[Do not dub me shapka broham]

I still have trouble figuring out why Bill McCollum fared so poorly in that race.

A congressman with nearly two decades of accomplishment behind him, a conservative leader on issues ranging from law & order, to immigration, abortion, affirmative action, and even a house manager during the Clinton impeachment saga, one of the most outstanding in my opinion, next to Henry Hyde and James Sensenbrenner.

Why did such an articulate, compelling candidate do so much worse than President Bush in that state?

[JulieRNR21]

I still have trouble figuring out why Bill McCollum fared so poorly in that race.
A congressman with nearly two decades of accomplishment behind him, a conservative leader on issues ranging from law & order, to immigration, abortion, affirmative action, and even a house manager during the Clinton impeachment saga, one of the most outstanding in my opinion, next to Henry Hyde and James Sensenbrenner.

Why did such an articulate, compelling candidate do so much worse than President Bush in that state?

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Minute Gal can give you a more detailed report on McCollum's failure......but the short answer is ...a lackluster, lazy campaign run by a disorganized, procrastinating staff!

He has been easily re-elected in his home district and did not work hard enough in a state-wide campaign.

KH is 'battle hardened' and she is waging a tough campaign. She will cover FL from the Gulf to the Atlantic & from the panhandle to the keys.

[MinuteGal]

Our Florida FR chapter voted to assist McCollum's campaign. I was the FR "internet campaign" manager for him. For seven months, I (on Florida's west coast) and The Right Stuff (on the east coast) worked our tushies off for the candidate.

Two months into the campaign, I realized his was one of poorest campaigns ever organized. He had one of the worst staffs I've ever had to work with. He never got his name out, and 75% of the voters in this huge state knew virtually nothing about him, and most didn't even recognize his name.

He was soft on some conservative issues, including gun control.

He was a humdrum, lackluster, boring candidate on the stump. His followers were not excited about him. I don't think he was even excited about himself. I believe he knew all along that he was outmatched and was only going through the motions.

As an aside, just before the election, freeper Pete Kessler attended a Florida east coast McCollum indoor rally just before election. Afterwards, Pete asked McC if he knew how hard the freeper chapter was working for him, including donating money. Pete was gobsmacked when he realized that the Free Republic name, or even "freeper", was totally unknown to the hapless candidate.

The day after McCollum lost, his campaign workers fled, no thank-you's were sent out by his PR person, and that was the end of that.....thank God. It was 7 months of hell dealing with his campaign.

In short, he really never had a chance from the beginning. Nice guy, a minimum of political smarts, no charisma.

Leni/MinuteGal