Cowering Charlie Won’t Take a Hint

Charlie Crist can’t take the hint and he’s running scared in the Democratic primary.

Crist stayed silent this week as one of his House colleagues, Ilhan Omar, equated the United States and Israel to terrorist groups like Hamas and the Taliban. Even Nancy Pelosi managed somewhat of a rebuke of Omar, but Crist – afraid of offending socialist-sympathizers in the primary – didn’t take the hint from Pelosi and still hasn’t said a peep.

“Condemning socialist Ilhan Omar’s disgusting comments this week is the lowest bar Charlie Crist should meet when it comes to holding radical, anti-Semites accountable,” said RGA spokesperson Joanna Rodriguez. “If Crist won’t take the hint from his other colleagues and rebuke Omar now, he certainly can’t be trusted to fight anti-Semitism and socialism as Florida’s chief executive.”

The reality is, nothing Crist does may matter, as Five Thirty Eight examined how history shows the third time is not the charm for two-time losers like Charlie. Read excerpts from Five Thirty Eight below and the full post here.

“For starters, candidates who’ve lost just once — let alone twice — often don’t have much better luck the next go-around… But after two failed bids, the numbers get even worse… 

“That’s why several political scientists I spoke to said that for candidates like O’Rourke and Crist, running a third time after two consecutive losses is a dangerous game. “It is hard for people to run successfully after losing twice,” said Peter Francia, a professor of political science at East Carolina University. “Donors want winners. As a result, fundraising is a challenge. Interest groups want winners. So, endorsements are a challenge. Local, state, and national party organizations are also strategic in where they place their resources. Voters may even grow tired of a perennial candidate.”

“In other words, history doesn’t bode well for O’Rourke and Crist, and neither do the polls. It’s too early in the cycle for reliable head-to-head polling, but favorability ratings show that despite being relatively well-known, neither man is terribly popular…

“In short, Barker said, if voters’ most recent memory of a candidate is two election losses, they may not want to vote for that person again. ‘They start to view you as desperate,” he said. ‘You’re like the guy who won’t stop calling after you’ve already told them no.'”