Republican Governor of Florida Charlie Crist appointed his former chief of staff, George Lemieux, to fill the U.S. Senate vacancy caused by the resignation of Senator Mel Martinez. Lemieux is a place holder. He will not run for election for the seat in 2010. The leading candidate for the seat is Governor Crist himself.
The seat has taken several interesting turns. First, the news that Senator Martinez would not run again created an open seat (there are six Republican open Senate seat races and two Democratic ones in November of 2010), and it initially raised Democratic hopes for a takeover.
When Crist decided to run for the Senate seat, Republican prospects for keeping the seat increased dramatically. But there is another candidate on the Republican side: former speaker of the Florida House Marco Rubio, who is younger than Crist, more conservative, and of Cuban descent. Despite some conservative grumbling, most polls show Crist beating Rubio by a significant margin.
But Martinez surprised many with his early resignation. He could have served out his term and not sought re-election. Crist was then faced with a delicate choice of whom to appoint to serve out the remainder of the term. He was smart not to choose himself. Nine governors have had themselves appointed to Senate seats and stood for election, and eight of those nine lost. The only exception was Happy Chandler, governor of Kentucky and grandfather of current Representative Ben Chandler (Chandler appointed himself in 1939). And of the eight who lost, five lost in the primary. Clearly voters don’t like a governor who tries to give himself a leg up for a future election with an appointment. The issue arose again indirectly with Alaska Governor Frank Murkowski appointing his daughter to fill his own vacated Senate seat (she won, but nepotism was a significant campaign issue she had to overcome). And recent governors have learned the lessons of their predecessors: the last sitting governor who appointed himself to fill a Senate seat was Wendell Anderson (D-MN) in 1977 (he lost in the election of 1978).
The appointment of Lemieux is not the same as Crist appointing himself, but his appointment of someone so personally close to himself does point in that direction.
The likelihood is that Crist will win the primary and the general election, but he would have much preferred if Martinez had served out his term rather than forcing him to make an appointment that could damage his own election prospects.