National implications from Crist's marriage?

I don't buy it myself, but one local columnist feels that Gov. Charlie Crist's marriage last night makes him a viable candidate for national office:

Under a cold full moon Friday, Florida found itself a new first lady – and a governor who, now married, can truly aspire to a national office.

"It’s a great night for Florida, and a great night for us," a beaming Gov. Charlie Crist told the press as he exited with his new bride [from] the First United Methodist Church [in] downtown St. Petersburg.

[...]

With the wedding, Crist instantly got rid of critics who said, earlier this year when he was courted by Republican presidential candidate John McCain, that no bachelor could be elected to a major national office.

Really? It was Crist's bachelorhood that kept him from being selected as Huggy Bear's running mate? (And "it's a great night for Florida?" Let's not put too much importance in this wedding, Charlie.)

Look, put aside the rumors about Crist being gay: why can't a bachelor be elected to national office? I don't understand this at all. Do people really have reservations about electing unmarried people to national office? Is it really just the risk, er, possibility that they're gay?

Trust me on this one, Charlie: marriage alone doesn't make you eligible for national office. Maybe being less of a douchebag would help, though ...

But I thought gay marriage wasn't legal in Florida!

I keed, I keed ... but I couldn't resist just a little snark about this somewhat surprising news.

Florida governor Charlie Crist, heretofore a "confirmed bachelor," has announced his engagement to his girlfriend of nine months, Carole Rome.

"She's special in every way. She's brilliant, beautiful and sweet. I'm very, very lucky," Crist told the St. Petersburg Times in an exclusive interview.

Crist said he picked out the sapphire and diamond ring on Wednesday at the Gold and Diamond Center in St. Petersburg's Northeast Shopping Center.

No date has been set for the wedding, but Crist, 51, said it would be in St. Petersburg, where he is a member of First United Methodist Church. There probably also will be a reception in Tallahassee.

[...]

"We've talked about it quite awhile," said Crist, who proposed to Rome, 38, on Thursday morning in his Bayfront Tower condominium in St. Petersburg.

"God bless her, she said yes," said Crist. "What better place to do it than the 'Burg," said Crist, who said his parents were "ecstatic."

Rome is a 1992 honors graduate of Georgetown University who became president of her family's 100-year-old Halloween costume business in 2000 when her father died. She has two daughters, ages 11 and 9, with former husband Todd Rome of New York, CEO of Blue Star Jets. She moved to Fisher Island in Miami in 2006.

Now, far be it from me to speculate on any motive for Crist's election-year marriage other than True Love. But I will tell you this: when I just now told my friend that Crist was getting married, she shot back, "To a man or a woman?"

Oh, regarding motives? Well, it would be irresponsible not to speculate ...

And his engagement is likely to reverberate well beyond Florida because the popular governor is widely viewed as a contender to be likely Republican presidential candidate John McCain's running mate. Not since Franklin Pierce picked William King to be his running mate in 1852 has America had a bachelor vice president.

Rome will join Crist on a 12-day trip through London, Paris, Normandy and St. Petersburg, Russia, that leaves July 11. The trip is described as a "business development mission for Florida's aviation, defense and climate change sectors."

Well, I'll just set aside cynical skepticism for the moment to wish mazel tov to the happy couple. And I'm sure Huggy Bear already is making plans to be at the wedding ...

UPDATE (1:25 pm 7/4/08): Thanks to an unnamed source close to the happy couple, I've received exclusive permission to share this rarely-seen photo of them with you.

Once again, congratulations!

(h/t D.P. in Comments)

When Republicans attack marry

Well, here's a match made in someone's sick imagination somewhere:

Mary Bono [(R-Calif.)], who was married to late singer-turned-politician Sonny Bono and replaced him in Congress after his death, has married U.S. Rep. Connie Mack [(R-Fla.)].

Bono's sister, Katherine Whitaker, told The Associated Press the couple [(right)] were married Saturday in a private ceremony attended by 35 family members.

No, seriously, mazel tov to the happy couple. Here's hoping gays still can't marry and ruin your marriage, right? Well, just remember: the family that votes together to bomb brown people for nothing more than a personal vendetta, stays together.