After receiving Ken Jenne's resignation letter as Broward sheriff, Gov. Charlie Crist says he'll start a search for a successor. Maj. Al Lamberti, 53, a 29-year veteran of the agency, will serve as interim sheriff.

Crist said he would undertake "a thorough process to vet and review qualified candidates" and sounded less inclined to appoint a caretaker, with no intention of seeking to hold the office, than someone who would take control with plans to run for a four-year term in 2008. "This is a huge job," Crist said. "The sheriff of Broward County is a big deal and I want to do what's right by the people of Broward County."

It's a huge source of political power and patronage in the state's most heavily-Democratic county, and Crist's Republican supporters will insist that he appoint a Republican. Some speculation is centering on Scott Israel, police chief of North Bay Village and a Broward resident wh has begun making the rounds as a possible Republican candidate for sheriff in 2008. Crist wouldn't discuss individual names.