Democrats quietly line up in Crist's corner

You may never have heard of Peggy Land, unless you're a Tampa Democratic political insider.

She's a proverbial little old lady in tennis shoes, but along with her late husband John, she has also been a faithful Democratic political donor - some $20,000 to the party and its candidates over the last decade or so, plus more from fundraisers in their home, and none to Republicans.

So who is Land backing in the U.S. Senate race?

Gov. Charlie Crist, a former Republican running as a no-party candidate.

She has donated to Democrat Kendrick Meek but says the same thing some other Democrats statewide are starting to say: Crist looks increasingly like their best chance of defeating Republican Marco Rubio.

"I don't think there's really any other choice. I don't think Kendrick is going to be able to do much better than he's doing now," Land said last week, while attending yet another Democratic fundraiser, for attorney general candidate Dan Gelber.

"All my friends are very much opposed to Marco Rubio and what he stands for," she said. "Charlie has his heart in the right place."

Land isn't a big political name, but Broward County Property Appraiser Lori Parrish is. Last week it created a shock wave when Parrish, godmother of Democratic politics in the state's biggest Democratic county, hosted a fundraiser for Crist.

A dozen other prominent Broward Democrats co-hosted, including state Rep. Ari Porth of Coral Springs - the only Democratic legislator to break ranks and back Crist openly, except Rep. Darryl Rouson of St. Petersburg, a former Republican and longtime Crist ally.

"All we're doing is saying out loud what everyone else is whispering about," Parrish said. Neither Meek nor billionaire Jeff Greene, challenging Meek in the primary, can beat Rubio, she said. "So if we don't unite on someone, we'll send a right-wing ultra-conservative to Washington."

The number of Democratic insiders and major donors backing Crist so far is small, but experts say it will increase if Greene wins the primary.

A real estate investor who moved to Florida two years ago from California and has no history in Florida politics, Greene has spent millions of his own money on television advertising. He's now roughly tied with Meek in polls of Democratic voters, but has no base of support among party activists and insiders.

"There seem to be a lot of activists supporting Meek who aren't excited about Greene. If Greene were to win, the governor could pick up some of those," said Porth. "I'm hoping this is the start of more to come."

Meek's campaign, however, expects movement in the opposite direction.

"Kendrick Meek is the only candidate in this race who has never run as a Republican, never held up the Republican banner," said spokesman Adam Sharon, in reference to Greene's 1982 run for Congress in California as a Republican.

Sharon said winning the primary will cure the problem some Democrats cite, Meek's lack of a statewide reputation.

"He will win the primary with more than 250 elected Democratic leaders who have endorsed him, and countless organizations - law enforcement, labor, veterans, retirees.

"That will demonstrate that Kendrick Meek is the Democrat who holds Democratic principles and has done so his entire life. Gov. Crist is a lifelong conservative Republican who held to those positions as recently as two months ago."

Supporters cite the groundwork Meek has laid for his race - qualifying by petition and building a statewide field network in the process, a network Crist lacks because he lacks a political party.

In the Tampa Bay area, most Democrats backing Crist so far aren't hard-core partisans like Parrish. Some examples:

Former Mayor Dick Greco, who often backs Republicans, including the Bush brothers.

City Council member Charlie Miranda, whose non-partisan office means he often works across party lines.

Lawyer Ralph Fernandez, active in the GOP-dominated, anti-Castro Cuban community.

Denise Layne, a former Republican and environmental activist. "The Republicans pushed me out," she said. "They did the same thing to Charlie."

Prominent trial lawyer Steve Yerrid, whom Crist recently appointed special counsel for the state in dealing with the BP oil spill.

Yerrid said he has donated to Meek, but, "The people I respect are having a greater sense of urgency in this election" to defeat Rubio. Crist is "the best alternative - that wave of support is gaining."

During his tenure as governor, and particularly since he declared he was leaving the Republican Party, Crist has given Democrats several reasons to feel comfortable with him.

He has taken several actions that angered the conservative side of his former party, and vetoed bills that were priorities for Republicans in the Legislature but were disliked by Democrats.

Parrish said she decided to back Crist when he vetoed a bill requiring women seeking abortions to have an ultrasound test, and a bill requiring that teachers' salaries be based largely on their students' test scores.

Crist held signing ceremonies in Porth's hometown this spring for two bills Porth had pushed - adding the homeless to anti-hate crimes laws and lifting the statute of limitations on wrongful death lawsuits in cases of murder and manslaughter.

After the administration of Gov. Jeb Bush, Crist was "a breath of fresh air for moderate Democrats and independents," said Lance Block, a prominent Tallahassee lawyer and party activist who recently co-sponsored a fundraiser for Crist.

Block, who has attended several national Democratic conventions and was a Democratic elector in 2000 and 2004, held a fundraiser for Crist last month.

It included such committed Republicans as lawyer/lobbyists Brian Ballard and Mac Stipanovich, and such Democrats as Department of Children and Families Secretary George Sheldon and prominent Tallahassee lawyer Dexter Douglass. Ironically, noted Block, he and Douglass were leaders in Al Gore's legal team during the 2000 Florida presidential election recount, while Ballard and Stipanovich worked with Bush.

Pundits have speculated that Crist's hiring of one of the nation's top Democratic political advertising firms, Squier Knapp Dunn, or SKD Knickerbocker, indicates tacit approval of his candidacy by the national Democratic Party.

The firm has worked in the campaigns of the four most recent Democratic presidential nominees.

It's true that political operatives rarely take on clients who would anger their most important past customers, but SKD Knickerbocker has also carved out a niche working for independents, including New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Tampa Meek strategist Ana Cruz said national Democrats are far from abandoning Meek. "We talk to the White House all the time," she said.