TALLAHASSEE - It will take all the optimism Gov. Charlie Crist can muster in his State of the State speech tonight to put a happy face on the Florida Legislature's 2008 session.
The stagnant economy is casting a lengthening shadow over the state Capitol. Lawmakers open their annual 60-day session today amid growing partisanship and frustration over a lack of money. Largely absent is much of the buoyancy of a year ago.
Crist, who will give the traditional opening day speech at 6 p.m. in hopes of reaching a larger TV audience, is expected to reassure the public that better times are just around the corner.
But the budget news got bleaker still Monday. And the state Democratic party went on the attack against Crist with a Web site labeling him "empty-chair Charlie" - a jab at his frequent campaigning for presidential candidate John McCain. The attack revives a phrase Crist used against his Democratic rival, Rep. Jim Davis, during the 2006 election.
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