Educators union splits Senate endorsement

Making a dual endorsement is not much different than making no endorsement, but that's precisely what the Florida Education Association did Saturday.

The heavily Democratic 140,000-member union is recommending Charlie Crist and Kendrick Meek for the U.S. Senate, but won't push for the full Florida AFL-CIO to do the same today in Jacksonville.

Both Crist and Meek pushed for the endorsement and spoke to the AFL-CIO, whose support of Democrats is rarely in doubt.

"Kendrick Meek has always been a strong backer of public education and our positions for as long as he's been in public service," said teacher union president Andy Ford. "We wouldn't have the class size provisions in the Florida Constitution without Kendrick's tireless work to get that on the ballot and to win its approval."

And the indie candidate? "Gov. Charlie Crist took bold action this year in bucking the leaders of his former political party and listening to the teachers and parents of Florida when he vetoed Senate Bill 6 and set the stage for a better Florida application in the federal Race to the Top grant," Ford said. "SB 6 energized teachers and parents throughout the state, and Crist's actions showed so many Floridians that their voices count. We think an independent Charlie Crist working for Floridians would also be a great asset in the Senate."

The Palm Beach Post reported that Meek gave a rousing speech to the union members Saturday: "No one should be able to come in at the last moment to serve his or her politics and say that, 'I'm your friend.' … I need your full support. Members should not have to walk into the halls when I walk through and say 'This is one of our co-endorsed candidates.' Co? What's that? You're either walking or you're running. There's no jogging."

It's complicated

You know the controversy over Bill McCollum pushing for the hiring of George Rekers — an anti-gay rights crusader who turned out to have hired a gay prostitute on RentBoy.com to escort him to Europe — to fight efforts to allow same-sex couples in Florida to adopt children? Somehow it seems relevant to note that McCollum's longtime senior campaign adviser, Arthur Finkelstein, is a "married" gay man with two adopted children.

Life is complicated.

Dockery on drilling

Republican gubernatorial candidate Paula Dockery has been a consistent and outspoken opponent of offshore oil drilling, but the Lakeland state senator says a special session to enact a constitutional ban would be wasting taxpayer money. Check her out today on Bay News 9's Political Connections at 11 a.m. and 8 p.m.

Hard right for Rubio

If you expected Marco Rubio to move to the center once he effectively locked up the GOP Senate nomination, think again. Last week he named a campaign policy group packed with arch conservatives: Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina; Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin; Dick Cheney's daughter, Liz Cheney; former Cheney adviser Cesar V. Conda; former Dick Armey adviser Andy Laperriere; former Jeb Bush adviser Donna Arduin; former George W. Bush adviser Robert McNally; and Patricia Levesque, who leads Jeb Bush's education reform foundation.

Crist's memory

Charlie Crist says he would vote to confirm Elena Kagan as a Supreme Court justice, but talking to the Miami Herald editorial board the other day struggled to recall specifically why he opposed Sonia Sotomayor. It couldn't possibly because he was in trouble in the Republican primary back then, could it?

New adviser

Democratic strategist Eric Johnson, former U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler's savvy chief of staff, has joined the Crist campaign, serving as a South Florida adviser.

Adam Smith is on Twitter at AdamSmithTimes and can be reached at asmith@sptimes.com.