Charlie Crist's Caucusing Plan

If Florida's formerly-Republican and now-Independent sitting governor and current Senate candidate Charlie Crist somehow manages to pull out this election and make it to that legislative chamber, then how will he caucus? The question of whether Crist will side with the Republicans or the Democrats has been bandied about lately, with the somewhat cryptic answer being provided from somewhere within the governor's camp: he'll caucus with whichever party has the majority.

In a purely politically expedient sense, this is probably a very good idea. Although I wouldn't think that it is such a good idea that Crist should want it publicized in advance. Still, it does take away the excuse for a voter to reject him solely on whether or not he is going to somehow tip the Senate's balance of power against their party. Well, kind of... actually, not at all!

If Charlie Crist (is elected and) wants to caucus with whatever party is in "control" of the Senate (and I use the word "control" very loosely), then he will have more of a say with proposed legislation, especially at the committee level. But if he wants to reassure concerned voters against the notion that the balance of power is in his hands...well, that would be a fallacy.

For the sake of argument, let's assume that Charlie Crist is elected. If either party, aside from Crist's seat, has 51 seats, then it truly doesn't matter, for organizational purposes, which party he declares for. Also, if the split is 50-49 in favor of the Democrats, he would side with them as Vice-President Biden would be constitutionally empowered to cast the 51st vote for the Democrats. But what if the entirely possible scenario develops where the Republicans have a slim 50-49 margin?

In this case, Crist does hold the balance of power. If he sides with the GOP, they have a 51-49 margin. If he sides with the Dems, they have a 51-50 margin with Biden's tiebreaker. So I don't think it is unreasonable to keep probing him about his intentions regarding party affiliation should he win.

The way I see it, though, is that from the viewpoint of a Democrat noting how my own party's nominee is so hopelessly behind in the polls, it would be prudent for me to support moderate Crist just to prevent extremist (in my opinion) Republican Tea Party nominee Marco Rubio from "representing" me in the Senate. For six freaking years!