Facing a tough primary fight against Marco Rubio, Mr. Crist left the GOP on April 20, the day of the explosion at the Deepwater Horizon rig. Perhaps distracted, he took longer than other Gulf Governors to declare a state-wide emergency and ask for federal aid. But Mr. Crist soon enough saw the political upside.

The newly minted “independent” has called a special session next week of the Florida legislature to consider a constitutional ban on offshore oil drilling. Legislators from both parties are perplexed. Usually a Governor clears the agenda for a special session with House and Senate leaders ahead of time. This time, the announcement came at a hastily arranged press conference last Thursday. The only obvious urgency was a poll out the same day that put the Governor behind Mr. Rubio for the first time in two months. As Mr. Specter once famously put it, the point is to “enable me to be re-elected.”

It’s not as if drilling poses an imminent danger to the Sunshine State. Florida law has prohibited it in state waters since 1990. With a straight face, Mr. Crist said that “politics has nothing to do with this.” He merely felt “a compelling duty to protect Florida” by enshrining a ban in the state constitution.

Two years ago this summer, Governor Crist felt differently. Angling to become John McCain’s running mate, he had reversed his longstanding opposition to lifting a moratorium on coastal drilling. The new Charlie is against drilling after he was for it after he was against it. All clear now?

Amid the BP backlash, enough legislators may vote to place the amendment on the ballot in the fall. But the Florida electorate can also appreciate the crash course in naked political calculation offered by their Governor.

Since tearing up his GOP card, he has gone from an opponent to a supporter of gay adoption and easing travel restrictions to Cuba. He opposes the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy for the military and vetoed a bill that placed restrictions on abortions; a few months before, he backed them. He now cozies up to teacher unions and the AFL-CIO. These flip-flops are supposed to attract Democrats and independents this November. Count the drilling ban as a play for environmentalists and the Obama White House.

He might get his wish for a Presidential blessing. The White House isn’t enthused about either candidate in the August 24 Democratic primary. An early supporter of Hillary Clinton, Congressman Kendrick Meek has slipped in the polls amid allegations that he steered federal contracts to a developer who hired his mother as a consultant; Mr. Meek denies this. His self-financed opponent, Jeff Greene, made a fortune betting against the subprime housing market and likes to hang in Hollywood with Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan.

Should Mr. Greene win the primary, the White House would stay clear and might tacitly back Mr. Crist. “I’m seeking the support of anybody willing to help me,” Mr. Crist told the Florida Press Association last month. “Come September, October, I’ll have two cannons aimed my way. If the President wants to help, that’s fine.”

We keep reading that this is the year in which voters are rejecting cynical politicians willing to do whatever it takes to stay in power. Mr. Crist is out to prove the conventional wisdom wrong.