Guest AuthorAfter what seems like a million television ads, Gov. Rick Scott — the first man to come out of nowhere and win the Governor’s Mansion with his own money — has secured a second term.
What made this race so interesting was that former Gov. Charlie Crist, the consummate retail politician, was seeking a return to Tallahassee. Crist’s win clearly had the potential of bringing Washington-style dysfunctional politics to Tallahassee.
Though I had predicted that we wouldn’t know the outcome before we went to bed, I was wrong. Sunshine State News was the first to call the election for the incumbent at 9:38 p.m. Tuesday and the Associated Press called it about an hour later.
So what does this election portend?
First, this election was about one thing: the economy and jobs. And Scott hitched his star to the issue. Certainly Crist never took economic development very seriously to begin with, certainly not as seriously as he did about his fan. From day one, Scott lived, ate and breathed jobs.
He was singularly focused, much to the consternation of mainstream reporters who always wanted to ask him some embarrassing question but instead always got a laser focused retort about what the Governor wanted to talk about — jobs!
Scott understood that with a feeble economy, voters wanted someone who would do everything possible to make jobs available for them, their spouses and their kids.
Second, President Barack Obama was on the ballot after all, and he helped to drag down Crist. The President is intensely unpopular in much of Florida. However, he has many supporters in South Florida, but Crist’s campaign manager and consultants – veterans of Obama campaigns – failed to deliver enough of the Obama voters.
Crist’s embrace of the President and his policies such as Obamacare were a huge anchor around his suntanned neck.
Instead of repudiating the program, he doubled down at a time when most Floridians perceived it as problem that would complicate their health care with small business employers, who dominate the business landscape.
Chuck Todd, the Florida-native wunderkid of Meet the Press fame, at the annual Tiger-at-Bay dinner in Tallahassee last month avoided any mention of the Florida governor’s race.
When asked about it during the Q&A session, he said he was hoping to not have to address the race. He went on to say that history has shown that whoever spends the most money in Florida wins the race.
That proved true on Tuesday night. Scott tapped into his trust funds because he is a shrewd man who understands what it takes to win political races — lots of money!
Third, the Democratic operatives who predicted that they would bring the Obama turnout machine to Florida failed to do so.
This has to give the Republican Party of Florida a much needed boost in confidence going into the Presidential cycle in 2016 when a Republican governor can help put Florida in the red column.
And I believe that former Gov. Jeb Bush will run for president and win. After all, he was the governor of the soon-to-be third largest state in the country.
Remember also that Obama won Florida the second time by only about 1 percent of the total vote.
Unfortunately for the Florida Democratic Party, its willingness to bet everything on the governor’s race with a flip-flopping former Repub-Indie candidate will be analyzed ad naseum.
Suffice to say that the Dems came close, but once Scott’s second term is over, Democrats will have lost the top job in the state for 20 years.
And John Morgan, the Democratic trial lawyer, lost twice in one night: Crist and Amendment 2!
If Dems can’t win with the slickest politician in Florida history, what are their chances in four years when Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam or CFO Jeff Atwater will be the Republican standard bearer for governor?
Florida’s executive and legislative branches will work together to continue to move the state forward.
The meanest race in history is over. Finally. Whew!
Barney Bishop III is the President & CEO of Barney Bishop Consulting, LLC. Barney can be reached at [email protected] Column courtesy of Context Florida.
