Posted on 09/07/2006 7:05:03 AM PDT by Happy Valley Dude
MIAMI -- The race for governor comes down to a Democrat who has railed against the Tallahassee establishment and Gov. Jeb Bush's policies versus a Republican who supports Bush in many ways, but isn't afraid to buck his party to side with the popular sentiment among voters.
Attorney General Charlie Crist began his general election campaign with the overwhelming backing of Republican voters while U.S. Rep. Jim Davis failed to win over half the Democrats casting ballots in what was essentially a two-person race.
"It's going to be a competitive, interesting race, but clearly Crist starts off with a major advantage," said Matthew Corrigan, a University of North Florida political science professor.
There's Crist's name recognition advantage after having run statewide three times previously - a loss to Sen. Bob Graham in 1998 and victories as education commissioner and attorney general. There's also the ability to raise money. Crist took in $13.9 million in the primary, compared to $4.4 million raised by Davis. And Bush's continued popularity should help, which Crist will use when the two fly around the state together Thursday.
Crist can start hammering Davis with the same attacks launched by the congressman's primary opponent, state Sen. Rod Smith. Smith pointed out Davis has the second worst attendance record for votes in the U.S. House and that he voted as a state legislator to deny compensation for two black men, Freddie Pitts and Wilbert Lee, wrongfully imprisoned for murder and later pardoned and cleared of the crimes.
Crist hinted at such a strategy Wednesday after thanking supporters in his St. Petersburg campaign office. When asked to point out differences between himself and Davis, Crist said, "I've been a leader in civil rights."
Even U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, a Miramar Democrat, strongly told Davis that he needs to address the Pitts and Lee issue and suggested Davis let him and other black leaders draft a letter to send to the men.
"We have to put this to rest and do so rather hurriedly," said Hastings, who also lectured Davis about the need to reach out to black voters.
"Jim you have to be a different white man. It's just that simple. Black people have the same damn problems that white people have," Hastings said.
Davis won't have the advantage of picking up on the attacks Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher leveled at Crist in the Republican primary. Gallagher repeatedly called Crist a liberal on issues like abortion, gay civil unions, embryonic stem cell research and support of the class size limits voters approved in 2002.
"Crist's campaign was almost picture perfect," Corrigan said. "He played to the Jeb Bush conservatives but left something out there for moderate Republicans and in turn hasn't left the Democrats much to attack in the general election."
Davis did begin an attack, though, with a similar message he had in the primary: Tallahassee Republicans are bad leaders.
"Charlie is saying 'Stay the course,'" Davis said at his Tampa headquarters. "And if you think that being nearly last in the country in virtually every meaningful statistic about our schools and if you think the increase in property taxes and insurance prices is the course that you want to continue, I am not your candidate."
On property tax, however, Crist proposes letting residents in each county vote on whether the homestead exemption should be doubled in an effort to lower taxes. Davis doesn't support a doubling of the exemption from $25,000 to $50,000.
While Davis served as state House majority leader before being elected to Congress in 1996, he is running as a Tallahassee outsider. He is hoping that voters aren't happy with decisions the Republican Legislature and Bush have made over the last eight years, including the use of standardized testing to grade, reward and punish schools and its failure to pass meaningful laws to address the state's property insurance crisis.
Davis won his primary with only 47.4 percent of the vote. Three minor candidates received a combined 11.5 percent. Carol Castagnero, a retired teacher and grandmother who sleeps in Wal-Mart parking lots when she travels because she doesn't feel safe in hotels, received 5.3 percent of the vote and spent less than $6,000 on her campaign after paying a qualifying fee.
Crist won the Republican primary with 64 percent of the vote against 33 percent for Gallagher, a candidate many considered the favorite when the race began.
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Associated Press writers Melissa Nelson in St. Petersburg and Phil Davis in Tampa contributed to this report.
I certainly hope the anti-Crists don't sabotage this opportunity.
The family fight is over.
Now is the time to deal with the enemy at the gates.
Remember the late governor chiles (a democrat) tried to overturn FL's ban on income tax AND tell us whe HAD to raise the sales tax or the budge would never balance.
Good thing he is dead because florida's budge balances quite nicely.
"The family fight is over.
"
Not according to some of the Crist threads. Some of the anti-Crists are bailing. I don't know if it's just an isolated thing, though.
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