Keeping track of the dominoes

Gov. Charlie Crist's decision to run for the U.S. Senate has predictably set off a mad dash by Florida politicians seeking higher office.

Crist is running for senator, so that means Attorney General Bill McCollum and Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink are running for governor.

And state senators Dan Gelber and Jeff Atwater, respectively are running for attorney general and chief financial officer.

And so on, and so on ...

Throw in the effect of term limits - like in Manatee County, where state representatives Bill Galvano and Ron Reagan are precluded from running for re-election, creating opportunities for wannabes - and no doubt that even the most expert political watcher needs a scorecard to track who's who, and who is running for what.

Fortunately, there is one readily available, thanks to the Florida Division of Elections, right here.

Of course, Crist was not the instigator of what some might call madness, but which I prefer to call part of the ugly beauty of representative democracy.

That would be U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez who got it all started earlier this year when he announced he would not be running for re-election. So far, 12 people - eight Republicans, three Democrats and one with no party affiliation - have announced their bids for the Senate seat.