Charlie Crist, Florida’s first bachelor governor in more than 35 years, proposed Thursday to his girlfriend, Carol Rome, at his apartment in St. Petersburg. Crist, 51, asked Rome, 38, to marry him in the morning eve on the condo balcony giving her a blue sapphire ring surrounded by diamonds he bought Wednesday at the Gold and Diamond Center in his hometown St. Petersburg. She accepted without hesitation.

"I'm very happy and couldn't be more pleased. What a great way to celebrate America's birthday," said Crist, who has been mentioned as a potential running mate for Republican presidential candidate John McCain. "We've been talking about it for quite a while. I asked her while we were looking out over Tampa Bay and I couldn't think of a better place to do it."

The wedding date has not been set yet, but the Florida Governor said it would probably happen in fall and it will take place in St. Petersburg, where he is a member of First United Methodist Church. Most likely, the wedding will consist of a small ceremony in the city followed by a larger reception at the governor’s mansion.

Charlie Crist, single for nearly three decades, is at his fifth engagement. His only marriage occurred while in college in 1979 and lasted six months.

Carol Rome, a New York native, is a 1992 honors graduate of Georgetown University who became president of Franco American Novelty Co., her family’s 100-year-old Halloween costume business, in 2000 when her father died. She moved to Fisher Island in Miami in 2006. Rome was married before to Blue Star Jets president Todd Rome, whom she divorced in the spring, and is the mother of two daughters, ages 11 and 9.

Crist said they met for the first time at a dinner where fundraising was discussed with friends.