(Hat tip:  Babalu Blog.)
Down in The Former Temporary Home Of The Realm™ (aka Florida), Republican establishment  (and trust me on this – I do  mean that in the worst possible of ways) goober-natorial candy-date Charlie Crist has yet (in the face of a surging candidacy by conservative Marco Rubio) to see his own personal “Mene Mene Tekel Upharsin” on the wall.
But that doesn’t mean his staffers don’t see it.
In the latest sign of turbulence for Charlie Crist’s wounded U.S. Senate bid, key staffers are starting to leave the campaign.
Political director Pablo Diaz, one of the first two staff members hired for the Senate campaign, is departing at the end of the month for “a new opportunity.” Sean Doughtie, a well-regarded new media consultant who had worked with Crist for years, stopped working for the campaign at the end of January.
“The campaign was going in a different direction,” said Doughtie.
Yeah.  Down. 
In another sign of Crist’s eagerness to shake up the race, he has ended his long-standing resistance to debating Rubio, who had been challenging him to debate for months. Days ago, Crist announced he wanted to debate Rubio on Meet the Press March 7 and Fox News Sunday on March 28. Rubio responded by insisting that Fox host their first debate since the network had been talking to the campaigns about it since mid December.
“I don’t care, but I hope we can do Meet the Press, too. … Doesn’t he want to meet the press?” Crist told the St. Petersburg Times. “Why not do both? Let’s giddyup.”
Curious.  Don’t the cowboys “giddyup” onto the wall to avoid the onrushing bull? 
Ah, the last desperate gasps of a dying candidacy…
Crist attended a National Governor’s Association meeting Monday at the White House. To reporters afterward he firmly defended his vocal support of the $787 billion federal stimulus package that has generated so much criticism from Rubio and other conservatives. “It doesn’t matter at all, not one iota. He’s wrong and I’m right,” he said of Rubio’s attacks.
And then he wonders how he could possibly  be getting his ass handed to him on a platter.
No, really – he does.
“We needed the money, and it saved 87,000 jobs in our state.”
Uh, no you didn’t, and no – it didn’t.  Just ask Evan Bayh.
Buh-bye, Chuckles.  Thanks for playing.