Et Tu, Wexler?

Watching the way this Senate race has played out since Charlie Crist took his Republican clothes off and started trumping down the streets in his naked independence, it has frustrated me to no end how many otherwise sensible liberals have nodded, applauded and cheered that the Emperor had beautiful new liberal credentials.

Now, fire-breathing liberal Robert Wexler has jumped in. This makes me very angry. But it's just the latest in a long list of backers that includes Charlie Whitehead and a number of other high- and low-level Democrats. And the governor is touting his support from the left pretty loudly.

To be honest, I am starting to wonder if Crist really is trying to win this anymore. Since taking a hard tack to the left, he has done nothing but bleed Republican support to the advantage of Marco Rubio while splitting Democrats with Kendrick Meek.

I worry, in my most cynical moments, that Kos is right about Rubio getting a free pass and this race tilting totally in the wrong direction. I don't want to kid myself into thinking this would have been a cakewalk if Crist died quietly in the GOP primary and there had ended up being a genuine Meek-Rubio battle in November, but I certainly think things might be easier is Crist wasn't chipping at the left full-time right now.

But people like Wexler fuel the myth that Crist is the only thing standing between Marco Rubio and the Senate. A united left would stop Rubio, and do it more forcefully than squishy Charlie ever could. That is why the Wexler endorsement hurts so much. This man literally wrote the book on standing up for liberal values, and has now thrown his weight behind a guy whose politics shift with the sands. How can someone who stood up to Bush rhetoric even at the height of jingoism now be snuggling up to Crist?

I want Meek to win. I haven't been shy about saying that. I also always figured Crist went into this race the favorite because he could siphon from the left and the right. But I never expected Crist to run this piss-poor of a campaign, and I now fear he will prove me wrong by placing poorly and ruin my hopes of a Meek win by taking the Democrats down with the ship.

But hey. Maybe I'm just in pessimistic mood. Maybe I was more on the mark last week. And for some reason, there aren't a billion polls coming out on this race right now, despite no candidate polling above 43 on a good day.

People have been chiding me for months, telling me a vote for Meek is a vote for Rubio. Well look at the world around. Crist is spoiling this race for us. He has tossed out his political future on the right, and is scorching the fields as he explores life on the left. Crist won't win this way, but can do a lot of damage. And Wexler is enabling the destruction.

Maybe I'm too pessimistic right now, and was more on spot last week. Hopefully the polling will turn around a bit as all candidates take to the airwaves with a little more oomph. Meek has people like Al Gore, Bill Clinton and Joe Biden behind him, and those should be worth more outside a small part of South Florida than Wexler could ever dream. But things have to swing into gear quick.