“St Pete Skyline from Pier” by EaglesFanInTampa at English Wikipedia. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons –
Charlie Crist continues to be a media sensation and his run for Congress in the St Petersburg based CD-13 appeared to be straight forward. But Democratic Primary challenger Eric Lynn has solidified much of his support locally, and with nine months to go until the primary, Crist is not shoe-in for the nomination. Also, the continued saga over redistricting means that it is possible the new seat may not be as overwhelmingly Democratic-performing as expected and given the strong tradition of moderate Republicans in Pinellas County, perhaps a GOPer can still win the seat.
The CD-13 primary and the field operations of the Democratic Party were topics discussed this week by our TFS writers, Katy Burnett, Brook Hines and Kartik Krishnaiyer. The audio discussion below runs 12:10.
The Florida Squeeze 
Nice podcast. Whether it is the Adam Smith article or this program, the one thing I keep hearing is that despite some “Crist fatigue,” the race ultimately looks like it will go to him, after all the seat is tailor made for Governor Crist. I can see that being the seat he ends his public service career, not making another statewide run. If Eric Lynn wins then he will do a good job too. I just don’t see him beating Crist, those are his people and he has been everywhere. The GOP has no candidate, and despite some tweeking on Twitter from the anti-crist commentators, even they will privately tell you the seat is likely Crist’s. There is a GOP hope that former Mayor Baker jumps in, but the advantages that he was carried in a non-partisan mayoral elections likely go away in a partisan presidential year.
There is no evidence that the federal court will intervene based on what has been happening so far, including the rejection of the prior lawsuit. There is nothing to indicate that the Florida Supreme Court will make the district more conservative to where a democrat will not win that seat, whether Lynn or Crist. Why, because the numbers do not justify it under Fair Districts. There is a reason the Republican incumbent is not running again.
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Thanks much. This is a fair district I agree currently, though it is very possible because the adjoining districts need to be fixed, it will be impacted.
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Where is Peter Rudy Wallace when you need him.
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