Ping
McCollum’s single biggest mistake was an off-the-cuff remark, apparently within a couple days if not hours of the Arizona immigration bill being passed, saying it was “out there” (or words to that effect) and that we don’t need it in Florida. Later backtracked like mad, but the the Scott ads played that clip to death.
On a grander scale, tho, McCollum just lacks the “charisma” you need to run for statewide or national office. It’s hard to define—Rubio and Crist have tons of it, Reagan and Clinton defined it—but you have to come off as interesting, engaging and likeable. McCollum, for whatever reason, doesn’t—why he’s lost three statewide elections that, on paper, he should have won. “Charisma vacuums” can keep their lower-level seats for decades (a couple local US Congressmen come to mind), but they always stumble when they seek higher office.