon Nickinson, Mark O’Brien and I write for Context regularly. Schorish is a friend of Charlie Crist and has supported him.
However, Schorsch has begun to question Charlie Crist’s campaign strategy as he seeks to the first Democratic Florida governor in over a decade. His post today is hard-hitting: “What Charlie Crist needs is a staff shake-up; the problem is he can’t fire anyone”. Here is an excerpt:
It’s been extraordinarily frustrating to watch Crist’s double-digit lead evaporate — and not just because Rick Scott and the Republicans have hammered him with several million dollars worth of negative TV ads. If that were the sole reason for the tightening of the race — and it’s not — that still would not matter.
Don’t like that your opponent is spending so much money on attack ads? Then raise more money. Spend your money earlier. Do whatever you have to do.
But complaining about the other side having more money is like listening to a losing football player complain that the other team has Tom Brady at quarterback.
As Adam Smith likes to say, “Welcome to the NFL.â€
Crist should still be up about five or six points on Scott. And he would be if he had not made so many of the unforced errors Nickens begins to describe.
The problem in Cristworld, however, begins with Crist’s staffing decisions. Crist is like a middle-age woman who resists updating her hair and wardrobe because of a nostalgic attachment to a period in her life when she looked good, damnit! Like the woman you see with the Kim Cattrall haircut and the shoulder pads from the 80s, Crist is still hanging on to 2006 when he was at the apex of his power
.