MICHELE NORRIS, Host:
Democrats aren't the only ones dealing with dissent in the ranks. Republicans are also facing unrest. The latest shake-up came this week in Florida. The state party chairman was forced to resign by Republican dissidents. The chairman is a man closely linked to Florida's moderate governor, Charlie Crist, as NPR's Greg Allen reports.
GREG ALLEN: Former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio was already campaigning for the Senate nomination when Crist decided he wanted the job. Palm Beach County GOP Chair Sid Dinerstein says, for many in the party, Greer's move crossed the line.
NORRIS: When Greer tried to literally muscle Rubio out of the race, the party said no more, and that led to a revolution.
ALLEN: Through the fall, the attacks against Greer built and this week, he said he was stepping down. In a conference call with reporters, Greer said his critics have just two goals.
NORRIS: And the first one is, remove me as chairman, and if that doesn't work, burn the house down and try and destroy the Republican Party.
ALLEN: Much of the unrest here comes from conservatives, many of them Rubio supporters. But Bill Bunting, a former county chair and Greer critic from Pasco County, north of Tampa, says the insurrection is less about ideology than party politics. County committeemen felt they were being ignored.
NORRIS: These are the people that organize the bases in their counties: do the mailings, stuff the envelopes, call the precinct people, the phone banks, open up more offices at election time. And what you were doing is, you were taking away their right.
ALLEN: A return to stability in party leadership will help Crist by putting a nagging problem behind him. But Palm Beach County GOP Chair Sid Dinerstein says he believes Crist's problems are much bigger than who's running the state party.
NORRIS: Charlie has refused to debate Marco Rubio and yet, the national issues are at the top of everybody's agenda. We need these people in the same room, talking to the voters of this state about health care and cap-and-trade and amnesty and all the issues.
ALLEN: Greg Allen, NPR News, Miami.