Thursday, Jan. 2 was an exciting day here at Watermark. My interview with Charlie Crist had been posted on our website for less than 12 hours, and it was blowing up on the Internet.
First the Keen News Service an AP for LGBT news picked up the interview and sent it to sister newspapers like the Dallas Voice, Windy City Times and Washington Blade. Then Advocate.com posted it, and shortly thereafter it made the front page of the Huffington Post and MSNBC.com. The popular LGBT blog JoeMyGod weighed in. And by early evening I was receiving texts that Wolf Blitzer had talked about it on CNN.
The interview was noteworthy because the former Republican governor and now Democratic gubernatorial candidate not only reaffirmed his recently stated support for marriage equality, he apologized profusely for previous actions and pronouncements.
When confronted with his support for the Amendment 2 constitutional ban on same-sex marriage while governor in 2008, Crist was unabashed.
“I’m sorry I did that,” he said. “It was a mistake. I was wrong. Please forgive me.”
And when asked whether his shifts in position on LGBT equality were politically motivated, the interview turned confessional.
“They were. They were,” he said. “The examples you cited were examples of me trying to be a good Republican. I couldn’t do it anymore, and I’m sincerely sorry I did.”
I received lots of questions afterward, mostly variations on two themes: Did you believe him? and Will you support him?
My answers are yes and yes but the reasons are complicated.
Not surprisingly, when Crist was governor from 2007 through 2010, I was not a fan.
He likes to tell people what they want to hear, regardless of his beliefs or ability to deliver, I wrote in 2009 after then-Governor Crist announced that he would forego a potential second term to run for U.S. Senate. Nowhere has his unprincipled attempt to be all things to all people been more transparent, dishonest and destructive than in the area of LGBT rights.
But I’d never met him, and watching him captivate a union hall crowd prior to our recent interview was a revelation. He entered the drab concrete block building like a burst of sunshine, using boundless positive energy and a believable empathy and sincerity to connect with the hundred-or-so in attendance.
There are very few public officials at any level who have his charisma, good looks and communication skills, Tallahassee-based media consultant Ron Sachs has observed. He makes people feel good. He’s a star.
One-on-one, Crist is equally disarming. As edited, the printed interview may have created the impression that he sought to move on from difficult questions. That was not the case. He was warm, open, unthreatened, and willing to explain his answers.
In fact, what struck me most was how unguarded and unscripted he was. I’m certain he expected tough questions. I expected equivocal, easily digestible answers about how his feelings on LGBT rights have evolved. Instead, Crist was frank and unvarnished.
Do I look like I’m holding back? he said when asked if his support for LGBT equality would be evident during his campaign. We’re not underwater with this, we’re riding the wave!
I believe Crist’s support is sincere. I also believe it will be evident throughout his campaign and, if elected, his governance. Would that be different if polling didn’t show that half of Floridians now favor marriage equality, and a full 75 percent support some form of legal recognition for same-sex unions? Likely, but the same speculation applies to many successful Democrats, including our president. Saints and martyrs rarely venture into politics.
I also support Crist in his quest to become our next governor, and with growing enthusiasm.
In early polling, Crist has a significant lead over incumbent Rick Scott. He has the name recognition, financial backing, experience, ambition and temperament to win what will most certainly be a very ugly and expensive campaign.
They’re sending a $100 million meat grinder after me, Crist told LGBT supporters at a fundraiser at the Winter Park home of Brad Grosberg and Phil Kean earlier this week. And I’m ready because I believe Florida deserves a different governor, a better governor, a governor more in touch with the majority of people in this great state.
With low approval ratings and the charm of a stop sign, Scott is vulnerable and must be defeated. He currently stands with an arrogant Republican legislature that governs Florida the progressive, fourth-largest state in the nation with a half million more Democrats than Republicans” as though it was the Mississippi Chamber of Commerce.
If re-elected to a second and last term, Scott’s attack on voting rights will continue, and his cuts to public education, essential state services, Medicaid and other assistance for our neediest will no longer be tempered by public opinion. He will also have an opportunity to appoint as many as four justices to the Florida Supreme Court, delaying judicial recognition of full equality by a decade or more.
Imagine the difference in Tallahassee with a Democrat as governor, a Democrat with appointment and veto power, a Democrat with a late but nonetheless full-throated embrace of LGBT equality.
Charlie Crist is not a perfect candidate, but he is an inspired one. In one of the strangest twists in electoral history, his unique journey may lead to a long overdue course correction in Florida politics.
And in the process, this uniquely talented man may prove to be an inspired governor.
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