While I am openly rooting for Democrat Alex Sink to win the governor's race, I am quite happy the new Quinnipaic poll shows Bill McCollum beating Rick Scott, who brings toxicity to this entire contest.
I don't like McCollum's ridiculous health care lawsuit or his hate-pandering immigration proposal, but the man is a proven public servant with decades of experience serving Florida first as a Congressman and then as Attorney General. It's real cool right now to throw the bums out, but swapping experienced leaders for hacks with big bank accounts is not the solution to our problems in government. We need better leaders, not richer ones.
Scott, though, is a proven failure in the private sector who only made his millions breaking the rules and negotiating good severance packages. After his heath care company racked up $1.7 billion worth of fines following a landmark fraud case, he has fought tooth and nail against letting any of his testimony in the case come out. So much for taking responsibility. Of course, his answer has been to say McCollum only wants the truth out as part of a political stunt.
I say, 'So What?'
That response reminds me of when GOP leadership in the House blamed Democrats for letting the story of Mark Foley's intern-harassing come out in order to take political advantage. Never mind it was actually a Republican former intern who blew the whistle, exposing a predator going after children was the right thing to do whether there was gain in it or not. It's like attacking someone who turns in a kidnapper just to get the reward money.
If Scott is going to get angry anytime his own words prove publicly embarrassing, someone should remind him this is the Sunshine State in more ways than one. We have some of the best open government laws in the nation. All of a governor's emails pertaining to politics and government are public record and they do come out. Ask Jeb Bush.
Most credit Bush, of course, with helping McCollum through the last slogging month. The former governor's endorsement carries a lot of weight with Florida Republican voters. I am sure that contributes to McCollum bringing his favorables up to 44 percent. But there is likely more to it than that. This is a dramatic rebound for McCollum, who Q had pegged as losing to Scott 43-32 as recently as July 29. Now he is winning 44-35. In that span, undecideds only dropped from 23 percent to 19 percent, so McCollum has been poaching from Scott's support.
More likely, the polls are starting to zero in on those voters who are actually going to bother showing up to the polls. Those voters are party regulars and tend to be more educated. And they are voters who have come to primary elections year after year, often voting for McCollum whether he was seeking the nomination for Attorney General, U.S. Senator or, in the case of some Central Florida voters, Congressman.
And while McCollum's negative campaigning has at times seem crude and unrefined, it has worked at bringing down Scott's reputation. Right now, Scott is at 34/33 favorable/unfavorable ratings. On June 10, Q pegged him at 40/12. And perhaps as party regulars see Sink coasting through an uncontested primary (though independent Bud Chiles awaits in November), they worry how much more of a shellacking Scott can take in front of general election voters.
And unlike, say, Marco Rubio, Scott has not been able to bottle up the enthusiasm of the tea party quite so effectively. Perhaps that is because the attentive conservatives in Florida have always seen Impeachment Bill as a standard-bearer for the right.
Whether because of caution of enlightenment, Republican voters are coming around. But we'll see if that can last. This year may go down as the most dynamic political season in Florida history. A lead in the polls today means nothing next week.
As a P.S., I also can't help but wonder, if the establishment McCollum can fend off the insurgent Scott, will it make Charlie Crist regret fleeing from his party primary?
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