Mike Fasano surely would "God bless" Steve Bousquet and his column today on Charlie Crist's number one surrogate:

Mike Fasano knows he'd never win a popularity contest among his colleagues in the Florida Senate. The 51-year-old Republican from New Port Richey has burned a few bridges during 16 years in the Legislature.

He proposed cutting lawmakers' salaries a couple of years ago as a symbolic statement of sharing the pain during tough times. He led the charge against "double-dipping" — the practice of highly paid public servants retiring briefly to start collecting lucrative pensions, only to return to their old six-figure jobs.

What endures is Pasco County populism — Fasano's visceral outrage at what he views as political arrogance, usually in the form of wasting taxpayers' money.