Crist announces his intent to run as independent

Now it’s official.

It only took a few months and a push downhill from Marco Rubio, but Charlie Crist has finally announced he will run as an independent in the Florida Senate race.

“My decision to run as a says more about our nation or our state than it does about me,” said the governor at a campaign event in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Crist spoke of the “broken system” that is American politics. “For me,” said Crist, “public service is more about putting the needs of the public for the needs of myself.”

The announcement comes a little more than a week after a Quinnipiac University poll showed Rubio whooping Crist by 23 points in the GOP race. In that same survey, Crist is projected wins the three-way race against Rubio and Demoocrat Kendrick Meek by the skin of his teeth.

With just a year into his governorship, Crist had high approval ratings and was being touted as a potential Vice President nominee. Sen. John Cornyn once called him “the best candidate” for the Senate seat.

But polls had been ringing in Crist’s ears for months and they only got louder. Crist first denied reports that he would jump ship and run as an independent, all the while losing money and Republican support.

Meanwhile, Rubio has proven nearly untouchable, even when faced with federal investigations. Crist, on the other hand, took a beating recently when he vetoed the teacher-pay tenure bill.

In an inteview airing tonight on ABC, Rubio, dismisses any idea that Crist’s decision has anything to do with principles:

“That’s not what this is about at all … In fact this has nothing to do with ideas or principles or ideology; it’s about, quite frankly, political convenience. It’s about someone who wants to continue his career in politics and doesn’t believe he can do that this year within the Republican Party.”

So how can Crist win as an independent? The Daily Caller’s Mike Riggs and Pat McMahon offered some tips for the rebel Republican last week.

“The odds are like a million percent better than if he were running as a Republican,” said Brett Doster, a Republican political operative who managed Tom Gallagher’s gubernatorial campaign against Crist in 2006. “Now he’s free without any loyalty to any organization, party or ideology to just come out and be an absolute and total populist.”