TALLAHASSEE -- Gov. Charlie Crist says he doesn't think much about his legacy. To hear his critics talk, perhaps it's just as well.

As the first Florida governor to forgo a re-election bid, Crist has little more than a year left in his term. Already, the Republican's tenure appears destined to be marked by incomplete grades on issues such as property insurance, health coverage for the uninsured, climate change and the economy.

``Charlie is breaking a 40-year record of governors who wanted to seek another four years to complete their agenda of what they thought was important to the state,'' said Bob Graham, a two-term Democratic governor who also served three terms as a U.S. senator. ``As an indicator of whether he can keep his eye on the things that are important to Floridians, I would say the jury is still out.''

Graham named three areas where he thinks Crist needs to show meaningful progress to bolster his claims of effectiveness: spending stimulus dollars in ways that immediately create jobs as the state's unemployment rate approaches 11 percent; making health insurance available to more uninsured children in the taxpayer-subsidized Florida KidCare program; and enrolling more uninsured in Cover Florida, the low-cost and bare-bones initiative that has just 4,000 members in a state with 4 million uninsured.

``He may be right. Time will tell,'' Crist said.

`A DISASTER'

University of Florida historian David Colburn, who has written extensively on Florida's governors, said Crist has a unique rapport with Floridians ``unlike any I recall in the post-World War II era.'' But on two key issues -- property insurance and the need to revitalize the economy -- it's a very different story, he added.

``His effort to reform the insurance industry has been a disaster,'' Colburn said. ``He has done nothing to examine the economic crisis before us, what the state should do to avoid another crisis, and how the state can emerge from this crisis stronger.''

Crist disagrees: ``I think the people really appreciate what we've done as it relates to property insurance. I think on the whole, people are relatively pleased with Florida.''

On property insurance, Crist says average rates have fallen 16 percent since 2007. But the largest insurer, State Farm, is trying to leave the state, and Crist signed legislation that massively increased the state's exposure from future hurricanes.

On education, Crist supported a 15 percent tuition increase for state university students, and often cites a national study by Education Week showing the quality of Florida's K-12 system rose from 31st in 2007 to 10th this year. But the 31st ranking was a snapshot of various economic indicators, such as high school graduation rates, family income and parents' education.

On spending, Crist claims credit for reducing Florida's budget, but he had no choice. The collapse of the real-estate market caused massive tax-collection shortfalls, which forced the budget to shrink by $7 billion. State employees have not had a pay raise in three years.

On the environment, Crist gushed over climate change in 2007, but the issue is unpopular with many conservative Republicans and has receded from view. Instead, Crist says offshore oil drilling is ``worth looking at'' with sufficient environmental safeguards.

The Cover Florida health initiative is vintage Crist: It's symbolism as much as substance. It was launched with lots of fanfare but no money to market it. The governor used weekly news conferences to urge reporters to ``get the word out,'' and the result is that many people don't know it exists.

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