Crowley Political Report

Painful.

That's the word that came to mind watching Charlie Crist on the NBC Today show and MSNBC's Morning Joe.

He doggedly insisted that he left the Republican Party because he had been "listening to the people."

No one was buying it.

On Morning Joe, Mika Brzezinski at one point lowered her head and put her hand up in exasperation as Crist continued to dodge questions about whether he left the GOP because he was losing to Marco Rubio.

"That all sounds nice to me but come on. . ." said Brzezinski.

Todd Harris, one of the masterminds behind the Marco Rubio primary victory over Charlie Crist, has written a lengthy memo about the future course of the campaign. Some excerpts:

"There are two great myths about independent voters in Florida - 1. There are lots of them. 2. They are all politically moderate.

"Neither of these are true."

Harris goes on to say that fewer than 20 percent of voters are independents and an even smaller number of independents actually vote.

When Charlie Crist announces today that he is an independent candidate for the U.S. Senate many of his former fellow Republicans will dismiss him as a loser.

Wrong. By overplaying their hand the Bush-Thrasher-Rubio faction have allowed Crist to stay in the game until November. With a little finesse they might have kept Crist in the GOP until after the April 30 deadline to qualify.

Now there is a real chance that Crist could pull this off. The legislature has handed him a number of populist issues - PSC, teachers, insurance, utilities - and  Crist will do what he does best - "I'm the people's governor."

Marco Rubio will have to start moving to the center where Crist plays best. And Kendrick Meek is going to have to start showing that he actually has a campaign.

Still, this has been an astonishing turn of events for a sitting governor and Crist has no one to blame for letting himself get out manuevered.