The Tampa Bay Times has given Republican-turned-Democrat Charlie Crist the dubious honor of “Loser of the week,” after his campaign manager, Bill Hyers, and press secretary, both bailed on him.

Rumor still has it from that last time we posted on this, that Crist has struck a deal with Democrat Senator Bill Nelson.

Again here is the scenario:

Rumor: It is being said that Crist has struck a deal with Democratic Senator Bill Nelson. The deal is that if Crist runs the risk of losing in the general election, Nelson would jump in the race, Crist steps down, and if Nelson beats Scott, he would then appoint Crist to replace him in the U.S. Senate.

 According to some Democrats we spoke to this past weekend in St. Petersburg, rumblings about Crist’s campaign fizzling too early, are a big concern.-Shark Tank

The abrupt departure of his barely on-board campaign manager, Bill Hyers, was the latest sign that his campaign is off to a wobbly start since the announcement of his candidacy – by the Florida GOP. For all the buzz about Crist’s historic campaign to go from popular Republican governor to independent U.S. Senate candidate to Democratic governor, it remains entirely possible that the Crist campaign will be a train wreck.-Tampa Bay Times

But as Crist’s campaign begins to take on water, Rick Scott’s has also taken a political body blow, as his chief of staff, Adam Hollingsworth, has just been caught in a big fat lie. What is worse, Scott is still backing Hollingsworth. Hollingsworth recently announced four potential Lieutenant Governor appointees-all Caucasian- leaving many wondering why Scott did not reach out and consider an Hispanic, or other minority.

Adam Hollingsworth sometimes gave an aw-shucks self-deprecating line when he gave advice: “I’m just a guy with a p.r. degree from Alabama.”

It was a lie.

And it caught up with Hollingsworth, now Gov. Rick Scott’s chief of staff, when The Miami Herald-Tampa Bay Times Tallahassee bureau exposed the academic fraud on Friday.

Hollingsworth didn’t just verbally deceive people. He twice explicitly allowed his former employer, CSX Corporation, to issue press releases in 1998 and 2002 saying he graduated from the University of Alabama with a degree.

Hollingsworth had no degree at the time. He earned one years later.

“I am not proud of this and I deeply apologize for this misrepresentation,” Hollingsworth said in a written statement. “I have learned from this failure in judgment and know that, over the last several years, my life and character have and will continue to grow from this.”–Miami Herald

Big ouch!