A.G. Gancarski
The Republican campaign for Florida Governor, as it stands now, is a two-man race between Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam and Rep. Ron DeSantis.
Each candidate is betting on different paths to the nomination.
While DeSantis’ press shop sends out regular media advisories spotlighting DeSantis hits on Fox News and Fox Business, Putnam is running a more traditional campaign.
He’s not given equal time on Fox News; his opinions aren’t sought on the Robert Mueller investigation.
So Putnam does what candidates have typically done, schlepping from town to town and market to market in an effort to pitch his message — one that rarely changes — to audiences.
Jacksonville has seen Putnam many times and will see him again Wednesday morning, for an “Up and Adam” breakfast event at the Beach Diner in Mandarin.
Local reporters have gotten to hear Putnam’s stump speech enough to be able to recite it on cue. Florida, Putnam has said and will say, needs to be a “launchpad for the American dream.” And there needs to be more attention given to trade education in schools, as we learn every time the state recovers from hurricanes.
To his credit, Putnam typically takes press questions at the end of his events. For example, after an opioid roundtable in Jacksonville weeks ago, Putnam had to address a hot topic at the time: the Marjory Stoneman Douglas School Safety Act.
While Putnam took issue with gun restrictions in the legislation, such as barring gun sales for those under the age of 21, he stopped short of saying he would push for a legislative repeal of the bill.
Those press encounters are spirited back-and-forths, and they help Putnam clarify his positions in local markets, even if some of them are more pleasant for the candidate than others.
DeSantis, meanwhile, teased his candidacy for months before getting into the race at the beginning of the year.
Aside from a late January rally in Boca Raton where the candidate pledged to drain the swamp in Tallahassee, DeSantis has not been a fixture in local markets.
While the Fox News perch is a unique value-add suggesting a future as a host for an “Ingraham Angle” style program if DeSantis doesn’t become Governor, weeks of inactivity on the trail have become months.
There has been little evidence of a ground operation for the candidate, who nonetheless is holding his own in polls against Putnam — no small feat, given that Putnam has been a statewide officeholder for the last eight years.
The contrast between Putnam and DeSantis, in their approaches to chasing the state’s top job, has been stark. One candidate has run a textbook campaign, boots on the ground in every county.
The other candidate has run a campaign in which the satellite dish and the cable connection have largely been substitutes.
The DeSantis approach challenges the paradigm of retail politics; while he has promised that President Donald Trump will campaign with him “very soon,” the question is what will that involvement look like.
If a Trump endorsement and cable news hits carry DeSantis to the nomination over Putnam, then it is clear that the game of politics in the Sunshine State has shifted seismically.
