When last did a statewide R incumbent suddenly run as an independent and Democrats

in organized droves ten abandoned their own high-profile, primary-winning candidate, asking him or her to drop out of the general election in favor of the incumbent "independent"?

Is the Crist-Meek Rubio race for Senate this year truly unprecedented? Incumbent Republican Charlie Crist dropped out of the Republican 2010 gubernatorial primary when polls showed him lagging eventual Republican primary winner Marco Rubio. When Rubio started to poll ahead of Crist for the general election as well, former star House Democrat Robert? Wexler and other top-shelf Democrats threw their support to Crist, despite Kendrick Meek's adamand insistence that he NEVER would drop out.

HAS ANYTHING LIKE THIS EVER HAPPENED BEFORE IN A STATEWIDE ELECTION?

DOES ANYONE KNOW?

may be happening in Alaska right now. I'm sure that a number of normally Democratic voters (the same ones who voted for Begich) voted for Murkowski in order to defeat Miller.

It's not an exact analogy, but it's the closest one I could think of.

Wexler and other Crist "Democrats" apparently sunk Sink for Governor and Grayson and others fwho lost House seats. Hispanics (majority non-Cuban) went 62 percent for Rubio but only 42 percent for McCain-Palin two years ago. They went 55 percent for Dubya six years ago. Clearly many Florida Hispanics are up for grabs . Many who voted for Obama-Biden gladly would have voted for Meek had the party not been in such disarray, humiating a once-in-a-lifetime African-American candidate for Senate. Many of them went for the Hispanic-surname Republican and evidently gave him coattails.

ANd many true Democrats, including many Hispanics, may have just stayed home in disgust at a party that IMO has been split largely along racial lines dir the indefinite future.

Funny how often "unprecedented" things happen when prominent African-Americans are involved.

Grayson was my favorite Dem, but Crist had NOTHING to do with his loss. Florida turned from Purple to Red this year, in part because of the incumbent backlash that happens when unemployment spiked over 12%, and in part because there are a lot of fucking racists in Florida who want Obama out just because he ain't a Florida Cracker.

Crist may be responsible for some of the unemployment, but Grayson baked his own cake.

up-for-grabs Hispanics and other independents may have swung to Rugio because of the disarray Crist 'Democrats' caused in the Party, and many true Democrats may have stayed home in disgust?

Nobody wants to early-vote for a candidate who might drop out and waste your precious ballot franchise.

but not Grayson's defeat. Completely different dynamics.

you're not saying anything about election dynamics.

But Crist obviously had a direct effect on the election of a Senator to fill the open seat.

I understand what you are saying, I just repectfully disagree with you.

And I did vote straight D here in FL on Tuesday.

of a well-known statewide primary winner, with prominent party leaders demanding that the Democrat drop out in favor of the incumbent Republican.

So I guess it IS fair to say that what party leaders did to Kendrick Meek was UNPRECEDENTED.

I was in Florida on Election day, and read some of the post-mortems. The bottom line is that he was a local Congressman out of his depth as a statewide candidate in a battleground red-blue state For the past six months, his support was never more than 20-21%. However you feel about the impact of Crist, Meek never showed any ability to hold a maximum number of Democrats and appeal to moderate INdependents.

(nb - my wife and I met almost every D Senate candidate this years, and Meek was one of the most underwhelming).