Is it 2010 yet?

Hard to believe that 2009 has barely started and we're already getting into the silly season for 2010, particularly regarding the U.S. Senate race here in America's Wang™.

With Jeb! Bush and Alex Sink taking themselves out of contention, it's turned into a real free-for-all. Naturally, the Chief Wanger™, Gov. Charlie Crist, leads the way among Republicans. His popularity is as high as that of the President right now ... should Charlie strike while the iron's hot?

The poll found that 67 percent of Floridians view Crist favorably, 21 percent unfavorably. Obama is viewed favorably by 66 percent and unfavorably by 16 percent in the survey completed on the eve of his inauguration.

"No one has surfaced as a likely Democratic opponent for Gov. Charlie Crist and that's not surprising, given how well he is thought of by Floridians," said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. "It's impressive at this time of national Obamamania that Gov. Crist's favorability rating is slightly higher than that of the new president.

"Of course, it's still more than 21 months until the 2010 election, but Charlie Crist looks like a very strong candidate for reelection."

Assuming, of course, that Gov. Crist is seeking reelection as governor ... but what about the Senate?

The interesting thing that no one seems to have mentioned yet is that should Gov. Crist seek the Senate nod, that opens up the governor's chair. And one name that comes up repeatedly for that role on the Democratic side is ... Alex Sink. Currently the highest-ranking Democrat in state government, CFO Sink is a leading candidate to win the office her husband, Bill McBride, sought a few years back ... which probably would set up kind of a win-win situation. Stay with me on this one for a moment:

Say Crist seeks reelection ... then it's a decent bet, if not a certainty, that the Democratic candidate (maybe Rep. Kendrick Meek?) wins the Senate seat. But if Charlie goes to Washington (I'm assuming he's unbeatable right now, although I know that could change), then we quite likely could end up with a Democratic governor. I don't think in this current climate, the GOP wins both races.

So, look for the union label silver lining, folks: while we still may be stuck with Charlie, something good is likely to come of it, one way or the other.