Florida Gov.-elect Charlie Crist stood out at a meeting of GOP governors in Miami as a rare party election winner.

As Republican governors gathered Thursday in Miami for some post-election soul-searching, Florida's incoming chief executive stood out as one of the GOP's few success stories.

Republican Charlie Crist flouted the national anti-GOP current that helped the Democratic Party pick up six governorships and gain its first majority in governors' offices since 1994.

''Everyone has been talking about him,'' state Rep. David Rivera said of Crist. ``He's the rock star who bucked the national trend, and everyone wants to hear about the secret to his success.''

The other star attraction at the Republican Governors Association conference: Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, the group's chairman and a likely presidential contender in 2008. Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas, a lower-profile potential candidate, also attended the conference.

Romney has been steadily naming advisors to a political committee that would serve as a presidential launching pad, but he waved off talk of his ambitions Thursday. Still, the tall, polished Republican who won election in a predominantly Democratic state stood out and attracted national press.

A likely White House competitor, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, refused to let Romney have the stage to himself. McCain invited the governors and other elected officials to a 5 p.m. reception, and even dispatched buses to shuttle them to Don Shula's Hotel in Miami Lakes and back to Doral in time for the 8 p.m. dinner headlined by Romney.

CAMPAIGN BOOSTERS

Both Romney and McCain helped Crist during his campaign in the nation's biggest presidential battleground state. Romney, through the governors association, pumped $1.2 million into the state party, while McCain flew around the state with Crist for two days in August.

Romney also paid homage Thursday to the state's popular outgoing governor.

''I've long said Jeb Bush is the best governor in America,'' Romney said. ``His departure has left a big hole in Florida, but Charlie Crist has stepped right in.''

Crist's record-setting fundraising and well-organized campaign helped insulate him from the national backlash. The GOP remains firmly in control of the state Cabinet and the Legislature, though the Democratic Party snared one statewide office -- chief financial officer -- and netted six legislative seats. Crist credited his victory to hard work and reaching out to all Floridians, saying he was ''humbled'' by his support from the black community. He got about 18 percent of the black vote, an unprecedented amount for a Republican running statewide.

''One of the things we learned during the campaign was to listen to the people,'' Crist said during a press conference with about a dozen governors.

Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman, who steered the president's successful reelection in 2004, blamed Democratic victories on outrage over the war in Iraq and political scandal.

''We must recommit ourselves to being the party of reform,'' Mehlman told a crowd of about 250. ``Our party should never be the party of Washington, of government, of earmarks, of bureaucracy.''

ETHICAL ISSUES

He added that 12 of the lost seats were directly tainted by ethical wrongdoing.

''The Republican Party must hold all of its elected officials . . . to the highest ethical standards, period, no excuses,'' he said. ``If there are Republicans with whom influence or power or money have become the most important factor, more important than serving the people, we should make one thing perfectly clear: We don't want you in our party.''

Mehlman said the GOP's vaunted get-out-the-vote effort saved the party from even worse backsliding. Of 22 races that were decided by less than 2 percent of the vote, 13 were won by the Republican candidates.

Mehlman will be replaced in January by Cuban-born U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez of Florida, reflecting the national party's steady courtship of the booming Hispanic population in the state and across the country.

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