Crist to Obama: Show us the money, and come watch a Shuttle launch

by Aaron Deslatte, Orlando Sentinel

Gov. Charlie Crist has offered a silver-tongued "show me the money" request to President-Elect Barack Obama Tuesday as the nation's governors collectively gathered with him in Philadelphia today to air out their concerns.
Crist's office also sent out a letter to Obama detailing Florida's fiscal plight and asking the feds to provide more Medicaid dollars, road-building assistance and passage of the Columbian Free Trade Agreement.
Crist argues Florida has "the third-highest home foreclosure rate in the nation, a 7 percent unemployment rate, and a projected state revenue shortfall of roughly $6 billion for the current and next fiscal year." He then takes credit for speeding up some 179 transportation projects in August, claims that created 38,000 jobs (even though employment levels continue to plummet), and touts the Cover Florida health isurance plan that will be implemented next month to try and cover some of the 4.8 million uninsured with bare-bones coverage.
His requests:
1. Relax Federal Medical Assistance Percntage (FMAP) rules, so Florida can draw down $991 million in federal dollars for its Medicaid populations.
2. Devote more dollars to infrastructure. Crist said the state has $7 billion in projects that could be completed within four months that would create 195,000 jobs.
3. Pass the much-debated Colombian Free Trade Agreement, which Obama has raised objections about during the campaign.
And by the way, Crist reminds Obama in the letter Florida will need help with that whole Space Shuttle retirement party, and will require "a strong federal-state partnership and commitment to working with local communities to provide economic opportunities for individuals impacted by the shuttle retirement."
"I invite you to join me in Florida for an upcoming launch of the Space Shuttle and to discuss the future of our nation's space program," he writes.