Gallagher considers quitting race for governor

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.

''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.''

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.' ''

''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.

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.''

I'm not saying he's perfect-(Gallagher)....but how pure is Crist?....just how pure do you think he is?

I don't really like either of them...I leaned, a lot, toward Gallagher until all this came up.

Crist is almost invisible. Either he has, virtually, no past at all or he has somehow been able to "erase" or cleanse it.

He could easily be an OK guy and I hope so because we might well be stuck with him as our candidate.

I'm starting to trust used car salesmen nore than I do politicians. Florida's history of governors shows that bad governors follow the terms of good ones and vice versa...like a swinging pendulum, back and forth.

TALLAHASSEE - Republican gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist told a radio talk-show host on Friday that civil unions between gays are "fine." Crist, the front-runner for the Republican nomination, added that he has not decided whether Florida should lift its long-standing ban on allowing gays to adopt children. He hasn't yet "reached a conclusion," he told Miami radio talk-show host Jim DeFede. "Haven't taken a position yet," Crist told DeFede. "Not thought about it one way or the other?" DeFede asked. "Not extensively," Crist replied. "I haven't reached a conclusion, is what I said." Later on Friday, when asked to clarify his position, Crist backed away from his radio comments. He told the St. Petersburg Times that he does not support repealing the adoption ban. "My position is the traditional family is the best to adopt," Crist said. He called the two sets of statements a "nuance" and said that the issue of gay adoption "is not a major focus of my campaign." Crist's radio comments marked the second time in recent days that he has taken a position in opposition to the social conservative wing of the Republican Party. Last week, he said he supported legislation passed by Congress to expand embryonic stem cell research, and he disagreed with President Bush's decision to veto the stem cell bill.

susie

AUGUST 11, 2006: TOM GALLAGHER NOTES FROM THE TRAIL:

Dear Friends,

Thank you for all of your hard work this week. It was another great week on the trail.

I would like to start this week’s Notes from the Trail by addressing our nation’s security. As you all are well aware, this week our nation received news that officials from the United Kingdom joined with US officials and stopped a terrorist plot against our nation and arrested more than 20 suspected terrorists. This event is a stark reminder that even though we are safer now than we were pre-9/11, we are still not completely safe. That is why we must continue to call on the federal government to secure our borders and enforce the law.

On Monday, in Fort Lauderdale, I had the opportunity to address an Insurance and Tax Forum. At the event, I explained my comprehensive strategies to provide insurance and tax relief for Florida’s families. Less taxes and less regulation will grow our economy and today, thanks to Republican stewardship, Florida has one of the strongest economies in the nation. We must maintain our commitment to less taxes and less regulation and keep our economy expanding for the future.

On Wednesday, I was in the Villages where I spoke about the need for our next Governor to follow the path laid out by Jeb Bush, and stay committed to the values of the Republican Party.

Yesterday, I officially kicked off the final 25 days of this campaign. With less than a month to go before the primary election, it’s time to re-focus on choosing the candidate who’s best qualified to represent the Republican Party.

I have great respect for my opponent, but over the course of the last year, it has become very clear that we have very different ideas about what’s best for the Republican Party and for our state. Our differences are meaningful, and they are consequential.

For the next 25 days of this campaign, I intend to talk about four critical issues that separate us: taxes, immigration, insurance and family values. Over the next month I am going to convince the voters that I’m the best person to lead our party. I’m going to stick to the issues, and I urge my opponent to do the same. This race should not be about the candidates’ personal lives. It should not result in mud-slinging and our paid messages need to remain positive. Doing otherwise will only help the Democrats in November.

This race all comes down to this: my opponent wants to take the party in a new direction, away from the conservative course set by Jeb Bush. I want our party to remain conservative in every sense of the word. That’s a fight that I can and will win.

Thanks again for another great week. With only 25 days left of the campaign, things are really starting to heat up at the grassroots level. Many of you have been involved in President Bush’s and Governor Jeb Bush’s campaigns. As you know, campaigns are won at the grassroots level, and the campaign with the best team in place will win. This one is no different. This primary race is important because we need someone with the vision and integrity to lead our great state like Governor Bush has over the last 8 years.

Tom Gallagher

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