Charlie Crist = Howard Dean?

Only in Wingnuttia could Republican Florida gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist be compared to the chairman of the DNC. But Tom Gallagher seems to think they're joined at the hip. It's the latest bit of nutsery as his campaign for governor circles the drain.

A pair of top officials quit Tom Gallagher's campaign for governor Thursday, amid mounting pressure that he abandon his Republican primary race against front-runner Charlie Crist.

But Gallagher responded by lashing out at Crist, using his sharpest words of the campaign to call their Sept. 5 primary contest a "battle for the soul of the Republican Party."

He likened the more moderate Crist to national Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean, citing his support for same-sex civil unions.

"Florida Republicans do not share Howard Dean's values," said Gallagher, the state's chief financial officer, who was flanked by two-dozen campaign supporters during an appearance at Universal's Portofino Bay hotel near Orlando.

Say what you will about Florida politics, they're fun to watch.