Charlie Crist has been somewhat quiet on the campaign trail, preferring to hawk his new book rather than take his message to the corners of the state. Today, he campaigned in Tampa for the first time since announcing his candidacy for governor.

Steve Newborn / WUSF

Crist was back in action, high-fiving and hugging his way through a crowd of University of South Florida students who gathered for a student election. He's getting warmed up for what promises to be one of the most closely-watched elections in the country, squaring off against Rick Scott. The once-and-possibly future governor promised to do what he can to overturn Scott's rejection of a federal high-speed rail plan that would have connected Tampa and Orlando.

"When the United States government says we want to give you high speed rail so that I-4 isn't so clogged up, and we don't have so much carbon, and we keep the climate that much more clean, the right thing to do is to say yes. And to do what makes sense. Two-point-four billion dollars Rick Scott rejected, and that's not right."

When Crist was asked what he could do to make high-speed rail happen in Florida, he said "not alienate the president, for one," and that he would utilize "common sense, instead of nonsense."