Charlie Crist has had episodes of 'misspeaking' before

When a television interviewer asked Gov. Charlie Crist about the national health care reform bill last week, Crist responded quickly, "I would have voted for it, but I think it can be done better."

He went on to elaborate fluently on what was right and wrong with the bill, what he would have fixed before supporting it.

There was only one problem. For months, starting the day the bill passed, Crist had repeatedly said he opposed it and would repeal it, and had backed a state lawsuit to overturn it.

Crist's campaign quickly sent out a clarification, with his explanation: "If I misspoke ..."

Misspeaking -- saying one thing when you actually think or mean another -- can happen to anyone, even a practiced public speaker and political figure.

But with Crist, it seems to happen often:

• In the best-known example, Crist told a television interviewer in November that he didn't endorse President Barack Obama's stimulus plan. In fact, he had repeatedly and enthusiastically backed it, including during a highly publicized Florida visit by Obama in the previous February.

• Two days after the health care comment, his campaign had to send out another clarification after Crist told a CNN interviewer he favored a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, which he has opposed in the past. The clarification: He was talking about a state ban, which he has supported - even though that ban endangers the right to same-sex civil unions, which Crist says he favors.

• Two days after the health care bill comments, Crist told another television interviewer his campaign will refund contributions from disillusioned Republicans who gave to him before he left the party - contradicting his previously announced decision on the subject.

His comments on the contributions, however, were fuzzy - "We'll give it back to people who had asked for it, but right now the point of the matter is, you know, I've got a campaign that I've got to run. People gave money to a good cause, I'm going to spend it on a good cause."

Crist's opponents accuse him of "flip-flopping," but these reversals seem more blatant than typical political issue shifts, such as Crist's movement on near-shore oil drilling from favorable before the BP spill to opposed afterward.

Instead, these changes directly contradict repeated, well-recorded positions, as if those positions never existed - something no politician could hope to get away with.

Was Crist simply "misspeaking," or does he have a calculated strategy, as his opponents allege, of saying whatever sounds good at the moment?

Crist wasn't available for an interview for this story.

But University of Florida political scientist Dan Smith, an expert on political campaigns, said Crist "isn't misspeaking - he knows exactly what he's doing."

"He's made it very clear to likely voters that he's willing to pander to the median voter - the one who's right in the center of the electorate," Smith said. "I'm not sure voters find that so objectionable. Floridians themselves are pretty fickle."

Smith said "hewing to the sensible middle" is Crist's best hope in a campaign in which Republican Marco Rubio is attacking him from the right and Democrat Kendrick Meek from the left.

"His strategy is like that song lyric - 'clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right.' "

The problem, Smith said, is "how long it is until the charade is up," with Meek and Rubio calling Crist on his switches, both shooting at Crist from different directions.

Crist is limiting his commitment to high-profile debates with Meek and Rubio to avoid being caught in that two-against-one double squeeze, Smith said.

"If anybody can pull it off, Crist can," Smith said. "He looks so sincere, so earnest when he's telling you something 180 degrees from what he said last week."

"It's a Rorschach test - he has to let the voters project on to him what they want to see."

Crist's opponents don't credit the "misspeaking" explanation.

Since the health care comments, Rubio's campaign has sent out a score of e-mails accusing Crist of having taken seven different positions on the issue.

Crist "doesn't actually care about health care, he only cares about getting himself elected," Rubio said in one news release.

Spokesman Alex Burgos contended that Crist's comment on health care was calculated, not an accident.

"What's he's trying harder than anything to do right now is win Democratic votes," Burgos said.

Meek spokesman Adam Sharon said occasional misspeaking "is understandable, but not when it becomes a habitual occurrence. For Gov. Crist, it's become the norm. You just flip the hourglass and wait for him to do a 180.

"You can explain doing it once in a campaign, but not once a day," Sharon said. "It comes from not being true to a core set of principles and values."

EXAMPLES:

The stimulus:

Feb. 10, 2009

"We know that it's important that we pass the stimulus package ... [the stimulus bill] is about helping our country. this is not about partisan politics. We are rising above that." (Appearing with Barack Obama in Fort Myers)

Feb. 23, 2009

"It's tax cuts, it helps us in education, it helps us in infrastructure ... We've got to do something to help our country move forward, so that's why I support it." (Meeting with Obama and other governors on the stimulus in Washington)

Nov. 5, 2009:

"I didn't endorse it, I didn't even have a vote on the darn thing." (CNN interview)

Health care:

Aug. 27:

"The Obama health care bill was too big, too expensive, and expanded the role of government far too much. Had I been in the United States Senate at the time, I would have voted against the bill because of unacceptable provisions like the cuts to the Medicare Advantage program." (On Crist campaign website for months)

Aug. 27:

"I would have voted for it but I think it can be done better. There's a part of it that concerns me as it relates to Medicare ... takes about $500 million out of Medicare. So before voting for it, that would have had to have been fixed. ... So there's good and bad in it." (Interview with CFLN-Orlando)

Returning campaign contributions to Republican donors

May 14:

"People gave it for a good cause, and I intend to spend it on a good cause and that is, you know, to hopefully have a new U.S. senator who will work hard for the people of Florida... They gave it to Charlie Crist, a candidate for the U.S. Senate, and I'm still Charlie Crist, a candidate for the U.S. Senate." (Tampa Tribune interview)

Aug. 29:

"We'll give it back to people who had asked for it, but right now, the point of the matter is, you know, I've got a campaign that I've got to run." (CNN interview)