Governor Charlie Crist's defection from the Republican party was a hot topic during Tuesday night's Senate Debate, as Crist squared off with opponents Marco Rubio and Kendrick Meek for the last time before Tuesday's election.
NBC's "Meet the Press" host David Gregory moderated the debate from Orlando, and went right after Crist for his sudden switch from Republican to Independent, asking him whether he'd caucus with the GOP or the Dems if elected.
"You've dodged this question for months," Gregory said, before Crist answered that he'd consult both parties before deciding. "Does that mean your vote's for sale?" Gregory asked.
The Republican Rubio and Democrat Meek took their shots at Crist's party change.
"Everybody kind of sees it for what it is and I really think what voters deserve is that we not spend a tremendous amount of time trying to convince people all of a sudden he found this new path to politics," said Rubio. "The reality of it is he switched because he couldn't win the primary."
"As a public policy person I'm really bothered by some of his positions because when I hear flip flops in the hallway, I think it's the Governor walking down the hall," quipped Meek.
Crist defended his shifts on issues such as gay adoption and abortion, saying he's getting older and wiser.
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"Being flexible is not a sin. And understanding that facts and circumstances change is being a thinking person with an open mind," Crist said. "It is frustrating for my partisan opponents to understand that, but that's really how I am and I think that's how most of Florida is."
Another source of contention at Tuesday's debate was the future of social security, a vital topic to Floridians, with Meek presenting himself as the sole candidate to oppose partial privatization of it.
"I'm the only one at this table who's been a true defender of social security," said Meek. "I can tell you if anyone sells to the state of Florida that they have the total answer in how to resolve social security, they're just flat out lying here at this table."
The candidates spent an entire segment bickering about the future of social security, predicted to be out of money by 2037, and their ideas to fix it.
"Why do you tell seniors that it's just somehow gonna be OK, it's not gonna be OK," Rubio asked Meek.
"I'm not saying it's gonna be OK, 2037 it's gonna be OK, but we have to deal with this issue in a bipartisan way, we cannot do it in haste," Meek fired back.
