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Fresh Squeezed Politics - March On Politics Blog

R2R—The Saga Continues

Posted Apr 27, 2007 by William March

Updated Apr 27, 2007 at 08:52 PM

Proposed changes in the state’s resign-to-run law—which would allow Charlie Crist or another high-profile Florida political officeholder to run on a presidential ticket without giving up his/her state office—are still alive.

Right now, a Florida officeholder who signed up as a running mate to a presidential candidate, or became a presidential candidate, would have to submit a resignation from the state office. That resignation would be effective regardless whether the officeholder won or lost in the race for the new office. At least, that’s the opinion of most experts, though some differ.

Some people want to change that law, including one very powerful person, House Speaker Marco Rubio.

But Rubio and others weren’t pleased with an amendment introduced in the Senate late Wednesday. It specified that a Florida governor can hold onto his seat while running specifically for president or vice president, but didn’t apply in any other cases.

Maybe it looked too much as if it was aimed directly at Gov. Charlie Crist, who’s been a subject of speculation about 2012 and even 2008, as a running mate or even a presidential candidate. There are, after all, those who say Rubio wouldn’t mind replacing Crist in the statehouse if Crist went to D.C.

That amendment died on the floor Thursday.

But Sen. Charlie Justice, a Democrat from St. Petersburg, introduced a new amendment Friday that would apply to any Florida officeholder and any federal office—not just president and vice president, but U.S. House and Senate as well. That one sailed through the Senate and will now go to the House. With Rubio on record favoring it, its odds are good.

Does Justice want Crist running for vice president for some reason? Or Bill Nelson running for vice-president in 2008? Or Nelson running for president and re-election to the Senate at the same time in 2012?

He said only that he introduced the measure as a “subject for discussion.”

The rationale for the amendment is that the resign-to-run law prevents Floridians from being players on the national political stage.

The rationale behind the resign-to-run law as written is that elected officeholders should be concerned about doing the jobs of their current offices, not looking forward to the next one. Quaint?

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