Free Republic

Title only

A group of supporters rally in front of the Cuban cafe where Rick Scott will make a campaign stop in Miami, Friday, Aug. 20, 2010. Florida governor hopefuls Bill McCollum and Rick Scott entered the final frenzied days of the their tight Republican primary race Friday hoping to sway the sizable chunk of voters that polls suggest are still teetering on the fence.

Four days before the primary, hundreds of Republicans gathered Thursday evening for a chance to compare and contrast the two candidates in the bitterly fought contest for the party’s nomination for governor. They ended up with just one candidate with their chicken piccata. Governor candidate Rick Scott ducked the joint appearance with primary rival Bill McCollum, bailing out just two hours before the event, surprising organizers and many of the 400 attendees. Scott sent his mother instead. Avoiding forums at which Republican primary voters can examine him side by side with McCollum has become a pattern for Scott. At the...

A new Quinnipiac University poll shows that Bill McCollum has opened up a 9-percentage-point lead over Rick Scott in the race for the Republican gubernatorial nomination in Florida. In the poll results released Wednesday, Attorney General McCollum leads businessman Scott by a margin of 44 percent to 35 percent among likely primary voters, with 19 percent undecided. That reverses a Quinnipiac poll released on July 29 that had Scott leading by 11 points, 43 to 32 percent. The new Quinnipiac survey is the fourth recent poll that shows McCollum pulling ahead of Scott as the Aug. 24 primary approaches. A...

The Border: The Sunshine State's attorney general not only supports Arizona in court but has proposed a law tweaking the objections and going even further. Punishing criminals and protecting citizens sounds good to us. Florida attorney general and gubernatorial candidate Bill McCollum isn't waiting for the final word on Arizona's court-challenged SB1070. He's sponsoring a Florida version that deals with the legal objections while ending the concept of sanctuary cities and providing for enhanced penalties when illegal aliens commit crimes. McCollum will no doubt be accused of political motives and opportunism. He will be accused of being racist. But if...

TALLAHASSEE — Rick Scott leads the Republican primary for governor in a new statewide poll thanks to his massive TV ad buys and the old maxim: It's the economy, stupid. Despite lingering questions about his business record and a Medicare fraud scandal in his background, the former health care executive has a 10 percentage-point lead over rival Bill McCollum ahead of the Aug. 24 primary in part because voters see Scott as the candidate who can best pull the economy out of the doldrums. "Whoever's better on the economy is going to win this thing," Ipsos pollster Julia Clark said....

... ``He always wanted to get ahead and really be first in everything,'' she said.``He didn't want to be second place.'' On the campaign trail, Scott offers red-meat conservatism: Illegal immigration crackdowns, tax cuts, budget cuts, gun rights and opposition to abortion and President Barack Obama's stimulus package. In his standard rags-to-riches campaign speech, Scott often avoids mention of the riches: his $9.2 million beachfront Naples home, his $218 million net worth or his background as merger-and-acquisitions lawyer. Instead, he chronicles his humble roots that began in public housing in Kansas City, Mo. He worked a newspaper route, sold 15-cent...

Businessman Rick Scott, who is battling Attorney General Bill McCollum for the Republican nomination for governor in Florida, is refusing to release a deposition he gave in regard to a lawsuit alleging fraudulent practices at a healthcare company Scott now heads. Ten prominent Florida lawmakers have issued a call for Scott to release the deposition and other documents or withdraw from the race for the good of the Republican Party. At a hastily called news conference in Tallahassee on Tuesday, Scott accused McCollum of abusing his power as attorney general by seeking to have state investigators probe the company involved...

Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum on Wednesday proposed legislation that would toughen law enforcement measures against illegal immigrants in the melting-pot state.

Video | MiamiHerald.com

'The brazen nature of this administration is undermining the basic rule of law, the confidence of the public, and taking away states' authority—creating an ever stronger federal government. My role is to make clear we're not going to put up with this." So says Bill McCollum, Florida's attorney general, now vying to be governor of the Sunshine State. It wasn't so very long ago that the job of a Republican governor was to promise lower spending, policies to encourage job growth, freedom in education, tax relief. In the age of Obama, Republican governors and candidates are redefining their role to...

Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum gives an update on his lawsuit over Obama's health care law

Rick Scott's multi-million dollar foray into electoral politics has broken the bank for the Republican Party's choice in the Florida gubernatorial race. State Attorney General Bill McCollum has just $800,000 left in the bank, according to court documents filed by McCollum in response to a Scott lawsuit over campaign finance. The St. Petersburg Times reports: McCollum's campaign manager, Matt Williams, disclosed that because of Rick Scott's primary challenge, the campaign began advertising on TV weeks earlier than they had planned and that the campaign has $800,000 on hand as of Saturday.

With the authority to dole out $20 billion to BP oil spill victims, Kenneth Feinberg has yet to provide exact details about who gets money and who doesn't. But the few specifics Feinberg has mentioned are drawing fire from Florida's attorney general, Bill McCollum, a Republican running for governor. McCollum said he was concerned that Feinberg was using an overly strict interpretation of Florida law that he could use to deny claims. Feinberg, however, said he's not trying to restrict payouts. "I am not adversarial to anyone in Florida," Feinberg said. "I want Floridians to get what is due them....

"Sweating in the TV lights, Scott dodged other questions about McCollum's attacks and acknowledged knowing little about some top state issues, such as this year's amendment to abolish the public campaign financing system." Scott: "You guys have a lot of questions." Scott turned to a "staffer for assistance." Scott: "This is hard." After his filing, McCollum "went on the attack, telling reporters his rival has a 'suspicious background' that makes him unfit to hold office." McCollum supporters "boldly suggested Scott personally profited from abortions as the CEO of a major hospital chain." McCollum: "I'd like to believe that people at...

Political neophyte Rick Scott has surged to a 44 - 31 percent lead over Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum in the race for the Republican nomination for governor, apparently powered by a multi-million dollar television ad blitz to introduce him to voters, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.

Attorney General Bill McCollum has had a dramatic change of heart on Arizona's new immigration law. Here's what he said on April 27: "I think Arizona has its own unique problems. I don't think Florida should enact laws like this -- quite that far out.' Now he says some amendments to the law -- which failed to mollify most critics, including, apparently, former Gov. Jeb Bush -- have made it palatable, and that he would support a similar measure in Florida. McCollum's statement: As state and local law enforcement officials in Arizona begin to implement the states aggressive new border...

If the state's 61-year-old star witness in defense of Florida's gay adoption ban looks laughable for vacationing with a 20-year-old gay male escort, Attorney General Bill McCollum looks pretty foolish himself. George Rekers got payments totaling $120,693 in 2008 and 2009 to testify as a supposed expert against Martin Gill, the Miami man who wants to adopt the two brothers in his foster care. When the Florida Department of Children and Families refused, citing the 1977 ban on adoptions by gays, Mr. Gill sued, and won. The state has appealed. After the embarrassing revelation two weeks ago about Mr. Rekers,...

Some legal scholars, including some who normally lean to the left, believe the states have identified the law's weak spot and devised a credible theory for eviscerating it. The power of their argument lies in questioning whether Congress can regulate inactivity -- in this case by levying a tax penalty on those who do not obtain health insurance. If so, they ask, what would theoretically prevent the government from mandating all manner of acts in the national interest, say regular exercise or buying an American car?

Republican State Attorney General Bill McCollum holds a narrow 40 - 36 percent lead over Florida Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink, the Democrat, in the race for Florida governor, while Floridians' view of President Barack Obama is up from a 45 - 49 percent negative in January to 50 - 45 percent positive today, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. Voters say 54 - 40 percent that it's a "bad idea" for McCollum to file a lawsuit challenging the federal health care overhaul. Voters say 38 - 28 percent, including 41 - 27 percent among independent voters, that...