The ultimate post-mortem: 16 reasons why Charlie Crist fell short

[steve2470]

http://www.saintpetersblog.com/archives/165877

When a candidate loses an election, there’s a tendency to ask what could have been done differently. Coulda, woulda, shoulda is a natural part of the post-election period.

But when a candidate loses by a margin as tight as Charlie Crist fell short against Rick Scott — 48.2 to 47.1 percent — there’s an obligation to go beyond Monday morning quarterbacking.

Certainly, Crist’s loss can be boiled down to a flawed candidate, with much less money than his opponent, who failed to motivate enough of his base to turn out. But that overgeneralization does not tell the entire story of what went wrong for Crist.

Gov. Rick Scott was a flawed opponent, too. Crist raised a boatload of money for a Democrat and was actually out-raising Scott toward the end of the campaign. And in certain counties, Democratic voter turnout surpassed expectations.


will xpost this to Florida group.