(Independent voters traditionally determine elections in the nation's largest swing state and, as Florida Republican Party chairman Lenny Curry confirmed on Monday, “Mitt Romney cannot win the presidency without Florida.")
– Looks like Charlie Crist has become the Joe Lieberman of this election cycle. The former Republican governor of Florida, who turned independent for a failed 2010 Senate bid, will be speaking at the Democratic National Convention next week, reports USA Today. Crist, who declared his support for President Obama over the weekend, was seen as a potential running mate for John McCain in 2008, but fell out of favor with the GOP after backing Obama's economic stimulus plan in 2009, the New York Times notes. Crist has been denounced as a turncoat by Republicans, who have a turncoat of their own at their convention. Artur Davis, co-chair of Obama's first campaign, now supports Mitt Romney and will be one of the RNC's featured speakers tonight. Crist's conversion has sparked rumors that he may run as a Democrat against Florida Gov. Rick Scott in 2014, although some people in both parties scorn the idea, reports the Miami Herald. "How’s a guy who is pro-life, pro-gun, anti-gay marriage, anti-civil unions and is to the right of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney on abortion—how is he going to run as a Democrat?" wondered the chief of the Florida Republican Party.