Stephen Goldstein: Nan Rich should drop out of the governor’s race

 A monkey should easily be able to drum Gov. Rick Scott out of office in November — unless it’s a Democrat.

The donkey party is in danger of seizing defeat from the jaws of victory. They have a clear, fusion candidate in frontrunner Charlie Crist. And yet, instead of unifying behind him, some Democrats, even those who voted for him for governor when he was a Republican, are beating up on him for having turned Independent and now Democrat.

Really, what’s wrong with these people? Do they have a political death-wish? Haven’t four years of Rick Scott been enough to welcome a candidate with almost universal name recognition and a solid record of achievement?

Apparently not! Blinded by the ego-trip of her candidacy, former State Senator Nan Rich is a spoiler: She is doing Rick Scott’s dirty work.

Claiming to be the “real” Democrat because she’s never compromised her core values — i.e. she’s been on the losing side of a long list of issues — she’s out to turn Dems against Crist for his political pragmatism. In poll after poll, she shows up less well than “Other” or not at all. Her long-time friends won’t level with her about the futility, indeed embarrassment, of her candidacy.

In the meantime, Rich is playing the wounded underdog, demanding that Crist “debate” her, when there’s nothing to debate. She just wants the chance to drone, “I’m the ‘real’ Democrat — and you’re not” — even though Florida voters don’t elect her kind of extreme liberal Democrat; they elect Crist’s kind of moderate.

Nonetheless, Rich may be souring voters on him in Democrat-rich Broward County — and possibly suppressing the vote in November, when he is likely to be the nominee. And we all know what happens when not enough Broward Democrats vote: Rick Scott gets elected — as he did in 2010 when Alex Sink didn’t “excite” enough of them. If Nan Rich’s excursion into political fantasyland leaves hard feelings in Broward, she and her supporters may be responsible for Scott’s re-election. And she will go down in history as the Kendrick Meek of 2014, another ego-tripper who split the vote with Crist in 2010 and helped send Marco Rubio to the U.S. Senate.

As if Rich’s candidacy weren’t bad enough, there’s Bill Nelson, who like the Loch Ness Monster crops up from the political depths now and then, saying he’s “tempted” to run for governor this year. Like who asked him? He ran unsuccessfully for governor in 1990 and is sleep-walking through his third term in the U.S. Senate, where he’s safe until 2018. He should not lead himself into “temptation.”

The November election is a watershed for Florida. The state cannot stand four more years of the Scott corporate agenda, or a Tea-Party/GOP-dominated Legislature, or a majority of the Florida Supreme Court appointed by Scott.

It’s time for Nan Rich and Bill Nelson to endorse Charlie Crist –unless they want to be responsible for his defeat, a monkey neither should want to carry on their back.

Stephen L. Goldstein is the author of “The Dictionary of American Political Bullshit” and “Atlas Drugged: Ayn Rand Be Damned.” He lives in Fort Lauderdale. Column courtesy of Context Florida.