Your morning jolt: Charlie Crist to speak at Democratic National Convention

Tampa – Vice President Joe Beiden canceled his trip to Florida, but Democrats have found a way to make headlines while Republicans mill around, waiting for things to start. From the Miami Herald:

Florida’s former Republican Gov. Charlie Crist will be a speaker at the Democratic National Convention.

An official with President Barack Obama’s campaign said Sunday that Crist will speak at next week’s convention in Charlotte, N.C., but the days hasn’t been worked out.

The official wasn’t authorized to speak and requested anonymity.

Crist announced Sunday that he is endorsing Obama. Republicans called the decision political opportunism and pointed out Crist has previously criticized the president on issues like his health care overhaul.

For those new to politics, Crist withdrew from the 2010 Republican race for U.S. Senate, as Marco Rubio overshadowed him, then attempted a run as an independent.

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The weather in Tampa today is windy, but the heavy rain that was predicted hasn’t come. Yet.

Former U.S. House speaker Newt Gingrich is proceeding with Newt University seminars today. On CNN this morning, he characterized the lose-lose situation for Republicans here. Not only do they lose today, when Tropical Storm/Hurricane Isaac hits the Alabama-Florida cost on Thursday, they’ll lose much of the attention on cable news.

“All of us have to have the [Gulf] Coast in our prayers. Wherever it goes, we can’t just sit here and say, ‘At least it didn’t hit Tampa,’” Gingrich said.

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If there is anyone more radioactive than Barack Obama in Tampa today, it may be Roger Bonds, chairman of the Fulton County Republican party.

Bonds was one of dozens of Georgia delegates to the RNC who went to a welcoming party on Sunday night as a group.

A radioactive Roger Bonds, chairman of the Fulton County GOP, in (temporary) custody in Tampa.

“We’re getting off the bus, there’s a man standing there and he’s got these two apparatuses in his hands, and he’s pointing them at everybody that gets off,” Bonds said.

“I come off, and he says, ‘This is the one.’ The guy says, ‘Sir, you must come with me.’”

Bonds demurs – he’s already got a date with friends, he said.

But the security fellow declares himself serious, and grabs Bonds by the elbow. Another man grabs his other arm. “Like a robot, I gently went with them. And they take me about 50 yards away. They say, sir, you’re radioactive,” Bonds said.

Bonds claims ignorance, and they put him through a battery of questions. Among the first: Have you been around any nuclear weapons lately?

More questions follow. “Low and behold, they get to Question 24,” Bonds said. “Have you had a stress test recently?”

Just last Tuesday, Bonds said.

Did they use thallium, a radioactive isotope? Why, yes, they did.

Ultimately Bonds was released on his own recognizance. After he got done being mad, he was rather impressed.

“They knew I was radioactive before I got off the bus. That’s how great our technology is,” he said.

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Last night’s Unity Rally 2012 was a raucous tea party event with former GOP candidate Herman Cain as the headliner. Left out of that report – for space reasons only – was the fact that Cain, from the stage, pointed out Martha Zoller, the former congressional candidate and radio talk show host. Who may be trying to become a current radio talk show host again.

Zoller told us that she’ll be working for Lee Anderson in his 12th District congressional race against U.S. Rep. John Barrow, D-Augusta, and U.S. Rep. Tom Price, R-Roswell, who has Democratic opposition.

Speaking of radio talk show hosts, Neal Boortz was at that tea party rally, too. Most of his address. “This election is a contats between the taxpayer and the tax consumer,” Boortz said, echoing similar statements by former GOP presidential candidate Michele Bachmann, who was also at the event.

But Boortz also admonished the crowd to follow his lead and deprive the Democratic party of the “ic” in its name. “If for no other reason that it makes them mad,” he said.

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GOP pollster Frank Luntz is speaking to the Georgia delegation this morning. What he says will be a mystery. The meeting again is closed to press.

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U.S. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, will speak to the Georgia delegation on Thursday morning, as a guest of state House Speaker David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge.

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The Georgia delegation is staying at the Tampa Bay Grand Hyatt, next to the airport and about 13 minutes from downtown Tampa. The place is overrun with security. Here’s something else to fuel paranoia. One of the wireless networks the laptop has picked up reads “CIAsurveillance.”

- By Jim Galloway, Political Insider

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