Rick Scott's Florida Republican Gubernatorial Nomination Leaves GOP Reeling
A GOP Governor Win is in the Balance
McCollum was favored to win, having garnered the endorsements of everybody who's anybody in the GOP, including former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee.
In analyzing the win, it's hard to figure out why Scott pulled ahead of McCollum by 3 percentage points to achieve victory. Some contributing factors:
-Scott pulled out all the stops with $39 million (some sources say $40 million) of his own money poured into his campaign. Much of it was spent on sending out accusatory mail against McCollum to our Florida homes, with much discussion among neighbors that it was disgusting. For this reason, his win is surprising.
-McCollum only spent $6-7 million on his campaign, and the mailers received were not half in comparison to Scott's. One piece of mail from the McCollum campaign included a plea from McCollum's wife not to believe everything Scott was saying about her husband being part of Florida Republican Jim Greer's illegal diversion of Party funds.
-Scott is not a "life-long" politician, as he repeatedly told Floridians about McCollum, although McCollum served years in the military first. Scott has never been in a political race before. With the phrase "lifelong politician" taking on negative aspects in the last few elections, people allowed themselves to be swayed.
-Scott ran on the premise that he would be good for Florida's economy, having been the CEO of commercial companies, unlike McCollum.
Democratic victor Alex Sink has better chances against Scott in November:
The GOP were counting on McCollum, who would have been a stronger opponent against Democrat Alex Sink come November's election. Sink, currently Florida's CFO, hasn't been in politics long, so Scott can't make the lifelong politician claim against her.
Also, Sink will undoubtedly use Scott's questionable history as a "boss" of companies against him. For whatever reason in the primary, Scott escaped the fact that his name has been associated with a huge Columbia/HCA hospital chain scandal. Columbia/HCA was fined $1.9 million for Medicare fraud shortly after Scott departed his CEO position with that firm. He insists he knew nothing of the shady dealings going on within the firm during his reign.
Senator's Race will also be tough:
Republican Marco Rubio won a landslide of over 85 percent in the primary race for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Republican George LeMieux (see this previous Associated Content article). But Democratic winner Kendrick Meek is a formidable opponent with lots of support. And with Florida's Governor Charlie Crist running for the seat as an Independent, the Republican vote could be split, making Meek the next U.S. Senator from Florida and putting another seat in the hands of the Dems.
The GOP may have a harder time in the pivotal November election than they thought.
Sources:
"Rick Scott Win: Bad News for Republicans?" Brian Montopoli, CBS News, 8/25/10.
"Jim Greer's lawyer says Gov. Crist okayed diversion of GOP funds," Beth Reinhard, Miami Herald, 6/10/10.
Published by Sheryl Young - Featured Contributor in Politics
Freelance writer since 1997; Featured Political Contributor for Yahoo!; Tampa Tribune Community Columnist/Blogger; Chicken Soup for the Soul; Amy Foundation National Writing Award; happy wife, proud step-mom... View profile
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38 Comments
Post a Commentawesome; thanks for sharing ♥ ty for comment
Can Democrats vote in Republican Florida primaries and vice versa. If this is the case, perhaps Democrats crossed over and voted for Scott.
Very interesting! Thanks!
Sheryl good write-up.
Colorado's election day coming for governor is not a bed of roses. We have GOP primary winner (tea party favorite) Dan Maes facing democrat John Hinkenlooper (current Denver mayor). And to fudge up the process is Tom Tancredo for the American Constitutionalist party. Third party entries usually steal votes from one side or the other. In this one the Dems are considered the shoo-ins because of Tancredo's entry.
Good analytics....
Great article, very informative!
good read
It's a shame... I really wanted to vote for Mike McCalister; someone who wasn't a career politician, without the baggage that Rick Scott brought, but he really didn't have a chance. I had to choose between a former CEO with a questionable past (though successful in business), and a life-long, disingenous political hack who was caught lying on tape about his support of the Arizona law. Neither man ran what I consider an "honorable" campaign, with lies and half-truths coming from BOTH sides. It was Bozo #1, or Bozo #2. I reluctantly voted for Bozo #1.
Thanks!!! Great report!!