Crist is blazing his own trail of moderation; Governor's model is popular in Florida, but isn't attracting national acclaim

DATELINE: TALLAHASSEE

While the Republican presidential candidates try to out-conservative one another in the dash for primary victories, Gov. Charlie Crist's model of moderation has been largely ignored.

During most of his political campaign and his first year in office, Crist avoided the traditional conservative battles such as gay marriage, abortion and immigration.

While he buttressed his conservative credentials by stiffening penalties on parole violators and vowing to cut taxes, Crist shocked GOP stalwarts by embracing the global warming battle, allowing felons the automatic right to vote once released from prison and praising Democrats for support and ideas on property tax and insurance issues.

In an interview assessing his first year as governor, Crist offered the bland response "sure" when asked if he considered himself a "conservative Republican." Asked what being "conservative" meant to him, he grew vague.

"I don't know," he said. "It doesn't really matter to me. I'm not really absorbed much by labels others might put on me."

Crist said GOP presidential candidates have not noticed that Florida politicians have largely dropped battles over socially divisive issues since he took office.

"I wonder about that," Crist said. He said he does not think voters are as focused as some of the candidates might be on some of those issues.

Most polls this year have consistently shown that more than 60 percent of voters say Crist is doing a good job as governor, and that support is equally strong among self-described "evangelical" voters and higher among Republicans in general.

Crist repeatedly mentions that the air of bipartisanship in Tallahassee should serve as a model for politicians in Washington, D.C., and for his own party.

"The citizens, I believe, are frustrated when they see politicians bicker," he said. "It frustrates me. I don't like to even watch what's happening in Washington."

But many think Crist may be an aberration rather than a role model for Republicans, at least in 2008.

Al Cardenas, the former head of the Republican Party of Florida and a leader in Mitt Romney's Florida campaign, said both party's nominees will veer toward their base and away from the middle in 2008.

"I don't see a lot of room at the national stage for a template which calls for bipartisan cooperation," said Cardenas, who added that it may take a disgusted electorate to convince both parties that seeking votes at the extremes is a failing strategy.

"The governor could point to the results and say, 'See, I told you so,'" Cardenas said.

"I think Charlie is way ahead of the curve," added Richard Scher, a University of Florida political science professor and author of a history of Florida governors. "He's trying to get the Republicans to start singing new tunes and also new styles."

Rep. Keith Fitzgerald, D-Sarasota, said Crist provides a fresh look for Republicans.

"I think that Republicans face a fork in the road, kind of deciding whether to stay on the hard right, very rigid path which I think has them in huge trouble or to move to the center where more of the people are," said Fitzgerald, a political science professor at New College. "I think Charlie does represent that other path. He's showing people in the Republican Party how you can do that."

Fitzgerald uses the gay marriage debate as an example of failing GOP tactics.

"Modern Republicans are just sort of tired of having that element not just stake out their party but set their priorities," he said. Fitzgerald said he won his conservative district with a moderate pro-business message, and added that "Charlie is the guy that creates some problems for the moderate Democrat" trying to win independent voters.

Crist is as likely to call top Democrats as he is leading Republicans as he pursues his agenda. That has left conservatives in the Florida House as his most outspoken critics.

House Speaker Marco Rubio, R-West Miami, sued Crist over the governor's decision to allow the Seminole Indians to expand gambling at their casinos. And Rubio has criticized Crist's property tax cutting plan as well as the governor's push to deepen the state's role in property matters, despite voting for the moves.

Rep. Don Brown, R-DeFuniak Springs, called Crist a "demagogue" more concerned with poll numbers than staying true to GOP philosophy on smaller government and less regulation. Others in the House point to the fight over gambling and an upcoming vote on Crist's mandates to reduce greenhouse gases as a battle to clear up the Republican Party's stance.

Fitzgerald said most of this year's political tension in the Capitol was "between the governor and the speaker. That was much more noticeable on issue after issue than differences between Republicans and Democrats."

But Brian Ballard, a Tallahassee lobbyist who worked closely with Crist's campaign last year, said the idea of a GOP schism is overstated.

"I don't think it's as many as people think," Ballard said. "It's a small minority that appears in the blogs. It's ridiculous to think that he doesn't have conservatives' support." He added that Rubio's successors as the head of the House will "work more hand in glove with the governor than perhaps this speaker has.'"

Despite his self-described "live and let live" attitude, Crist wooed the conservative wing when he was a candidate. He said he was against the expansion of gambling last year, but says now that the Seminole deal will limit expansion to only their casinos.

Last year, in the middle of his primary battle with Tom Gallagher, Crist signed the petition to put a measure limiting gay marriage on the 2008 ballot. He used common code words in a press release last year saying he supported social conservative causes, promising to "promote policies that create a culture of life and defend family values."

Since then, Crist has pulled Republican Party of Florida funding from the petition effort and said most voters are not interested in the divisive issue.

Instead, the governor's political message is best summed up as a desire to make everyone happy.

"It's in the Declaration of Independence: 'Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,'" Crist said. "Those words aren't in there in error. I take them very seriously. If the people are happy, it makes me happy. I want them to have joy in their heart. I want them to be hopeful."