Politico is reporting that Gov. Charlie Crist (R-FL) will announce tomorrow that he is running for the Senate. He will say that Florida's problems are caused by Washington and by going there he can help solve them. He will not say that as a freshman in a minority caucus of 40 senators, he will have no power to do anything at all. Nor will he say that being governor is a tough job when the economy is bad because he has to make tough decisions that will be unpopular with many voters. Crist is popular in the state and will probably be elected senator, no matter who the Democrats run.
On the other hand, the governor's mansion will then be up for grabs. In the long run, that might actually be more important than one Senate seat more or less, especially when redistricting comes around in 2010.
Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY) has again said that he is running for reelection, despite Sen. Mitch McConnell repeatedly saying he is not. Who's right? Time will tell. Clearly McConnell and NRSC chairman Jon Kyl will do everything in their power to keep him from being the nominee since they know he would probably lose to either Lt. Gov. Daniel Mongiardo or Attorney General Jack Conway, the most likely Democratic nominees.
A really good map of the 2008 election by county is available at the NY Times Website. It lets you see how selected counties voted based on criteria you specify. For example, how did the race go in counties with > 30% Catholics? Or who won in counties where fewer than 20% of the voters have a college degree? Or what happened in counties where the median income falls between $50,000 and $70,000? Thanks to Kaitlin Duck Sherwood for the pointer.