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Charlie Crist has slightly nudged ahead of Gov. Rick Scott in Quinnipiac University’s latest poll that shows the Democrat picks up 43 percent support from likely voters to the incumbent’s 40 percent. That apparent 3 percentage point lead for Crist is essentially a tie because it’s within the poll’s margin of error, but the poll of 800 likely voters indicates Crist has some momentum on his side. Last week, Quinnipiac surveyed the governor’s race and found it dead even between Crist and Scott, with each getting 42 percent. So the contest has shifted a net 3 percentage points in Crist’s...

Play With Closed Captions Gov. Rick Scott widened his lead in the gubernatorial race, taking a 5-point lead over Charlie Crist, according to the latest News Channel 8 poll. Scott pulled 44 percent compared with 39 percent for Crist in the poll. Scott actually dropped a point from the 45-44 tally last week, but fared better as Crist lost support and dropped below 40 percent for the first time since the poll started this spring. Libertarian candidate Adrian Wyllie more than doubled his share, taking 7 percent in the survey. Nine percent were undecided. Crist's lead has slipped in Southeast...

....victories, and the real contest — the general election — begins now. Though Crist won the primary easily, the numbers weren’t all positive for his camp. He received 622,986 votes, 211,408 fewer than Scott got in his Republican primary. Overall, more than 114,000 more Republicans than Democrats cast ballots statewide....

A poll from the Florida Chamber Political Institute (FCPI) unveiled on Monday shows Gov. Rick Scott has taken the lead over former Gov. Charlie Crist. Despite having spent most of his political life as a Republican, Crist is the favorite to win the Democratic primary next week. Scott takes 44 percent in the poll of likely voters while Crist garners 41 percent. Scott’s lead expands when Libertarian Adrian Wyllie is added into the mix. In that scenario, Scott takes 41 percent, Crist gets 35 percent and Wyllie takes 4 percent. “While top concerns for voters remain jobs and the economy,...

This was, of course, inevitable. Democrats across Florida heard a mysterious recorded call over the weekend that seemed aimed at attacking likely Democratic gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist. The voice in the recording? Charlie Crist. “Hi, this is Charlie Crist calling to set the record straight. I’m pro-life. I oppose amnesty for illegal immigrants, I support traditional marriage, and I have never supported a new tax or big spending program. It’s sad that in his fourth try for governor my opponent has resorted to distortions and untruths. … Floridians need a consistent, conservative governor that they can trust. I would appreciate...

Candidate for governor Charlie Crist was disinvited from a high-profile fundraiser starring former President Bill Clinton in Miami Beach Tuesday evening after Crist’s Democratic primary opponent Nan Rich ran into Hillary Clinton in Washington, Gossip Extra has learned. The $25,000-party at the Palm Island home of Lumber Liquidators founder Tom Sullivan was officially a fundraiser for the Democratic Governors Association, an organization that supports Crist.

The roots of modern-day voter suppression is buried in Florida, and it grew and blossomed during the 2000 presidential elections. “Florida is the state where awareness of how serious flaws in elections administration could result in voters being disenfranchised developed,” said Marcia Johnson-Blanco, coordinator, Voting Rights Project, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.votersuppression2 The critical role of Florida in deciding the presidential contest between Republican candidate George W. Bush and Democrat Al Gore, and the narrow margin by which the outcome was decided shined a global-sized spotlight on the state, revealing several election irregularities. Before the elections, state officials...

In a victory for the tea party movement, Republican Curt Clawson won a special election in southwest Florida on Tuesday to replace former U.S. Rep. Trey Radel, who resigned in January after pleading guilty to cocaine possession. The businessman and former Purdue basketball star cruised past Democrat April Freeman and Libertarian Ray Netherwood in a solidly Republican district on the state’s Gulf Coast. With all precincts reporting, uncertified results show Clawson captured 67 percent of the vote for District 19, which includes most of Lee County and about a third of Collier County....

Former Governor Charlie Crist went where few Democrats dare, a full endorsement of Obamacare Democratic gubernatorial candidate is doing something with his campaign that almost no other Democrat in America is willing to do: give a full-throated endorsement of the Affordable Care Act. Crist made an appearance at the Capital Tiger Bay Club and repeatedly called the ACA “great” during his lunch speech. Crist also took aim at attack ads against him being run by a political action committee backing Republican Governor Rick Scott.

A few days ago Barack Obama issued a warning to democrats: It's time to worry. The election is coming, the election is coming! That’s the message coming from President Obama as he tries desperately to rouse Democrats out of a midterm election stupor that could cost his party control of the Senate — and bury his agenda once and for all. Obama has increasingly sounded like the nerdy kid in a bad horror movie constantly warning his friends to stay out of danger as he’s called on the Democratic base to not be complacent in 2014. “You've got to pay...

Former White House senior adviser David Alexrod said Wednesday that the lesson to take away from the special election in Florida’s 13th District is that problems with Obamacare motivated the Republican base and that Democrats need to figure out how to fire up theirs — minorities and young people.

Republican David Jolly defeated Democrat Alex Sink in the special election to fill Florida’s 13th district on Tuesday night, delivering a stinging blow to Democrats that underscores their vulnerability to ObamaCare attacks. With all precincts reporting, Jolly topped Sink 48.4 percent to 46.5 percent, winning by 3,417 votes. Libertarian Lucas Overby took nearly 5 percent of the vote. Sink’s loss in the race to succeed the late Rep. Bill Young (R-Fla.) was seen by Republicans as evidence the political winds are blowing hard against Democrats in their uphill pursuit of the 17 seats they’ll need to take back the House....

If I'm a Democratic House member in any competitive district in America or a Democratic incumbent senator up for re-election this year in a moderate-to-conservative state like North Carolina, Arkansas, Colorado, Alaska or Louisiana, I'm waking up more than a little anxious about what happened in Pinellas County on Tuesday. In Alex Sink, Democrats had a better-funded, well-known nominee who ran a strong campaign against a little-known, second- or third-tier Republican who ran an often wobbly race in a district Barack Obama won twice. Outside Republican groups — much more so than the under-funded Jolly campaign — hung the Affordable...

The March 11 special election to see who takes Florida’s 13th Congressional district has become ground zero on a single issue — Obamacare — and may give a preview of what the 2014 midterm elections in November. David Jolly, the political newcomer who is taking on Democrat Alex Sink, appeared on “Your World” Monday and discussed the race withFox News host Neil Cavuto. He reminded Cavuto that President Obama took the district in 2012, so it all comes down to the president’s signature piece of legislation.

Just came over the Pinellas County Election website- David Jolly wins! 225 of 225 Precincts Reporting Percent Votes David W. Jolly (REP) 48.43% 88,294 Alex Sink (DEM) 46.56% 84,877 Lucas Overby (LPF) 4.83% 8,799 WRITE-IN 0.18% 325 182,295

In Florida District 13's special election to replace the late Rep. Bill Young (R-FL), Young's former aide David Jolly leads the race with almost all votes counted. Jolly faced off against Democratic nominee Alex Sink, a former financial officer for the state of Florida, and Libertarian candidate Lucas Overby. With 98.2% reporting, Jolly holds 48.4% of the vote with 87,700 votes. Sink follows with 46.7% and 84,574 votes—and Overby at 4.8% and 8,765 votes.

Republican David Jolly narrowly defeated Democrat Alex Sink in the special election for Florida’s 13th District on Tuesday in an expensive race watched closely by both parties as the midterm election season kicks into high gear. With 100 percent of precincts reporting, Jolly beat Sink 48.5 percent to 46.6 percent, according to The Associated Press. Both Democrats and the GOP plowed millions of dollars into the swing district race in hopes of an election year boost. The results appeared to vindicate the strategy of the GOP, which focused its attacks on linking Sink to Obamacare and managed to win with...

As of Sunday, more than 122,000 votes had been cast in the special election for Congressional District 13 in Pinellas County. The Republican advantage in votes cast to date has grown to more 4,623 votes. Presumably, a lot of ballots come in today and tomorrow. We had been arguing that the Republican lead in mail-in votes cast was below where Republican nominee David Jolly needed it to be, but there's no question after the past five days he heads into election day with the momentum and with some wind at his back (Just as Obama had in 2012 when early...

Former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (D) said Sunday that President Obama’s controversial healthcare law has been “great” for residents of his state. Crist has sharply criticized the healthcare law in the past. But the former Republican governor and 2008 GOP vice-presidential short-lister is running for his old post this year as a Democrat this year. Crist said during an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union” that he would have no problem running on the healthcare bill, which is known colloquially as ObamaCare, as he seeks to regain his former office. “I don’t think so at all,” Crist said when...

Their frustration had been mounting for weeks. But by late January national Republicans had had it with David Jolly, their candidate in Tuesday’s nationally watched Florida congressional special election. The candidate had just told the state’s top political reporter that he disagreed with an ad the party was airing against his Democratic opponent — a spot paid for with the nearly $500,000 the GOP had already spent on Jolly’s behalf. “Are you f—-ing kidding me?” a senior National Republican Congressional Committee official told a Jolly staffer over the phone, according to two sources familiar with the conversation. Would the Jolly...