Peter Schorsch
You can just see the remaining Charlie Crist acolytes working…
“If only Gerald Bailey had come forward before the election, Charlie may have won…”
Let me, as one of Crist’s staunchest defenders, put an end to that thinking right now. Even if Bailey had come forward, it still would not have mattered. Scott still would have beaten Crist. Saying otherwise is like suggesting the New England Patriots would have lost to the Indianapolis Colts had those 11 footballs not been deflated.
The Patriots would have won had the game been played with bowling balls. And Rick Scott would have won re-election, even if Bailey had come forward.
What would have been different?
Would the news media have been more in the bag for Crist? It’s hard to imagine how it would have accomplished that.
Would voters have a lesser opinion of Scott? Floridians, by and large, already didn’t like Scott, but enough of them still voted for him.
Would Crist have campaigned more in northeast Florida, where he was trounced by Scott, because the governor forced out the FDLE commissioner? Would Crist have picked a different LG? Would the Crist campaign have invited President Obama to campaign for it?
None of those factors — which did contribute to Crist losing — were predicated on whatever the hell Gerald Bailey was doing.
As far as the main reason Crist lost — Scott’s checkbook — the only thing that would have been different had Scott been under fire like he is today is that he would have written a bigger check to pay for more attack ads against Crist. Instead of spending $12 million during the last 10 days, Scott would have spent $24 million or $36 million.
So, please, Cristworld, save it. You’re starting to sound like Colts fans.
