Posted on 08/09/2006 5:08:17 AM PDT by Happy Valley Dude
Tom Gallagher is weighing whether to drop out of the governor's race to help his supporters rally around his rival in the GOP primary. BY MARY ELLEN KLAS meklas@MiamiHerald.com
TALLAHASSEE - Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Gallagher is considering dropping out of the race at the urging of top advisors who want time to make peace with his front-running GOP rival, his close associates have told The Miami Herald.
Gallagher, whose fundraising and poll numbers have remained stagnant, is taking the advice seriously but has not made up his mind, his advisors said. What is clear is that Gallagher did not expect such a ferocious challenge from his affable opponent, Attorney General Charlie Crist, who has surged ahead in the polls by studiously avoiding conflict.
Gallagher has complained to friends that when Crist is forced to take a position, he often cribs Gallagher's policy proposals: ''He uses my words and ideas and says it better than I do,'' a frustrated Gallagher told one friend.
Gallagher's campaign said Tuesday that the candidate is considering all his options:
''Tom is evaluating -- with his family and his friends -- what is best for him and what is best for the Republican Party,'' said Gallagher spokesman Alberto Martinez.
This is not what Florida's top Republicans expected when they came through with nearly $9 million in contributions for the chief financial officer and lined up endorsements from the party's religious conservative wing.
Now, with Gallagher as much as 20 percentage points behind in recent polls and down by more than $2 million, many of those same people are getting cold feet. Some want Gallagher to bow out of the race to give high-profile supporters time to position themselves within the Crist campaign and allow Republicans to save their resources for the general election.
`A LOT OF PRESSURE'
''He is under a lot of pressure from a lot of divergent groups,'' said Tom Slade, former chairman of the state Republican Party who said he was among those who have talked to Gallagher about getting out of the race.
Among those who are pressuring Gallagher, Slade said: ``Most of his heavy contributors who would feel very good about the opportunity to make good on the other side.''
Over the weekend, Gallagher met with some of his closest advisors in a series of one-on-one conversations in which they discussed the fate of his candidacy.
In addition to Slade, Gallagher has spoken with former Republican Party chairman Al Cárdenas and political consultant David Johnson, neither of whom would discuss their conversations with The Miami Herald.
Cárdenas did say Gallagher has not made up his mind yet on whether to leave the race and will not decide until new polls assess how well his latest round of ads are doing at moving voters.
''Today is not a day when he's seriously contemplating leaving the race,'' Cárdenas said Tuesday. ``It will probably be next week before it's fair for the Gallagher campaign to make an evaluation of where they stand in the race.''
Cárdenas and Slade said they will support whatever decision Gallagher makes.
The choice before Gallagher is whether to stay in the race and lose nobly, requiring both him and Crist to follow through with plans to spend another $4 million on TV ads before the Sept. 5 primary, or drop out now.
If Gallagher leaves the race, his name would still appear on the ballot, but his supporters could join the Crist bandwagon and jockey to become among Tallahassee's elite if Crist wins the election in November.
Gallagher himself ruled out the third option -- pulling down Crist's poll numbers by launching negative television ads -- months ago. At the time, Gallagher announced that neither he nor the third-party political groups that back him would resort to nasty television ads.
Gallagher has not wavered from that decision, and Crist's political advisors have warned they will return fire fiercely if Gallagher should.
Gallagher continued moving ahead with his campaign strategy Tuesday, visiting newspaper editorial boards while his campaign launched a second ad on Spanish-language television in Miami, featuring popular U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Miami.
Meanwhile, Gallagher is being urged to stay in the race by members of his campaign staff and his wife Laura, Slade said.
'I talked to his campaign a couple of days ago and they said: `We've got the tools to stay in it,' '' Slade said. 'He would not surprise me at all if he were to say: `This is a Republican primary, I've got a legitimate right to be in it and Charlie could stub his toe.' ''
The reality, Slade said, is that Gallagher faces long odds.
''He's got a pretty good deficit in both money and voters and that is not the recipe that winning political candidates seek,'' Slade said.
``He's also running against what some have called the best retail politician they've ever seen.''
As the week goes on, the window is closing for Gallagher to drop out and still protect his supporters if he were to lose, sources said.
MOMENTUM LOSS
Crist campaign advisor Mac Stipanovich said that while he would prefer to have Gallagher drop out early to allow the Crist campaign to ''meld the campaign staff, have sit-downs and retool county organizations,'' the downside is the loss of the after-primary momentum of a competitive victory.
''We lose the slingshot effect from the election night victory -- and all that goes with it -- particularly with a candidate that was once perceived to be very formidable,'' Stipanovich said.
Much of Gallagher's decision will depend on how far he wants to go to help his friends make a soft landing if his campaign fails.
''It's a decision Tom Gallagher has got to make and nobody can push him,'' Slade said. ``He's not pushable.''
Florida Right to Life Endorses Tom Gallagher
Of curiosity; are you residing in Florida???
Maybe Jeb didn't like that his brother was called the world's biggest terrorist by an AARP member. It was a treasonous remark imo.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1673460/posts
Crist mentioned Brazil in the last debate but I haven't had time to look into what that was about. (their ethanol model) or if there's more to it.
I wonder how much non-American donations Crist has raked in.
This is what I don't understand from some of you so called conservative FReeper: Is Floridan NOT a RED State? Why then in the world, would any Republican dream about casting a vote for the corrupt ex. "ass-naut" cadet bill nelson??
It does NOT make any sense to me, whatsoever???
It is all hype and dream pipes created by the "drive-by" L.S.M. which are pouring out their "kool-aid" for you to gupple up!
Look at all the hundreds of doctored photos from Lebanon; that's what you are getting from the liberal media and their democRATS' ilks!!!
Sounds about right
Who are you really? Mary Mapes.
You just paraphrased her trying to support Bill Clinton Junior Gallagher.
You ran out a facts some time back and are now just making up fresh ones from whole cloth.
Gallagher is toast because he emulates Bill Clinton with his womanizing, cheating on his wife and flip-flopping on gun control, (He was in favor of gun control until his handlers told him he could get more votes by reversing his position.)
When "Mister Family" (Gallagher) was working hard in Washington D.C. and his wife flew up to visit him, her father-in-law had to pick her up at the airport because "Tomcat" Gallagher was out on a date with a married woman at the time.
Gallagher is some piece of work.
You're not a rational person, I really don't want to have any more contact with you.
TOM GALLAGHER'S TV COMMERCIALS ROCK!
Wow! I'm going to have to Tivo them an play them back for all my friends (or should I say "soon-to-be ex-friends").
We have two crummy politicians running on the Repulican side. Of the two, Gallagher is by far the worst but you cozy up to him because you're stuck on one issue.
It's the same way liberal women loved Clinton even though he was a rapist and treated women like dirt, because of their one issue, abortion. That erased any and all of his sins as far as they were concerned.
You are perfectly willing to overlook Gallagher's history...and you've only seen the tip of that iceberg, because you "keep one eye closed" and don't even want to know about it. Where's the logic in that?
I hope you know that the Dems are all set to totally roast him...he left an easy path and they have followed it to get the goods on him.
Crist has no known path..I think he still lives with his Mom or something, so they can't get much on him. They probably won't need to.
Being a cheer-leader for Gallagher will come back to haunt you later when this all comes out.
Thank you, I won't miss you here! Yes I am, (but in contrary to all your past posts) a rational person with a positive outlook for our State, while you are representing a big "negative" LOOSER, certainly NOT qualified of displaying our great "positive" President Ronald Reagan on your "About page"!!
President Reagan was a huge WINNER, and again, please remember his 11th. commandment in party politics, by-by!!!
With reference to Tom Gallagher; what is UNDER the tip of that iceberg, please???
(1) Gary Condit
(2) Bill Clinton
(3) an honorary Kennedy.
One episode: He's hard at work in Washington D.C. and his wife flies up from Florida to spend some time with him. When she arrives, her father-in-lawhas to pick her up at the airport because Mr. Gallagher is out on a date....with a married woman.
Of course he's gone "all family" now.
Just like Bill and Hillary on CBS before his being elected...."oh we've reconciled and Bill says he'll never do it again". We all know how long he kept that promise.
I have a loud-mouthed friend (we go fishing and that's about it) who is a big cheese in the Democrat party, locally.
We were watching baseball at a sports bar when a Gallagher commercial came up on the air and his tongue, loosened by a couple magaritas, allowed him to spill the beans on what the Democrats are up to.
He spoke of how they have dug up a lot of dirt on Tom that puts him in the same category as Gary Condit and Bill Clinton.
I asked him if they had the goods on Crist and he said they still working on it, but the big news was that with Gallagher they had "struck the mother lode".
You will notice that Gallagher has probaly known this at some point in time and has tried to "immunize" himself by objecting to negative campaigning. (Clinton made the same comment, because he was the one with all the negatives.)
Now he has remarried and "settled down"...just like Bill and Hillary on CBS 60 Minutes. She forgave him and he said he'd never do it again. If he's going to act like someone, why does it have to be Clinton?
For goodness sakes, I heard innuendo in my own Republican Women's Club.
This.....
..after Jeb.
Unconscionable.
Crist's finances seem to be in better shape than Gallagher's.
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