Florida governor
Charlie Crist won't be sleeping alone in the governor's
mansion much longer; he is engaged to a woman he met in New
York City last September who quickly captured his
heart.
Florida governor
Charlie Crist won't be sleeping alone in the governor's
mansion much longer -- he is engaged to a woman he met in
New York City last September who quickly captured his
heart.
Crist, 51, asked
Carole Rome to marry him Thursday morning at his St.
Petersburg apartment, giving her a blue sapphire ring
surrounded by diamonds. She immediately said yes.
"I'm very happy
and couldn't be more pleased. What a great way to
celebrate America's birthday," said Crist, who has been
mentioned as a potential running mate for Republican
presidential candidate John McCain. "We've been
talking about it for quite a while. I asked her while
we were looking out over Tampa Bay, and I couldn't think of
a better place to do it."
Rome, 38, is the
president of Franco American Novelty Co., her family's
New York-area Halloween costume company, though she stopped
managing its daily business when she moved to Fisher
Island near Miami in 2006. Crist said they met at a
dinner where he and friends were discussing
fund-raising.
Asked what made
him fall in love, Crist said, "Her beautiful smile,
her sweetness, her brilliance -- all of it."
Crist was briefly
married while in college but was divorced in less than
a year. That experience contributed to the long wait between
commitments.
"It made me be
very selective, candidly. Those things tend to make
you gun-shy a little bit, but I'm so blessed to have found
such a wonderful woman," Crist said. "It sure is great
to find the right one." Crist's longtime bachelor
status has led to rumors that he is gay; he has denied
that this is the case.
Crist and Rome
have been seen together frequently, from a Jimmy
Buffett concert in Tampa last November to sporting events
and on the campaign trail with McCain. At a Republican
Party of Florida dinner last month, Crist told a crowd
of 700 donors that he is lucky to have Rome in his
life.
The two
are discussing a fall ceremony. Crist said the wedding
will likely be a more intimate gathering in St.
Petersburg followed by a larger reception at the
governor's mansion.
"It will be
awfully nice to have her at the mansion. It's a big place
to have to be alone in," he said.
Crist took office
in January 2007 and previously served as attorney
general, as education commissioner, and in the state senate.
Rome was
previously married to Blue Star Jets president Todd Rome.
She has two daughters, ages 9 and 11, and Crist said
he hopes he and Carole Rome will have children
together someday. (Brendan Farrington, AP, with
additional reporting by The Advocate)
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