Photograph by Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

Charles “Charlie” Crist, governor of Florida, waits for President Barack Obama to speak in Washington.

Updated at 3:45 pm EST

Florida’s Republican Gov. Rick Scott, a former chief executive officer at HCA Holdings, could lose his 2014 re-election bid to several hypothetical opponents, including former Gov. Charlie Crist, Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz and Tea Party supporter Allen West, according to poll results today from Public Policy Polling.

The survey showed Crist leading Scott by the largest margin: 53 percent to 39 percent.

Crist hasn’t denied rumors that he’s interested in winning back the seat he gave up in 2010, when he ran for U.S. Senate and became the first Florida governor to decline a chance for a second term. Crist, who ran for Senate as an independent after polling predicted him losing a Republican primary to now-Senator Marco Rubio, signed paperwork at a White House Christmas party last month to register as a Democrat.  He spoke at the Democratic National Convention that nominated President Barack Obama for re-election. (Obama carried Florida last year, as he did in 2008.) Crist had  served as governor, attorney general, education commissioner and a state legislator as a Republican.

The poll also showed Crist leading a primary field of potential Democratic candidates. He drew 52 percent support among Democratic voters. The next closest contender was the party’s 2010 nominee, former state Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink, with 18 percent support.

Wasserman-Schultz, a five-term congresswoman from South Florida, wasn’t included in a hypothetical primary. Her spokesman, Jonathan Beeton, has said she has no intention of running for governor.

Sink hasn’t announced her plans for next year.

West, a Republican who lost his re-election to the U.S. House in November, led Scott by 38 to 37 percent among primary voters in the survey. West announced yesterday that he’ll host a co-host a new Web show called Next Generation.

Today, West said he has no plans to challenge Scott.

“That’s one of the most asinine things I’ve ever heard,” West said.

Scott, who has acknowledged that the yellow Labrador he adopted during his 2010 race was returned to the rescue shelter after the campaign, has a 33 percent approval rating, according to the poll. He’s struggled with low approval ratings since taking office.

Still, the poll suggests Scott would win re-election against two potential Democrats: state Senator Nan Rich, who has announced a campaign for the seat, and Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, who hasn’t said he’ll run.

PPP conducted automated telephone interviews with 501 Florida voters, including an over-sample of 401 usual Democratic primary voters and 436 Republican primary voters, from Jan. 11-13. The margin of error for the overall sample is 4.4 percent, 4.9 percent for the Democratic portion and 4.7 for the Republican portion.

Original post is Florida’s Scott Hears Footsteps — Loudest Coming from Charlie Crist by Political Capital.

It’s on many people’s minds.

It’s on the stock market’s collective mind, say analysts explaining the recent ride there.

Among the many corporate filings to the Securities and Exchange Commission in November, the term has shown up nearly 300 times.

Sometimes, it’s come up as a never-mind-the-fiscal cliff.

From the Chrysler Group comes this:

“Even with all the talk of a looming fiscal cliff, Chrysler Group is well positioned for a strong sales finish to the year,” said Reid Bigland, President and CEO – Dodge Brand and Head of U.S. Sales. “Our November sales were up 14 percent and we extended our sales streak to 32-consecutive months of year-over-year sales gains. We are expecting a strong December as the industry continues to recover from the East Coast hurricane and consumers continue to respond to our popular year-end Big Finish event.”

Dun and Bradstreet Corp. offers this warning:

“As a result of the macro-economic challenges currently affecting the global economy, our customers or vendors may experience problems with their earnings, cash flow, or both. This may cause our customers to delay, cancel or significantly decrease their purchases from us and impact their ability to pay amounts owed to us. In addition, our vendors may substantially increase their prices without notice. Such behavior may materially, adversely affect our earnings and cash flow. In addition, if economic conditions in the United States, including any possible impact of an upcoming fiscal cliff, and other key markets deteriorate further or do not show improvement, we may experience material adverse impacts to our business, operating results, and/or access to credit markets.”

Some have their eyes on the possible direct impact of the talks:

HCA Holdings, in noting what it’s watching economically,  includes: “The effects related to the enactment and implementation of the Budget Control Act of 2011 and the outcome of pending government negotiations related to avoiding the “fiscal cliff” which would result from the BCA’s automatic spending reductions that include cuts to Medicare payments and tax increases beginning in federal fiscal year 2013, and the effects related to cuts to physicians’ Medicare reimbursement if Congress does not override the scheduled reductions related to the Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate.”

And some are holding out for a positive outc0me.

This comes from American Software Inc.’s filing:

“The economic headwinds which began for us this past Spring, and which are believed to be the result of the worldwide economic slowdown, continued during the second quarter,” stated James C. Edenfield, president and CEO of American Software. “These headwinds have slowed our rate of growth. Hopefully, a resolution of the ‘fiscal cliff’ will enable more of our prospective customers to regain their confidence so that we can accelerate our rate of growth. ”

Jeff Kearns contributed to this report. 

Original post is Fiscal Cliff: Corporate Eyes Watching by Political Capital.