KING: Tonight Governor Charlie Crist is warning Florida residents that oil and tar balls from the Gulf spill could hit the western panhandle in a day or two. He's just back from an aerial tour of the coast and joins us now from Tallahassee to go "One-on-One".

Governor Crist, let's just start with that. What is your sense? When will it hit your shores and how much damage are you looking at?

GOV. CHARLIE CRIST, FLORIDA: Well, we're not sure. We really just don't know at this time, John. You know I was in the panhandle all along the coast over Memorial Day weekend and went from Pensacola to Destin down to Panama City and we had been briefed on I guess it was Monday, Memorial Day itself, that it was about 80 miles offshore. Then we find out you know late yesterday that they thought it was about seven miles off and then last evening we found out it was back to 10 miles offshore.

So it all depends on the weather. And it's difficult to tell but I've toured the area today and the idea there was to make sure that we had enough boom, we could protect our state and do what was necessary to make sure that we keep our beaches as clean as possible. It's a huge industry to Florida, tourism is so important, and we want to do everything we can to protect the beauty of the "Sunshine State".

KING: Well let's start with the protection part. Are you getting everything you need from BP in terms of financial help, equipment, anything you need or are you waiting?

CRIST: Well, thus far we are. But the emphasis on thus far. We've made another ask for additional moneys. We received an original $25 million in order to help prevent the oil from coming on the shore in addition to cleaning it up. Another $25 million thereafter to promote tourism so long as the tar and the tar balls and the oil didn't come on the beach. We've asked for additional moneys on top of that because it looks like it's fairly imminent that this will hit Florida.

KING: What's the worst case scenario they give you? I was looking at some estimates today that say hit the western area of the panhandle area first but with the loop current could also end up coming ashore around Miami down there. What is the worst case scenario you are getting from your officials?

CRIST: The worst case scenario is that they wouldn't be able to put the cap on this thing and slow it down until at least August. That obviously would be a horrific event. We would have to be at the ready 24/7, which we, of course, will be and do everything that we can to protect our state. But, you know, that is the worst case scenario. We certainly hope that isn't the case, that they're able to plug the hole and have an opportunity to stop this thing before it gets worse than it is already today. KING: What are you hearing from your economic development, your tourism officials, about a lot of people act on fear, Governor. People think there might be a problem. Are you seeing cancellation of hotels, cancellation of vacation plans?

CRIST: We had seen some of that. We started the marketing campaign Memorial Day weekend and they had a great weekend, frankly. Record turnout at some of the restaurants and hotels. We're very pleased for that.

KING: I want to read you a quote from Tony Hayward today. He gave an interview to "The Financial Times" and he said this about their readiness for when this happened. "What's undoubtedly true is that we did not have the tools you'd want went your tool kit." He went on to say, "It's an entirely fair criticism to say the company was not fully prepared for a deep water leak." What does that tell you about BP if the CEO is saying yes you're right, we didn't have what was necessary?

CRIST: Well, what it tells you is they shouldn't have been doing it in the first place in my opinion. I think that you know if you didn't have backup plans, if you weren't prepared, if you didn't have the tools necessary to stop something like this once it began, then you shouldn't have been doing it from the get-go. That begs the question, why were they doing it, how did this come to pass? And we've got to put a stop to it.

KING: It begs this question, too, do you trust them now?

CRIST: Do I trust them now? Well, I think, hard to say, I mean, if they tell us now that they didn't have the tools necessary to deal with it and obviously that is the case, you want to be able to trust them. But you have to be very skeptical at this point.

KING: What does it tell you about the federal government which is the oversight of this industry offshore if BP is operating in the deep water and we know now the devastating possibilities if the federal government isn't making sure they have that tool kit?

CRIST: Well, I think we've all seen some of the news accounts that have talked about the potential corruption that relates to the agency that is supposed to manage it, the one in charge of giving the permits and that there was a cozy relationship there. Certainly it appears that was the case. It's inexcusable.

KING: What about now, you were in the gulf region just the other day, among the officials you met with was the president of the United States. How is he handling this?

CRIST: I think the president is doing everything he can, from my perspective he's been here a number of times. I'm sure he'll continue to come back. That's important for the administration to do and they're doing daily phone calls with the governors in the affected area. It has to be all hands on deck, we have to be working together, we have to work together to stem the tide of what we're dealing with here. I don't think it's the time to be pointing fingers. It's the time for us to come together, work together and do everything we can to protect the Gulf States and in my case, Florida.

KING: Maybe not the time to be pointing fingers but you're perspective seems very different from that of Bobby Jindal, the Republican governor of Louisiana who in the last 24 to 48 hours has become increasingly frustrated saying he says he keeps asking for things, being called to meetings or being told it's being kicked up the chain of command. He says he can't get the white house and others in the federal government to give him the things he needs urgently.

CRIST: He can only speak for himself. I understand that. I can certainly appreciate the level of frustration. It's already on their shore. From our perspective we've had good cooperation and hope that we continue to do so.

KING: I want to talk to you a little bit about your relationship with the president because while we're having a conversation about an environmental catastrophe here, this has been part of your political year back in the state. You know full well you're now running for Senate, non party affiliate, essentially as an independent. You were initially running as a Republican and that famous hug when the president came to see you back in February 2009, you were greeting him, he was coming down. You said nice things about the stimulus plan. You were hammered by Republicans for that. Everyone was watching the other day when you were in the gulf and you came up to the president and had a little back slap with him there. Any conversation at all about your current political environment when you were having interaction with the president?

CRIST: Well no not really. I mean just an appreciation for the fact that he was down on the coast. I think it's important that the leader is here and is present and attentive. As it relates to the stimulus, it's clear to me John it was the right thing to do. It saved hundreds of thousands of jobs in Florida, 20,000 of those educators. You know, we were at a time in our economic history where it looked like the economy was literally going to fall off the cliff. I think we had to do something in order to help the patient, in this case, America's economy. And it has helped. It's helped here in Florida and it's helped throughout the country. I think it was the right thing to do and we're grateful for it.

KING: Governor Crist, appreciate your time tonight and certainly wish you the best in the days and weeks ahead as you deal with this tragic oil spill.

CRIST: Thank you so much, John, good to be with you.

KING: Thank you, Governor, take care.