Escambia County Republican Chairwoman Susan Moore was joined on Friday by 32 other county chairmen and state party committeemen and women — generally referred to as the grassroots of the party — in a letter demanding GOP gubernatorial candidate Rick Scott release a sealed deposition he gave as part of a settled lawsuit against Solantic, his chain of health care clinics.

“As a leading Republican candidate for governor, you should not ignore our demand for you to be open and transparent regarding your involvement in the case,” according to the letter, which includes many supporters of the other GOP candidate in the race, Attorney General Bill McCollum

“This election means a great deal to Florida Republicans, and the charges against you appear quite serious. Nominating a Republican candidate without full transparency will mean doom for our party if you win the primary and there are lingering doubts or as yet unrevealed charges.”

The letter does not include Sarasota County Republican Chairman Joe Gruters, who warned his colleagues a few hours later that their gambit was no different than the complaints many of them made months ago. At that time, Republicans lambasted state party Chairman Jim Greer for attempting to clear the primary field for candidates like Charlie Crist and Bill McCollum.

“Reflecting on last year’s example, we must ensure that our Republican Party organizations not take sides and stay out what has turned into a very divisive campaign for Governor,” Gruters wrote.

“No one office or candidate should be above our Republican organization, thus we must not allow ourselves to risk alienating our members (both current and potential) by using our organization to promote one candidate’s agenda over another. I believe that an action like the one being proposed does just that and further promotes divisiveness within the party. I ask that you reconsider.”

As the GOP primary race turns from an air attack with TV ads into a battle to turnout voters, many see McCollum with a distinct advantage over Scott. After three decades in office, McCollum has cultivated a loyalty among the grassroots Republicans (like the signatories above) who are skilled at pushing their voters to the polls.

And while Scott is enjoying his status as a political outsider in this year of anti-incumbency, it also means he’s had just the past few months to build much of the volunteer effort he’ll need on Aug. 24.

“I don’t think he has the reach that we do by any stretch,” McCollum said. “The regular Republicans, the women’s clubs, the precinct committeemen and women, those who are the activists that go out and make the telephone calls, talk to their friends and neighbors and do the e-mailing, they’re all principally behind me.

“They have a few, but I’ve got most of them out there working everyday.”

Republican Bill McCollum has sent Florida GOP voters this five-page letter that includes a watermark that appears to come from his attorney general’s office. Of course, it isn’t the official office letterhead. That would violate state election law.

McCollum tears into Scott in the start of the letters, referring to $1.7 billion in Medicare fraud his former hospital company paid and saying “his hands are filthy.”

“Rick Scott’s behavior borders on criminal,” said McCollum, state government’s top attorney.

McCollum waits until end of the second page to imply that Scott is his primary rival. McCollum doesn’t explicitly say he’s running for governor until more than halfway through the letter, which is dated June 28.

The McCollum campaign says the letter was a part of this package that included a reply card with McCollum’s campaign disclosure.

We reported Saturday that the League of American Voters poured $50k in a political advocacy group working on behalf of Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill McCollum.

Now, the conservative “league,” best known for its anti-Obama activism during the federal health care debate, has a seven-figure buy on Florida TV across the state that uses Medicare fraud and federal stimulus money to attack McCollum’s primary opponent, Rick Scott.

The Florida Republican Party is releasing its controversial credit card statements to media outlets in exchange for a copying fee of $292.24 and a condition that the bills not be duplicated or published. The media is allowed to report details of the statements.

Here are some details flowing out so far:

• Senate President Jeff Atwater of North Palm Beach charged $44,929 during 2007 and 2008, mostly on rental cars, airfare and meals in Tallahassee and South Florida. (Orlando Sentinel)

• Former Senate President Ken Pruitt of Port St. Lucie charged $21,000. (Orlando Sentinel)

• All told, the roughly three years of statements include $7.3 million in charges on 31 credit cards. (Herald/Times)

UPDATE: We missed one donor. A $2,400 donation from Thomas Petway doesn’t show up in a search of the FEC’s electronic files. But the paper records clearly show his contribution. So of the 20 Republicans who signed the letter, nine donated to Crist and eight still have money in his campaign. The blog has been updated to correct the error.

Twenty Republican fund-raisers signed a letter today calling on newly independent Gov. Charlie Crist to return campaign contributions he received from GOP donors.

“As part of your transition into this new phase of your political career, we respectfully request that you return every penny of donor money from every donor who asks for a refund. For those of us who have donated to your Senate campaign, you can start by refunding in full the contributions we have made,” the letter reads.

But just eight of the 20 have any money sitting in Crist’s campaign coffers, records show.

One of the 20 who signed the letter, Gay Gaines of Palm Beach, hasn’t given to Crist in at least 15 years. She donated $2,400 this year to Crist’s GOP rival, Marco Rubio, whose campaign circulated the letter. .

“I’ve never thought he was very dependable,” Gaines said of Crist. “I guess my instincts were right.”

Former U.S. Ambassador Al Hoffman helped write the letter, but he asked for — and received — his cash back in February, just weeks after Hoffman helped push former state GOP chairman Jim Greer out the door.

“When I discovered, in my view, that Charlie was complicit in the Jim Greer debacle, I couldn’t swallow it,” Hoffman said.

Hoffman said he believes Crist was aware that Greer and Delmar Johnson, then the party’s executive director, were diverting 10 percent of all party donations their LLC known as Victory Strategies.

“How could he not have been aware of that?,” Hoffman said. “If he wasn’t aware of it it means he was totally incompetent. If he was aware of it, he was complicit. Either way it’s pretty damning.”

Here’s our story of the day’s events in the U.S. Senate race.

And keep reading for the text of the letter along with the list of which signatories actually gave to Crist’s Senate campaign.

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UPDATE: Not exactly sure what’s happening over the Florida Republican Party. But the auction was re-started almost four hours ago, minus some of the biting rhetoric that accompanied the party’s initial eBay post.

The Florida Republican Party said today that eBay has removed its auction of a painting of Gov. Charlie Crist purchased before Crist left the party.

Party spokeswoman Katie Betta says, “We were notified by eBay today regarding some concerns they had with our original posting which were easily addressed and the posting was quickly re-listed. The Party could have easily made these changes had we been notified in advance of EBay publishing our original listing of the painting, or at any time over the course of the last two days. Instead, the auction was abruptly ended in what is clearly a political move.”

We’re awaiting a response from eBay.

The painting had received more than 100 bids and was selling for more than $6,000 before the item was yanked.

The response from Florida Republicans to Charlie Crist’s newfound independence has been sharp and quick.

Here’s a recap from the past few days:

• The Florida Republican Party sent out another tough press release last night telling supporters that “You can’t spell Charlie without ‘lie.’” The release reminds voters of Crist’s ties to disgraced attorney Scott Rothstein; includes a picture of Crist partying at a Tallahassee night club during his first year as governor; recycles the President Obama hug; and refers to the past year of troubles at the party as the “sad era of Charlie Crist and Jim Greer’s leadership.”

• Republican U.S. Senate candidate Marco Rubio released a web ad this morning that shows that the “I-know-you-are-but-what-am-I” debate between these two is one thing that hasn’t changed in this race.

• Finally, Florida Federation of Republican Women President Cindy Graves sent an open letter to Crist blaming him for John McCain winning the Republican presidential nomination and warning him of their next meeting on the campaign trail.

Here’s the full text of the letter:

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We caught up for a few minutes today with Bradley Tusk, the campaign manager for New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Bloomberg, like Charlie Crist, was initially elected as a Republican.

Bloomberg dropped his party affiliation in his second term and was elected as an independent. Crist is expected to keep his Republican registration, but wants Florida voters to elect him to the U.S. Senate as an independent. (Background on Crist’s announcement today here.)

Bloomberg also considered running for president as in independent candidate in 2008.

There are many differences between Crist and Bloomberg, but the biggest has to be cash. Fundraising has never been a political calculation for Bloomberg, who pays for his own mayoral campaigns and could finance a presidential run if he wanted. Crist is famously cheap, but could not be considered wealthy.

“When you don’t raise a penny from anybody, you can really govern independently. You’re inherently seen as independent,” Tusk said. “When you change affiliation on the last possible day, you may not get that benefit.”

Bloomberg has helped other independent candidates, who he identifies on an issue-by-issue basis. Tusk said they haven’t considered helping Crist.

Voters shut out of the Democratic presidential primary race in 2008, forced to cast a ballot for Mark Foley’s name in 2006 and introduced to hanging chads in 2000 clearly understand that the Sunshine State is a frequent and welcome guest on the 24-hour cable news channels.

And Republican Gov. Charlie Crist has once again thrust Florida into the center of the national political discussion with his announcement, expected Thursday, that he’ll run as an independent candidate for the U.S. Senate.

Story here.

Other recent Charlie Crist stories:

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Gov. Charlie Crist said he hopes to decide whether to run for U.S. Senate as a Republican or as an independent by Thursday. He must file his formal election papers by Friday at noon, or 12 hours before the legislature has to complete its work.

“I’d like to go ahead and get that concluded then look forward to the last day of session,” Crist said.

Crist says he hasn’t made up his mind yet. But it looks like he’s likely to abandon the GOP.

Asked if he thinks the Republican Party has changed, he said, “Things ebb and flow and that’s true of parties and other institutions. And certainly that’s part of what’s happening in Florida.”

The Republican forcing Crist’s hand, former House Speaker Marco Rubio, is planning to file his election papers today. Rubio’s campaign ridiculed Crist for suggesting he’s “listening to the people” about his campaign decision.

“If Crist was truly listening to Floridians, he would hear concerns about increased spending, mounting debt and policies out of Washington that are leading our country in the wrong direction,” Rubio spokesman Joe Pounder wrote to reporters this morning.

“Marco has been listening and as he has throughout this campaign, will be speaking to those critical issues at today’s event. We have yet to hear Floridians express concerns about how Charlie Crist can extend his future as a career politician.”

Gov. Charlie Crist‘s campaign says his website hasn’t changed at all now that the U.S. Senate candidate is openly considering dropping out of the GOP primary and running as an independent.

“No Republican references have been scrubbed from our website, period,” Crist’s campaign spokeswoman Andrea Saul said in an e-mail.

Rep. Tom Grady resigned as Crist’s regional campaign chairman today and quit his finance team, citing the website that makes no reference to the governor’s GOP affiliation.

Grady, a Naples Republican who was elected to the House in 2008 at Crist’s urging, is the latest GOP ally to distance himself from Crist and his U.S. Senate campaign after Crist admitted he is considering abandoning the Republican primary race against former House Speaker Marco Rubio and running instead in the general election in November with no party affiliation.

“This evening, as I reviewed your updated campaign website, I noticed a disheartening fact. Your website has eliminated all references to our Republican Party, or as you frequently refer to it, the party of Lincoln,” Grady wrote in a letter to Crist today distributed to the media by Trey Communications.

Once a sure shot to win in the primary against Rubio, recent polls show Crist trailing the Miami Cuban-American by about 20 percentage points.

Yesterday, National Republican Senate Committee Executive Director fueled speculation that Crist would abandon the GOP race saying there was “zero chance” Crist would run against Rubio.

“Things change,” Crist told reporters today when asked how he would explain to voters leaving the GOP primary after repeatedly saying he would not do so.

Grady was one of the few Republicans who attended the governor’s press conference at which Crist announced he would veto SB 6, the contentious teacher merit pay measure pushed by GOP leaders in the legislature.

Former U.S. Sen. Connie Mack III, Crist’s mentor whose name the governor frequently invokes, withdrew as Crist’s campaign chairman after the veto Thursday.

Read Grady’s letter after the jump.
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While Republican Gov. Charlie Crist’s veto on Thursday was a clear end for this year’s teacher bill, it made his own political future increasingly cloudy.

Many Republicans said the veto wiped out not just the bill, but any chance Crist had at catching his U.S. Senate rival, former House Speaker Marco Rubio, in the Republican primary. This theory gave new life to rumors Crist would drop his primary bid and run as an independent.

Others said it could provide Crist the spark he’s needed since Rubio overtook him in the polls in December.

Story here.

That’s the take from Republican Rep. Faye Culp, a former teacher from Tampa who is about to complete her 12th year in the legisalture. Culp opposes a proposal up for a vote tonight to base teacher raises on student performance. Culp says teachers should also get raises for earning advanced degrees.

CULP: It takes a lot of nerve to go up against leadership right now.

More than in previous years?

CULP: Probably. There’s just an awful lot of pressure from senators over there [motions to Senate side of building] and the leadership in the House to get this bill passed. But there’s a lot of pressure from people all over the state to not pass it. So, we’ll see. I don’t know what the final vote will be. There are several of us who are going to stick together and vote ‘No’ on it.

Capitalizing on the scandal erupting over the state GOP’s credit card spending, national Democrats released a video take-off of the MasterCard “Priceless” television campaign.

The spoof highlights some of the Republican Party of Florida-issued credit card charges now-U.S. Senate candidate Marco Rubio made when Florida House Speaker, including $1,000 in repairs to his family mini-van.

“Getting your personal bills paid for by the Republican Party of Florida like Marco Rubio: Priceless,” the Democratic National Committee video mocks.

The state GOP may get some unwanted mail as a result of the “Priceless” satire.

“Want your bills paid for by the Republican Party of Florida? Just send them in. 420 E. Jefferson Street, Tallahassee, Florida 32301,” it concludes.

The DNC ad targets Rubio at a time when the once-long-shot candidate’s popularity is soaring while his GOP primary opponent Gov. Charlie Crist’s is on the wane.

UPDATE II: A response from Rubio’s campaign, too: “No one should be fooled by Charlie Crist’s latest attempt at an extreme makeover. President Obama is now in a position to execute an expensive government takeover of our health care system because Charlie Crist helped him achieve an early big government, big spending victory on the failed stimulus package. Charlie Crist has about as much credibility on health care and fiscal restraint among Republicans as President Obama does. After all, there are plenty of reasons Charlie Crist is Barack Obama’s favorite Republican governor.”

Republican Gov. Charlie Crist is asking for your help to “stand up to President Obama and his back-room health care deals” on his re-designed campaign site. (Press release here.)

Crist is somewhat of an expert on backroom deals: He created the state’s Office of Open Government within days of taking control of the governor’s office, but he’s also been accused of keeping the blinds closed while he negotiated a gambling deal with the Seminole Tribe, installed former campaign manager George LeMieux into the U.S. Senate and, earlier this week, lined up support for state Sen. John Thrasher to replace Jim Greer as Florida Republican Party chairman.

UPDATE: The Crist campaign argues that none of the three examples Florida Democrats give qualify as “backroom deals.” And they make some good points, including all of the documents from the gambling deal are subject to the state’s open records law. For now, we’ll save most of the back-and-forth for a deeper story on this issue a little later.

The new CharlieCrist.com site — which prominently features an embarrassing video of his primary opponent, former House Speaker Marco Rubio — also includes an “On the Issues” page that outlines his positions on a dozen topics. We haven’t had a chance to comb through them yet, but feel free to leave a comment if you see anything interesting…

Former Florida Christian Coalition leader Dennis Baxley confirmed he is running for re-election to the state House.

Baxley, a conservative Republican from Ocala, served in the state House from 2000-2008 and as the executive director of the Christian Coalition until May.

The funeral director raised eyebrows prior to the presidential election when he told The Miami Herald how he and other Christians perceived then-candidate Barack Obama: “He’s pretty scary to us.”

Baxley is running for his old District 24 seat because incumbent Rep. Kurt Kelly has jumped into the race against incumbent U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, a liberal Democrat who defeated a four-term incumbent Republican in his election to Congress last year.

Grayson catapulted to national fame with his tongue-in-cheek characterization of the GOP health care reform as “Don’t get sick, and if you do get sick, die quickly.”

Republicans are hoping to win Grayson’s seat back and the race for Congressional District 8 seat is likely to be one of the most closely watched in 2010.

“It’s a big challenge. Congressman Grayson’s become very visible and very positionable. I’m very proud that Kurt’s willing to take on that challenge to try to win that seat back for the Republicans,” Baxley said in a telephone interview this afternoon. “If he can go and accomplish something that difficult I ought to go back to work and try to help our economy again.”

Baxley said his main priority will be job creation to help the state’s out-of-work residents like the 18,000 in his district.

“We really need a primary focus on making an economic climate change for Florida,” he said.

Greg Langowski, director of the Palm Beach County GOP executive committee, was named chairman of Attorney General Bill McCollum’s Palm Beach County team today.

Other members from Palm Beach County after the jump. And to see the statewide team, click here.

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That’s the headline in this Wall Street Journal story today that, of course, mentions the GOP primary between Gov. Charlie Crist and former House Speaker Marco Rubio.

In Florida, Republican leaders were elated when popular Florida Gov. Charlie Crist agreed to run for the Senate. He has adopted policies such as an aggressive approach to global warming that appeal even to Democrats. Those very policies infuriated conservatives, as did Mr. Crist’s decision to campaign with President Barack Obama on behalf of the president’s $787 billion stimulus package.

“He was Judas to the Republican Party in the state of Florida and across the country,” says Robin Stublen, 53, of Punta Gorda, co-state coordinator for the Tea Party Patriots, a loose national coalition. “He sold us out for 13 pieces of gold.”

Republican Marco Rubio said today he collected $1,010,980 for his U.S. Senate campaign during the third quarter of the year. Rubio, running an underdog campaign against Republican Gov. Charlie Crist, said earlier this month that his total was just under the $1 million mark.

Rubio’s campaign reports they have about $900,000 cash on hand after raising a total of $1.6 million for the entire year. Crist has raised more than $6 million in about half of the time.

“This is nothing less than a strong statement about the direction people believe our Republican Party, our state and our nation should take,” Rubio said in a prepared statement. ” I am thankful for this outpouring of support from those who believe principled conservative leadership is needed to maintain America’s greatness. With their help, we are laying and expanding the foundation for success in 2010.”

Former Gov. Jeb Bush weighed in Friday on the Republican primary battle between Gov. Charlie Crist and former House Speaker Marco Rubio, saying national party leaders should let the two hammer it out with voters.

“The idea that the national party would pick a winner a year and a half before an election is the wrong way to go.”

But Bush either really likes Rubio in this race or he doesn’t care about the apparent contraction he made in the same speech by encouraging a similar crowning of Bill McCollum’s gubernatorial campaign. The attorney general became the front-runner for the party’s nomination after a slew of GOP heavies signed on this summer and drove off potential challengers, such as Agricultural Commissioner Charles Bronson.

Bush praised Republican candidate for governor Bill McCollum as a person “who I think is a fantastic guy and is worthy of your support.”

Original reporting of Bush’s speech can be found here from the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.