Charlie Crist will not run for the U.S. Senate: the rumor is answered

Charlie Crist quelled the rumor and quickly. No, he's not going to run for a U.S. Senate seat. Here from George Bennett at the Post On Politics blog and some names you might recognize:

     Whatever one thinks of Republican-turned-independent-turned-Democrat Charlie Crist, he’s a statewide figure who raised more than $40 million and came within 65,000 votes of winning the governorship last fall.
     So Crist’s announcement late Monday that he won’t be a candidate for any office in 2016 means Florida Democrats probably won’t field a candidate with experience running statewide in next year’s U.S. Senate race.
     The two Democrats who have shown the most conspicuous interest in the Senate race so far are Reps. Patrick Murphy, D-Jupiter, and Alan Grayson, D-Orlando — both of whom have built impressive national fundraising bases and garnered some larger attention but have never campaigned outside their respective media markets.

Charlie Crist is an asset to the Democrat Party, true. And it's also true Crist didn't turn out the Democrat numbers in Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach Counties that he needed to win.