Crist Camp Edits Out 'Conservative' From His 'Consistent Leadership'

Gov. Charlie Crist (I-FL) has been retooling his image since he left the Republican Party to run for Senate as an independent. And a look at his website shows an amusing example.

About two weeks ago, I took a screen-capture of the front page of Crist's campaign site shortly before he announced his party switch. One element of the site that caught my eye was an image linking to an issues page, which said: "*Consistent Leadership* The Charlie Crist Conservative Record." This had been a part of his site for some months, in an effort to defend credentials on the right when he was running in the Republican primary against Marco Rubio.

Now the "consistent leadership" remains, but in a slightly different form: "*Consistent Leadership* The Charlie Crist Record." The word "conservative" has been deleted.

Here is the before picture:

And here is the after picture:

"We're undergoing a redesign of our entire website," Crist spokesperson Michelle Todd told me. "And there have been some minor changes because we are now running as independent candidate and not a Republican candidate. and those changes are reflective of that."

Is there a conflict, I asked, between proclaiming "consistent leadership" and deleting the "conservative" from the heading? "He's still the same leader that he was before," said Todd. "He hasn't changed as a governor or an elected official. He is still the same man that he promised the people of Florida he would be when he first asked them for their vote."