Jax Daily

All the talk today that Governor Charlie Crist is thinking of making the switch to the U.S. Senate is interesting. Clearly the GOP’s first choice would have been Jeb Bush, but the thinking is that Crist would be a heavy favorite to hold the Senate seat for his party.

But I haven’t heard anyone mention the possibility that Florida Republicans might get the chance to “have their cake and eat it too” in 2010.

With Crist in the Senate race, the “free-for-all” speculation about who is going to run would die down tremendously. It’s likely the party will, more or less, come together behind the governor. And it may make it much harder for the Democrats to recruit an A-List candidate of their own, like CFO Alex Sink, to take on Crist.

But, it leaves the governor’s race wide open. And while Jeb Bush has ruled out a bid for Senate, he’s not ruled out seeking office completely. Being Governor doesn’t require as much out of state travel as serving in the Senate. And it would be a fantastic platform from which to launch a 2012 or 2016 Presidential bid.

From today’s article in The Hill…

Cornyn said he does not expect former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) to change his mind regarding the race. Bush announced last week that he would not seek the seat.

“He was interested in two things: Whether he could make a difference here, and the impact on his family,” Cornyn said. “In the end, the impact on his family is the thing that made him decide not to run. I guess he felt like our quality of life as senators was not entirely wonderful.”

Well, that may be so. But Bush is familiar with the requirements of being Governor of Florida. And the fact that he even opened himself up to publicly consider running for anything in 2010 gives us a clue that he’s interested in getting back into the game.

Could 2010 still be the year of Crist AND Bush?