TALLAHASSEE -- Gov. Charlie Crist on Sunday announced three more candidates for retiring Republican U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez's job.

According to a statement from Crist's office, former U.S. Reps. Clay Shaw, Mike Bilirakis and Lou Frey have been asked to fill out a questionnaire for the position.

Crist, also a Republican, expanded his list of candidates after meeting with party leaders over the weekend in Orlando. On Friday, he had said he did not expect to ask anyone else to apply for the job. However, he also said: ``You always keep the option open.''

All of the potential appointees are Republican.

Shaw lost a fierce, costly bid for a 14th term representing his Broward and Palm Beach County district to Democrat Ron Klein in 2006.

Bilirakis served 12 terms in Congress until he was succeeded by his son, U.S. Rep. Gus Bilirakis, in 2006.

Frey served as a state chairman of Bob Dole's presidential campaign. In recent years, he joined former Gov. Bob Graham in lawsuits challenging the Florida Legislature's authority over tuition and fees at state universities.

Martinez announced earlier this month that he would leave office more than a year before his first term expires in January 2011. Crist is running for the position but says he will not appoint himself to fill the unexpired term.

The candidates previously announced are: Former state Sen. Dan Webster; U.S. Rep. Bill Young; state Rep. Jennifer Carroll; former U.S. Attorney Roberto Martinez; lobbyist Jim Smith; former Jacksonville Mayor John Delaney; and former Broward Republican chairman George LeMieux, previously Crist's chief of staff.

Join the discussion

The Miami Herald is pleased to provide this opportunity to share information, experiences and observations about what's in the news. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere in the site or in the newspaper. We encourage lively, open debate on the issues of the day, and ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point. In order to post comments, you must be a registered user of MiamiHerald.com. Your username will show along with the comments you post. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

     Showing: Oldest first Newest first Most-recommended first Least-recommended first

@Nyx.AuthorDisplayName@ wrote on @Nyx.PostedAtTime@:

@Nyx.repliedToText@

@Nyx.replyAnswerText@

Reply to this Comment @Nyx.Recommender@ @Nyx.AbuseReporter@