Primary epilogue: Chris King got money’s worth; Jeff Greene is a putz

It has only been a week since Andrew Gillum shocked the political world by winning the Democratic primary election for Florida Governor. His victory was such a black swan that much of the post-election analysis has been, deservedly, on how Team Gillum pulled off an upset.

Almost every major media outlet has deployed reporters to Tallahassee in an attempt to learn more about that city’s Mayor who is now the face of a national progressive movement.

Lost in all of this has been the reflection that typically occurs after a bruising campaign. Maybe we’re beginning to understand why Gillum won, but what about the also-rans? Is there a future for them, despite their losses?

We’ll know soon enough whether the next act of Gwen Graham‘s story will be as Gillum’s running mate. She would appear to be the leading contender for the role, although no less than three A-list Democratic sources say Gillum-Graham ’18 will not happen.

As for third-place finisher Philip Levine, I have to be honest and say I don’t know what happened there.

Not that he didn’t win, but that he finished so far off the high-water mark he had notched in several polls. Levine had a message, spent a considerable amount of his money, and, arguably, had the best campaign team working for him. Yet he finished a distant third to Gillum and Graham. Why he did so deserves further examination.

But for now, let’s talk about Jeff Greene and Chris King, who respectively finished fourth and fifth in the August primary. They were both more sideshow than they were co-stars in the drama of the Democratic primary, but they still deserve a requiem.

The consensus is that King, the Orlando entrepreneur who looked much better on paper than he did in the flesh, underperformed. But that’s not entirely accurate because King really never rose above the outside-the-margin-of-error level in most polls.

With a top-tier staff and his own personal money to spend, King probably should have done better and it’s a mystery why he did not, just as it is a mystery why his favorability ratings fared so poorly in poll after poll. How many voters knew King well enough to form an opinion of him, much less a negative one?

Yet, despite his single-digit finish, King probably got his money’s worth out of his bid for the Governor’s Mansion.

King is worth north of $30 million; his wife has her own separate money. The Kings will likely never struggle for money. They could have easily sat on the sidelines and not take time away from their business and philanthropic efforts by making a quixotic bid for the nomination. Frankly, we probably would not have known the difference had King not run.

For the price of $5 million, however, King now is a statewide political player and will be so for at least another decade. Any time an elected office opens up statewide or in Central Florida, King will be mentioned as a possible candidate. That’s if he’s not tapped by Gillum to be his running mate.

King will be asked to give speeches and headline galas. He’ll be asked his opinion and people will listen. He’ll write op-eds and the major newspapers will publish them. He’ll be a bold name in those newspapers when he and his wife appear at charity events.

In other words, King has won by losing. He’s the 2018 version of Rick Dantzler.

And to think, it only cost him a few million dollars. What was he going to do with that money anyway?

If King is the beau of the ball, Jeff Greene is the skunk at the picnic.

For the second time in eight years, Greene has inserted himself into the political conversation with no other credential than, hey, he’s really rich.

He’s so rich that Florida Democrats, cash-starved as a Venezuelan bank, welcomed him into their bosom. The dollar signs in their eyes blinded them to the truth that Greene, as successful as he is in business, is really just a putz.

Put aside the fact that Greene spent the majority of his time in the campaign trashing Graham and Levine via negative TV ads.

Put aside the fact that Greene, for the second time in his political career, inexplicably fired his media team in the final stretch of the campaign.

Put aside the fact that Greene has backtracked on his promises to bankroll the campaigns of other Florida Democrats.

Put aside the message it sends that when the polling didn’t break his way, Greene folded quicker than that Jacksonville boxer who walked out of the ring before the first round.

Put aside the fact that Greene couldn’t be bothered to show up at the Democrats’ post-election unity rally.

Put aside all of that and consider this: Jeff Greene canceled his Election Night watch party and, instead, watched the disappointing results come in from the comfort of his palatial home.

Greene is worth $3.3 billion. He could have easily afforded to buy the booze for the few staffers who worked for him. He could have paid for a nice spread for the few volunteers who supported his campaign.

Even Montgomery Brewster, after he went broke persuading New York City to vote for “None of the Above,” was generous enough to pay for the bar.

The unfortunate epilogue to the tale of two-time political loser Greene is that with his money, he can buy back into the game whenever he wants. The amount he spent on this campaign (about $40 million dollars) is a rounding error to him.

Every election cycle, Greene can open his wallet and cause havoc in a Democrat politics.

Every time there is a U.S. Senate or gubernatorial race, Greene can pull out his checkbook and buy his way in.

Every time he runs against worthy candidates, like Graham and Levine, he can cost them the election by trashing them on the TV.

So if there is a next time, don’t forget what Greene did here. Politics needs fewer of his ilk and more of the Chris Kings of the world.