charlie crist

Florida Governor Charlie Crist has declared a voting emergency in the state. To combat long lines, he's ordered early voting polls to remain open for 12 hours on weekdays and for a total of 12 hours over the weekend.

In Ohio, a federal judge has ruled that homeless people who want to vote may legally use any place they've spent the night: a shelter, a relative's house - even a park bench.

Three days of heavy rains from Tropical Storm Fay have flooded hundreds of homes and caused tornadoes in parts of Florida.

Gov. Charlie Crist has described the flooding as catastrophic and requested that President Bush issue a federal disaster declaration.

NPR's Greg Allen reports from Miami.

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“Empty Chair Charlie.” “Chain Gang Charlie.” “The People’s Governor.” “Florida’s First Black Governor.” “Arnold Schwarzenegger Without The Austria.” How many nicknames can one man have?

He must be cool! Is McCain looking for a cool Florida Veep? Learn more here.

Congressional Credentials:

Governor of Florida
(2006-Present)

Attorney General of Florida
(2003-2006)

Floridians aren’t so happy with Empty Chair Charlie these days. Asking around, I hear one sentiment commonly echoed: “Well, he’s broken a lot of his campaign promises…”.

The latest is his push for offshore drilling, which some say is a broken promise, but others say is a tactical move.

Just one month ago, Crist announced his support for McCain’s offshore drilling proposal, despite his prior emphasis on environmental issues.

After reading this short interview in the NY Times Magazine, I liking this guy’s approach…

Is it fair to describe you as socially progressive?
I think it is fair to describe me as a common-sense Republican.

Which implies that some Republicans lack common sense.
That’s possible.

Seriously, Karl… That’s so cliche of you to pick two former presidential running mates. As punishment, I’m going to remind everyone about the time you got down with your bad self (”MC Rove“) at the White House Correspondents Dinner.

Anyway, this Sunday, Karl Rove came on “Fox News Sunday” and told Chris Wallace what he thinks about the veepstakes so far…

1. Tim Pawlenty told a crowd of 1,700 that he “hadn’t talked to Senator McCain in about a month” and that all this VEEP talk was just “pure and raw speculation.”

2. Mitt Romney says he also has not talked about the vice presidency with McCain, adding that he “looks forward to supporting McCain’s team, not being a part of it.”

From the depths of Tallahassee, Florida comes a man so qualified it’s shocking that he’s not running his own vice president campaign already! Governor Charlie Crist once served as Vice President of the student body at Florida State University where he studied Law.

Yes, I definitely want to hear your picks and explanations for why.

I’ll start…

If I were to guess, McCain is going to pick somebody younger (not that that’s going to be tough) and with gubernatorial experience.

Many have said Tim Pawlenty, and I think he’s a good pick, but is he old enough at 47? Especially if McCain is going to hammer Obama on experience?

And let’s not even get into Bobby Jindal, okay?

Good luck with that…

From TPM:

Gov.

Charlie Crist (R-FL) seems to be backing away from a trial balloon that he would support a new Democratic primary in Florida — and he’s joined by Michigan Gov.

Jennifer Granholm (D) in standing firm on the January rogue primaries.