Charlie Crist is swimming in campaign money, and polls consistently show him to be among the most popular politicians in America.

But something ominous and unpredictable is brewing in Florida, and a growing number of Republicans are starting to consider the unthinkable: the people's governor could lose his campaign for U.S. Senate.

``It's rare that I talk to anyone that's got a good thing to say about the governor right now. It's hard to find a real Charlie Crist ally,'' said former state Republican Chairman Tom Slade. ``Charlie Crist is a marvelous politician, but rarely do you use the word statesman with Charlie Crist. That's his vulnerability, getting branded as another self-centered politician, and he doesn't have many more opportunities to muff up before that happens.''

It's a testament to Crist's remarkable political skill, of course, that the entire world doesn't view him as politically vulnerable. Consider the climate.

His state is losing population for the first time in 60 years. Unemployment and foreclosures are soaring. Taxes haven't dropped like a rock as he promised, and Florida remains one hurricane away from bankruptcy. County Republican parties are openly revolting against Crist, while a charismatic young rival, Marco Rubio, is being hailed on the cover of William F. Buckley's National Review magazine as the future of the GOP.

Yet, click on local TV news in almost any part of Florida and there's a smiling Charlie Crist looking as calm and gracious as ever. Hard to imagine anyone could seem more honored and humbled to be serving Floridians.

``To have an opportunity to play a small role in returning this beautiful sea turtle back to the sea is a very special privilege indeed,'' Crist, taking a break from a campaign fundraising trip, told a TV reporter in the Keys last week after releasing Margarita, a 278-pound turtle.

Such friendly images -- Gov. Charlie with school kids, at hospital wards or just looking into a camera tut-tutting proposed power company rate increases -- partly explain Crist's gravity-defying popularity.

A HECKUVA JOB

Poll after poll finds beleaguered Florida voters think Crist, 53, is doing a heckuva job. Even as Tallahassee lobbyists loading up his U.S. Senate campaign account quietly dismiss him as an empty suit, Republican activists boo his name, and newspaper opinion writers become increasingly scornful of his leadership.

Simply put, Florida voters trust the governor who strives to avoid antagonizing anyone. The latest poll, from Quinnipiac University in August, found 60 percent of voters approve of his performance, including 66 percent of Republicans, 54 percent of Democrats and 63 percent of independents.

``If Charlie were a sour person, it would be a lot easier for people to put blame on him, but he has this persona built in the gubernatorial campaign and campaigns past where he is such a nice fellow. . . . He's got that kind of magic,'' marvelled former state Republican Party executive director David Johnson, who worked for Crist's 2006 gubernatorial rival, Tom Gallagher. ``He absolutely disarms even his most ardent opponents. It's just like what the Democrats tried to figure out in the 1980s -- `How are we losing to this guy, Ronald Reagan?' ''

But talk to veteran Republican activists across Florida, from local organizers to elite operatives to big-money bundlers, and there's a sense Crist could be in trouble. Probably not, but just maybe.