GOP to Crist.. "We want our money back!"

Now that Charlie Crist has left the Republican Party to mount an independent run for Senate, Texas Sen. John Cornyn wants a refund of all the money his political action committee donated to the Florida governor. Cornyn, who runs the GOP campaign operation for the Senate, expects a number of Republicans to demand money back from Crist because they don't want his independent bid to be financed with party funds.
"People have already asked for their money back and I expect that to continue," Cornyn said Thursday. "I certainly will request the money I donated to his campaign from my leadership PAC back."The conservative Club for Growth said it planned a campaign to get donors big and small to ask for refunds. The group led a similar effort in 2009 after Pennsylvania's Arlen Specter switched from Republican to Democrat. Cornyn also said he expects Crist will have a hard time raising money as an independent, especially now that Republicans are lining up behind his opponent, state House Speaker Marco Rubio. Cornyn, formerly an enthusiastic backer of Crist, is among the Republicans who have urged the governor to drop out of the Senate race completely, to avoid boosting the chances of Democrat Kendrick Meek. Crist, whose fortunes within the GOP have faded in recent months,officially announced in St. Petersburg that he was quitting the Republican Party.

Florida's GOP Governor to run as an Independent

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist said that he WILL be mounting an independent run for U.S. Senate, after the head of the GOP's re-election committee declared that the governor has "zero chance" to win as a Republican. He made the comments after Rob Jesmer of the National Republican Senatorial Committee wrote in an e-mail Monday that Crist should drop out of the race completely if he believes he can't win the primary. "We believe there is zero chance Governor Crist continues running in the Republican primary," Jesmer wrote in the memo to party officials and fund-raisers in Florida and Washington. Jesmer said the committee is prepared to support former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio if Crist runs as an independent. According to recent polls, Crist trails Tea Party favorite Rubio by an average of nearly 23 points.A three-way race would pit Crist and Rubio against Democratic Rep. Kendrick Meek.