Charlie, who are you now?

Charlie Crist seems to have become a campaign chameleon, shifting shape and changing colors depending on where he is and to whom he's talking.

"The people" he professes to serve can no longer know what he stands for, and if he doesn't convince them soon that he believes in something more than his political career, he will likely lose the U.S. Senate race in November.

This editorial page has generally supported Crist. We backed him in his unsuccessful challenge of former Sen. Bob Graham in 1998 and enthusiastically endorsed him for governor four years ago.

We were not offended when he left the Republican Party in April after he fell well behind primary opponent Marco Rubio in the polls.

Much of the criticism of him then - his acceptance of the stimulus dollars and his respectful embrace of President Obama - seemed superficial and unfair. The stimulus program may have been flawed, but it enabled the state to avoid laying off teachers and eliminating key services. Florida's conservative Legislature, including many Rubio supporters, eagerly spent it.

But less than three months before this election, Crist, the former "lifelong Republican," seems to be moving steadily to the left. Much of the media believe he will caucus with the Democrats if elected. He says he will caucus "with the people of Florida."

But the people of Florida are not in Washington. His professions notwithstanding, he can't be all things to all people.

The Crist we used to know was a fiscal conservative who believed in limited government.

He sought to help small businesses and protect the environment. He was tough on crime.

He didn't think he had all the answers. He listened to opposing views, a favorite expression being "God gave me one mouth and two ears." But Crist usually came at issues from a conservative perspective.

Lately it has been difficult to discern Crist's beliefs.

Take what happened last weekend. After opposing President Obama's health care reform, the governor said on national television he would have supported it. Later he backtracked, saying there were some things in the legislation that were good, and some things that weren't.

That's not his only hedge.

He supported the president's stimulus package when it was popular but later said he didn't endorse it.

He was against gay adoption. Now he's for it.

He's been accused of flip-flopping on the Defense of Marriage Amendment.

You get the picture.

More troubling, many of his responses these days seem calculated to minimize offense to voters of either side.

A politician has every right to change his mind as he matures in office, and flexibility is needed when one side makes a better case than the other.

We want officials who are smart enough to adjust to changing situations and compromise when necessary. We don't want an ideologue whose views are unclouded by reality.

But the Crist we thought we knew - a pragmatic and fair-minded conservative - is not the one we are seeing on the campaign trail.

Crist, however likeable, can't take a pass on the issues. If he wants to be Florida's senator, he must show voters he stands for something.