Florida Senate Primary Results...Crist, Rubio and Meek

I don't see why we have to have parties anyway. I've never understood it and it's bad for the country because people will vote for a straight party ticket without knowing anything about the candidates that represent it--it's a lazy way to vote. I have relatives that will vote for only democrats (very few republicans in my family!) no matter what they are like. They just figure repubs are evil so they vote straight democrat no matter how the candidates stand on the issues. One of my ex in-laws will vote for anyone in favor of abortion no matter what they say on other issues. So three way races might cause people to actually put some thought into their votes. That would be a VERY good thing!

Well it looks like Meek has no chance whatsoever so it's kind of a win/win situation. I'd prefer that Rubio win as I agree with him on more issues than Crist, but I won't be heartbroken if Crist wins the election. I'm a bit surprised that Meek won the nomination so handily with a billionaire running against him. If Greene had won the nomination for the democrats, the polls showed that Crist would have had a big lead on Rubio since democrats like him more than Greene. As it is this will be a close race. Personally I think the republicans were extremely foolish to demonize Crist for running as an independent. I didn't want him to, but I fully support his choice as I like people having more options, particularly ones that aren't beholden to a party. The attacks on him now bring the risk of him caucusing with the democrats should he win and that would hurt the GOP, and the country in my opinion, badly. "Do you believe that three way races are good for either of the two major parties?" No I don't, but I don't care either. It's what's good for the people, not the parties, that matters to me. I like a good three way race. I wouldn't mind a run off vote though to get a majority winner out of the top two.

Well, I'm way too far north from Florida to go to those polls & cast a vote. Even then, I have never heard of any of them, & therefore, it'd be an uneducated vote if I was allowed & able to. It's tough to say whether a three way race is good or bad. It actually depends on the situation, what each candidate stands for, & many other factors. Theoretically, it may be good in that the third candidate may bring out other issues that the other two never thought of. We experienced something like this on a nationwide scale during the George H. "Daddy" Bush / Bill Clinton election back in 1992. Where I am, there were many Ross Perot supporters, but there seemed to have been more Clinton supporters than those who supported "Daddy" Bush. People from both sides of the two camps claimed that "A vote for Perot is a vote for (the opposing candidate)." Clinton supporters were saying that a vote for Perot was an indirect vote for Bush, & vice versa. I vaguely remember that he brought out another issue that neither Daddy Bush or Clinton thought of, but I forgot what it was. It seems that the reality of it is that we almost never had a candidate successfully elected that was not a member of one of the two dominating parties. At least, when it comes to the Presidency, this seems true. Unless that independent candidate can get the votes to win, it can also be detrimental in that the if he does not get the votes to win, the lessor desirable candidate might just end up winning.

To try to answer your question first, I'm not sure if three way races are good for either of the parties but I think they're good for the voters. I think they have the potential of forcing the major party candidates to say what they REALLY think instead of just toting the party talking points over and over again since the third candidate usually isn't beholden to any party. I think we all know in primary campaigns Republicans usually move right and Democrats move left then in the general they both move at least somewhat to the center. During the general campaign it's not all that effective for one to call the other out on this shift since they both did it but when you have a third candidate, he or she can get away with it much better and "hit" both parties' candidate. I'm not positive since I don't live there so I'm not familiar with all of the issues facing Florida, but I have a feeling if I did I'd be voting for Crist. Annie

Typically, three way races have been detrimental to the Republicans. I actually think it is a good thing to have a three way race. At the very least it makes things interesting. But in this particular race, I think Meek won't be in the race towards the end. It will be between Rubio and Crist. Who wins will be based on who is turning out to vote. If the heavily Cuban population in Miami comes out, Rubio could squeak by. If the voting stats don't shift one way or another, then it will be close but Crist might get the nod. I don't think Meek has much of a chance because Crist is still pulling in some Democrats voters.

I think that Crist has sold his soul as a career politician and should be rejected by all voters, republican, independent, democratic and registered elsewhere. Eric