Crist finds right polling place, votes yes on 2

ST. PETERSBURG -- Once he figured out his correct polling place -- even the top guy can get confused -- Gov. Charlie Crist voted yes today on Amendment 2, which seeks to define marriage in the Florida's Constitution as a union between a man and a woman. "I voted for it," Crist said outside the polling place. "It's what I believe in."

Crist arrived at the Coliseum in downtown St. Petersburg just after 10 a.m. after mistakenly going to the Mahaffey Theater to cast his ballot. "They changed my polling place," he said. "Today, I was very happy to find the right place."

Crist also applauded the high voter turnout in Florida.

"I wanted to express to my fellow Floridians of how proud I am of how they have comported themselves in this election process," Crist said. "Over 4-million have already voted in early voting."

Nicole Hutcheson, Times staff writer

Photo by Scott Keeler | Times

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Comments

I never knew somebody could manage to get lost in downtown St. Petersburg.

I am calling Shenanigins

Let the Republican crying, wailing and gnashing of teeth begin.

Figures... just another closted gay Republican elected official voting in typical self-loathing fashion.

[Bankrupt citizen]

Crist is the biggest hypocrite alive. Do you really think he opposses civil unions? I know he doesnt but he goes out and tells everybody he wants our constitution to discriminate and be full of hate. I bet he voted no, and doesnt have the courage to tell his hatefilled party the truth. That deep down he doesnt believe anything they stand for.

[enough]

That makes my next-term decision easier. I can't abide a hypocrite. Crist has got to go.

11:16: Moving the polling site was a racist ploy to disenfranchise voters!

haha, 1121, my thoughts exactly. It is a sad world.

That is hysterical. Did his mail order bride to be vote yes as well? I guess amendment two doesn't have a no houseboy clause.

"I voted for it," Crist said outside the polling place. "It's what I believe in."

The St. Petersburg Times, November 4, 2008

---

"It's not an issue that moves me," Gov. Charlie Crist told reporters Thurday after sponsors of the initiative announced they had enough signatures to get it on the ballot..."I'm just a live and let live kind of guy," the governor said.

The St. Petersburg Times, December 14, 2007

[PUMAs for McCain Palin]

McCain Palin folks HAVE FAITH,

The PUMAs are out in full force and will help you elect McCain Palin.

We don’t want to beat a dead horse here (or, donkey, as the case may be), but we need to remind you all, once more, not to be Eeyores today.

The Obamedia is going to do to you what they did to Hillary supporters during the primaries — they are going to lie, and float all sorts of incorrect exit polls, and start revving up to declare Obama the winner.

Drudge Report — mark our words — is going to run that flashing red/blue siren he loves to report McCain losing all sorts of traditional Republican states around midday. He’s going to get all of you Eeyores hyperventilating.

The goal of the Obamedia is to depress you so much you don’t turn out to vote. Our friend Astrid always falls for this garbage, and we know she is not all alone. She’ll be miserable all day because she’s never learned to turn out the media and just chill out.

This is going to go down just like Super Tuesday - where the media claimed Obama would win California, New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and others…but Clinton won every state we predicted she’d win.

In fact, we were right about every state in the primaries except Missouri, which Clinton lost by less than 1%. Otherwise, we were spot-on.

So, we know you Eeyores are going to drive everyone in your lives crazy today. You are going to panic and wet yourselves and email/call/bother all of your friends and relatives all day. You’ll forward bogus polls and terrible links to everyone, and depress people left and right.

We have no idea why you people behave this way and really wish you would stop. Because we’ve been through this with you since New Hampshire and just think it’s all so ridiculous.

Here’s our advice: take a break from news today — consider everything you hear to be lies. Watch some cool movies (our favorite of all time is The Contender with Joan Allen), eat a nice sandwich, have a nap (or two), then tune into the Election Results around 10pm or so CST to see the final tallies add up and wait for a winner.

The rest of the day will just drive you over the edge — and then you will spread this Eeyore gloom and doom to everyone else, because that seems to be what you do.

We will never understand that.

But, we know you’ll do it, because you’ve consistently done it since January. It’s very predictable.

Just like the election results.

McCain wins 286-252…and America gets its first female Vice President.

And on November 5th, we start campaigning for 2012.

Luv Ya Lots and Hope you enjoy your Gift!

-PUMA

[Dawn]

Well guess that makes my decision on who to vote for in the next gubanatorial race, whoever runs against him. He is flying in the face of the elderly, the gay population and people as a whole. He'll never get my vote again.

[tim]

I don't think he really voted for it. I think he said that he voted for it but in the privacy of the booth, he voted against it- Its called the "Elton John Effect"

[morgan]

A constitution that discriminates against it's own population is not a constitution of all the people it governs. I would think the Governor of a state would "do what's right" in this case by voting NO as he did extending early voting. Good luck next time around in the elections.

[Curt]

amen.2 is a wasted of space on the ballot. I am going to vote no just to piss off the religous right. I think they should just outlaw marriage so this wouldn't be an issue anymore.

[Jessica]

I didn't like him when he was elected and I definitely don't like him now. The representative of our state just voted yes on Amendment 2? What is this country coming to? How is that possibly a leader? Complete and utter ignorance is running our state... unbelievable.

[PUMAs Growl, Elect McCain]

Tomorrow's headline:

PUMAs Growl, Elect McCain

The fix is in in Ohio -- its Nader.

http://blog.dispatch.com/vote08/2008/11/obama_mccain_missing_from_some.shtml

Is Crist going to the wake in Arizona tonight?

[fabumari]

He sure sold his soul, didn't he. Everyone knows Charlie's a big queen.

[Chuck]

How so 11:27?

You people will make endless excuses for why certain demographics don't vote when the answer is simple.

They are lazy.

[Jordan]

And Charlie flops again!
If I recall his anthem was live and let live... I would really like to know how oppression is considered "letting live."
Even Palin would stand up and say that while she was against gay marriage she believed in equal rights. This just shows what they really mean.
That they will sit there and say anything they want. This is the hate coming out in full force. This is not about protecting marriage, it’s a witch hunt, and a poorly disguised attempt at discrimination.
If you don’t want gays to get married, FINE, but to take away any other equivalent union is just wrong. Equality is about finding a BALANCE, a COMPRIMISE, and I wish people would just wake up and realize that. But I suppose when you see someone as being beneath you, there is no conviction to compromise.

[Comrades]

Comrades! Be informed that only by stopping the proliferation of Old and Tired America’s power production can the Party and Great Leader Obama hope to enforce and maximize the reliance of the unrepentant capitalist terrorists on the new practical paradigm of the STATE! Free-thinking, free-marketeers are antiquated and social apostate for the working Peoples and a Healthy Planet! Great Leader Obama will stop the exploitation of the Mother Gaia once and for all! We shall all have to take a step back, y’all, and realize the beauty of Beijing Bicycles as a means of transportation, windmills as a means of power, one a stick in the woods as a means for cleaning our bums! Witness!

Our Prole Party commandos are sullying forth to stop further exploitation of the Mother Earth! Rejoice and be instructed to assist and submit!

* Great Leader Obama’s Shock Troops are suing to block the construction of virtually every single baseload coal-fired power plant, in spite of advanced environmental technologies these plants would deploy.

* Great Leader Obama’s Shock Troops are gearing up to block construction of any baseload nuclear power plants across the West.

* Great Leader Obama’s Shock Troops are suing or protesting virtually every proposed lease on public lands in the Rocky Mountains for natural gas drilling.

* Great Leader Obama’s Shock Troops are working to slow or stop the completion of the two main multi-year, stakeholder-based transmission corridor processes that both Democrats and Republicans in Congress approved as part of the Energy Policy Act of 2005.

* Great Leader Obama’s Shock Troops are pushing for additional endangered species designations, which will make siting and construction of both power plants and transmission lines difficult.

* Great Leader Obama’s Shock Troops are pressuring government leaders to limit access by larger, baseload technologies to the region’s high-voltage transmission grid and, instead proposing to artificially favor non-baseload, intermittent power facilities that will (at some point) further stress the reliability of the entire Western grid.

Rejoice! Comrades, soon we will all revert to our preternatural state of STATE communal harmony in sharing a lack of power! All shall be equal in lack of possibility! Rejoice!

And disregard all counter-revolutionary independent thinking energy independent objective truth! Only the Party and Great Leader may inform your subjective truth!

[Chuck]

Jessica -

How so? The overwhelming majority of people living in FL are voting Yes on 2. Why should out "representative" vote any differently?

[morgan]

PUMA = shoe brand; made for stepping on.

Crist better hope #2 passes or his career is effectively over given his lack of campaigning and support on behalf of this major issue for the conservative base.

62% is where I think it ends up. After this is done hopefully gays will the results and embrace the unity we are all seeking and need in order to solve problems that effect all of us. It is unfortunate that activist courts in CA and CT had to stoke this issue but it is what it is.

[duh]

he probably is...on the florida tax payers dime.

Well, does the amendment 2 have any mention that marriage should not be between a closeted gay male Republican Governor and a woman? Is this guy fooling anyone else about his sexuality other than himself?

[Eric L]

I had to vote against it. Had it merely defined marriage as between a man and woman, I would have voted yes. But it voted to disallow any sort of relationship that was substantially similar, which would invalidate civil unions, and that I can't support

[duh]

The Religious folks seem to think this country/state is suppose to be ran according to their bible...give me one good reason not biblically related or corporate driven why this is even an issue?

[Mike]

Ha ha ha! PUMA quickly became the biggest non-story of this election. What a bunch of losers. If you were once for Hillary and then now for McCain out of spite, then you were never a Dem in the first place, you have little to no grasp of the issues, and I am VERY glad to rid the party of trash like you!

Dateline Nov 5, 2008: PUMAs whimper to ignominy ...

[Chuck]

Eric L -

FALSE.

I voted and all my troubles are over tomorrow. I don't hafta worry bout payin my mortgage or puttin gas in my car.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6ikOxi9yYk

[JC]

Precinct 704 - Tarpon Springs, FL

Was in line at 6:45am. Cast my vote at 7:10am. Took 10 minutes to scan my ballot as both machines went down just as I entered the booth.

One woman was resisting the precinct volunteer who was attempting to scoot her along despite the scanner reading "YOUR VOTE HAS NOT BEEN COUNTED". The woman finally got her ballot to scan on the second machine.

Not bad, took all of 10 minutes (likely 7 voters) before the machines malfunctioned.

Democracy...

I love the pathetic PUMA comment. How sad.

[Steve]

Tim, good call on the Elton John Effect. I just hope we get to vote Crist out of office before he falls for the Senator Larry Craig effect. None of us need to see that in the news.

While I didn't vote for Crist, I was at least confident he wasn't a hate-filled homophobe who would say and do anything to appease the radical right. I see that I was wrong and will work very hard for whoever runs against him next time.

[PUMAs Elect McCain]

McCain Palin folks HAVE FAITH,

The PUMAs are out in full force and will help you elect McCain Palin.

We don’t want to beat a dead horse here (or, donkey, as the case may be), but we need to remind you all, once more, not to be Eeyores today.

The Obamedia is going to do to you what they did to Hillary supporters during the primaries — they are going to lie, and float all sorts of incorrect exit polls, and start revving up to declare Obama the winner.

Drudge Report — mark our words — is going to run that flashing red/blue siren he loves to report McCain losing all sorts of traditional Republican states around midday. He’s going to get all of you Eeyores hyperventilating.

The goal of the Obamedia is to depress you so much you don’t turn out to vote. Our friend Astrid always falls for this garbage, and we know she is not all alone. She’ll be miserable all day because she’s never learned to turn out the media and just chill out.

This is going to go down just like Super Tuesday - where the media claimed Obama would win California, New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and others…but Clinton won every state we predicted she’d win.

In fact, we were right about every state in the primaries except Missouri, which Clinton lost by less than 1%. Otherwise, we were spot-on.

So, we know you Eeyores are going to drive everyone in your lives crazy today. You are going to panic and wet yourselves and email/call/bother all of your friends and relatives all day. You’ll forward bogus polls and terrible links to everyone, and depress people left and right.

We have no idea why you people behave this way and really wish you would stop. Because we’ve been through this with you since New Hampshire and just think it’s all so ridiculous.

Here’s our advice: take a break from news today — consider everything you hear to be lies. Watch some cool movies (our favorite of all time is The Contender with Joan Allen), eat a nice sandwich, have a nap (or two), then tune into the Election Results around 10pm or so CST to see the final tallies add up and wait for a winner.

The rest of the day will just drive you over the edge — and then you will spread this Eeyore gloom and doom to everyone else, because that seems to be what you do.

We will never understand that.

But, we know you’ll do it, because you’ve consistently done it since January. It’s very predictable.

Just like the election results.

McCain wins 286-252…and America gets its first female Vice President.

And on November 5th, we start campaigning for 2012.

Luv Ya Lots and Hope you enjoy your Gift!

-PUMA

[John McCain]

Wah? Chirst voted agianst Amend 2? When we were picking a running mate we wanted a woman and Christ was first on the list. I may be a shriveled up old prune that has digestion problems but I'm no gay hater.

Christ is a huge JOKE!!! Does he even know that he has a job as Gov of FL? How much time and travel has he taken on the taxpayers nickel? Where's the tax and insurance relief he promised us during his campaign? I swear he never leaves downtown St. Pete unless there's a photo shoot somewhere.

[ME]

What the heck is a PUMA? Is it like a Cougar that can't get a date?

12:03 wrote:
"After this is done hopefully gays will the results and embrace the unity we are all seeking and need in order to solve problems that effect all of us."

Are you serious? "Embrace the unity we are all seeking"? Permanently preventing any chance for ALL Floridians to receive equal rights and protection under the law is a funny way to "seek unity". This amendment is the definition of divisiveness.

If/when these crazies safely put the gays in their place, who's their next target? Taking children away from single moms, because, after all, a two parent household is better for the family, and by God, "we" know better how you should live your life than YOU do.

If people simply minded their own business this world would be a better place.

[Undecided]

You McCain lovers are a funny bunch, you have no problem voting for a man that's 72 years old and a running mate that's all flash and no substance.

Airline pilots are requires to retire at the age of 60, and they are only responcable for 200-400 people for a few hours. McCain looks feeble at times and I really question his health, and he would be responcable for over 300 million people for at least 4 years.

Scary.....

[stpete]

12:03 wrote:
"After this is done hopefully gays will the results and embrace the unity we are all seeking and need in order to solve problems that effect all of us."

Are you serious? Trying to put legalized bigotry into the state constitution doesn't seem to me that "we" are all seeking unity. I for one am tired of being the scapegoat of delusional folks who think there are such things as viginal births and white guys sitting somewhere in a place called heaven...get real, and just give me my equal rights and leave me the hell alone!!

Charlie Crist gone in 2010 - no matter WHO challenges him for the nomination.

12:51 you don't sound so undecided to me. Stop shilling for that Jigger. Vote for a real American.

[Galewind]

Proof Crist is gay, as if we needed any . . .

Eric L. - great sentiment. "I had to vote against it. Had it merely defined marriage as between a man and woman, I would have voted yes. But it voted to disallow any sort of relationship that was substantially similar, which would invalidate civil unions, and that I can't support."

Undecided at 12:51: What's "responcable?"

[Tina]

You YOUNG peole that post comments must learn to grow up & have respect. The respect of this generation has gone down the tubes. Very sad. People are so freaken spoiled and don't know it.

[Tuck]

Charlie said what he had to say. Voting "Yes" as a Republican would have been political suicide. Sorry, but gays are far outnumbered by religous people.

I could personally care less. Let them get married...just don't put it on TV. Under no circumstances do I want to see 2 guys kiss. That's just gross!

[PUMAs Growl, Elect McCain]

20% of Hillary 18,000,000 voters have said they won't vote for Obama.

Even 5% of PUMAs will decide this Election.

PUMAs give a GIFT to the GOP

PUMAs Growl, Elect McCain