The St. Petersburg Times call it “The rumor which will not go away”:

In the face of a tougher-than-expected primary challenge from Marco Rubio, Charlie Crist could drop out of the Senate race and run instead for re-election as governor.

Joe Scarborough floated the rumor last week on his “Morning Joe” program on MSNBC, and former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley (remember him?) spread it around some more on his Facebook page (which may have more followers than MSNBC — just kidding).

But seriously, folks, the guv says, “No way”:

We asked Crist about the chances of that happening a couple of months ago. “Zero,” said Crist, who again last week brushed off the rumor. “There’s nothing to it,” he told the Palm Beach Post.

Well, that sounds final. “But wait! There’s more,” as TV pitchman Billy Mays used to say before his untimely demise last year. RedState’s Erick Erickson says the writing is on the wall that Crist will leave the Senate race and retreat to the one contest he has a chance of winning — a gubernatorial reelection bid. He cites this litany of bad news for Governor Charlie from Times Political Editor Adam Smith:

Talk about a rough start to the new year.

The ouster of Gov. Charlie Crist’s hand-picked Republican Party chairman looks like only the start of Crist’s problems as he faces a tougher U.S. Senate campaign than he ever expected.

His emergency management chief quit this week under fire, and his juvenile justice administrator is under investigation for excessive travel. Any day now U.S. Senate rival Marco Rubio is expected to report another improved fundraising quarter.

And this has to hurt: Republican activists who know Crist best, members of the Pinellas Republican executive committee, are scheduled to hold a “straw poll” Monday where Rubio is favored to emerge as the preferred U.S. Senate nominee of Crist’s home county.

Perhaps most ominous of all, there’s no clear way for Crist to shift the momentum Rubio has been steadily gaining for months.

It gets worse:

Crist knew that tonight he would win the Pinellas County GOP straw poll. It is, after all, his own freaking county.

Crist lost. The vote was 106-54 in Marco Rubio’s favor. In Charlie Crist’s home county.

Tip O’Neill used to say all politics is local, and the late Speaker of the House would be one of the first to tell you that if  you can’t win a straw poll in your home county, you’re political toast. This may just be the straw poll that broke the camel’s back. Though it’s just a straw poll, it surveyed not just voters, but GOP movers and shakers:

After all, many of people lining up to cast secret ballots against Crist Monday night at Tucson’s restaurant were the party activists who know him best.1

Finally, to add insult to Crist’s injury, Rubio just finished raising a million dollars. In one day! Two months ago, Erickson called Florida “a hill to die on” for conservatives. They appear determined to take the hill, and they have no intentions of dying in the process.

- JP

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