And this is how the Democratic party gets pulled ever further rightward.

[OmahaBlueDog]

32. In Britain, they have the Tories, Labour, and the "Lib Dems"

In their context, the LibDems are really more of a centrist party. That's what really should happen with people like Crist, Michael Bloomberg, Susan Collins and others whom the GOP has left behind. It could also serve as a home for Dems like Joe Manchin, who increasingly have little in common with the party.

I live in a very red state. It's increasingly difficult for Dems to win any statewide elected office here. Ben Nelson had a very mixed (to put it kindly) voting record. Bob Kerrey (whom I admire a great deal) ran on points such as making the Senate non-partisan.

That said, I've also lived in Florida. I'm not a huge fan of Crist (although he's been generally supportive of the President), but he's far more acceptable than Rick Scott. We can only speculate: would Crist have beaten Rubio if Kendrick Meek had dropped out? Answer: probably not, but in retrospect, it would have been worth a shot. We're now likely stuck with Rubio for the next quarter century.

Would I prefer to see someone else? Yes, but first we need to find someone who can actually run an inspired/inspiring campaign. Bette Castor, for example, would have been a good governor, but she allowed herself to be painted as soft-on-terrorists, and ran an overall lackluster campaign.

My preference would have been that Crist had remained independent, and that we'd have agreed to support his campaign against Scott in the absence of a more viable candidate.