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| FLORIDA |
Nov. 2,
2010 Governor |
|
Plurality: 61,550 votes (1.15 percentage points).
FL
Department
of State
REPUBLICAN PICK-UP Notes: On May 12, 2009 Gov. Charlie Crist (I) announced he would not seek re-election as governor, but would run for Senate, creating an open seat. The next day, May 13, CFO Alex Sink (D) announced that she would run, and on May 18 Republican establishment favorite Attorney General Bill McCollum (R) announced his candidacy. The outlines of the forthcoming campaign seemed set. However, in April 2010, millionaire retired health executive Rick Scott (R) entered the race. Over the next seven months Scott poured in more than $73 million in self funding and was able to turn the race upsidedown, first upsetting McCollum in the primary and then eking out a narrow win in the general election. Even more remarkably, Scott was able to accomplish this despite potentially crippling ethics questions surrounding his former company, Columbia/HCA. Scott headed the company over nine years starting in 1987 until his exit in 1997. Columbia/HCA, in settlements in 2000 and 2003, paid $1.7 billion in fines for what the U.S. Department of Justice termed "the largest health care fraud case in U.S. history (>)." This was an issue in both the primary (1, 2, 3) and the general election. In the Oct. 20 debate, a reporter put the question to Scott: "Either you knew or you were too distant as a manager...how are you qualified to be governor?" Scott responded, "I clearly could have done a better job of hiring more internal and external auditors to have done a better job in making sure the company completely complied with the Medicare regs." After a very negative (frequently described as "nasty" and "bitter") campaign, Scott won the Aug. 24 Republican primary by 599,909 votes (46.3%) to 563,538 (43.5%) for Bill McCollum and 130,991 (10.1%) for retired Army Colonel/professor Mike McCalister (>). Sink easily won the Democratic primary, tallying 669,630 votes (76.9%) to 201,705 (23.1%) for Brian P. Moore from Spring Hill. On Aug. 19 Sink introduced her running mate, Rod Smith, a former state attorney and state Senator from Alachua (northern Florida); Smith, a moderate, unsuccessfully sought the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in 2006. Scott announced state Rep. Jennifer Carroll, a retired naval officer, as his running mate on Sept. 1. With Florida's unemployment rate at over 10% throughout 2010, job creation was the major issue. Sink emphasized her 26 years of business experience. Scott touted a 7-point plan to create 700,000 new jobs over seven years. Scott also sought to tie Sink to Obama, saying "she supports everything Obama supports," and he further labeled her as a "Tallahassee insider." Scott and Sink debated twice: Oct. 20 - at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale-Davie (>). Oct. 25 - at University of South Florida in Tampa, sponsored by CNN, the University of South Florida and the St. Petersburg Times (>). Scott carried 52 counties to 15 for Sink. Sink attributed her narrow defeat to Scott's big spending and negative advertising as well as "the mood of the country (>)." Campaign Managers: Rick Scott: Susie Wiles Chief of communications and special initiatives under Jacksonville Mayor John Peyton for five years through June 2008. Principal at Wiles Consulting, Inc. 2001-04. Co-managing partner in the Florida office of APCO Worldwide, 2000-01. Senior executive under Jacksonville Mayor John Delaney including as his chief of staff, 1995-99. District director to U.S. Rep. Tillie K. Fowler (FL), 1992-95. Deputy director of operations for the vice presidential campaign on Bush-Quayle '88. Principal at Summerall, Smith & Wiles, 1984-86. Special assistant to U.S. Secretary of Labor Ray Donovan, 1982-83. Special Assistant (scheduler) to President Reagan, 1980-81. Deputy director of scheduling on Ronald Reagan's 1980 presidential campaign. Staff assistant to U.S. Rep. Jack Kemp (NY), 1979-80. B.A. in English from University of Maryland. Alex Sink: chief of staff Jim Cassady (moved to the campaign in Jan. 2010) Chief of staff to CFO Alex Sink from Jan. 2007. Thirty-plus year career in banking. Vietnam veteran. B.A. in English from Presbyterian College. Paul Dunn (summer 2009; left by "mutual agreement" in Apr. 2010) Campaign manager on Suzanne Kosmas' successful congressional campaign in 2008. Field director on John Edwards' 2007-08 NH primary campaign. Director of field operations on Claire McCaskill's 2006. Seacoast regional field coordinator (Portsmouth) on Sen. John Edwards' 2003-4 NH primary campaign. Volunteer coordinator for Martha Fuller Clark's 2002 congressional campaign. Graduate of University of Wisconsin-Madison. See also: Matt Dixon. "2010 campaign ate into Scott's net worth -- in a chunk." The Florida Times-Union, July 5, 2013. Ryan Mills and Leslie Hale. "From Naples to Tallahassee: Rick Scott's improbable rise to Florida's governor." Naples Daily News, Nov. 6, 2010. Brandon Larrabee. "Susie Wiles: 'The insider' who backed 'the outsider' Rick Scott." News Service of Florida, Nov. 6, 2010. Damien Cave. "A Campaign of Few Details, but Questions Keep Coming." The New York Times, Oct. 27, 2010. Alexander Burns. "Scott shocks McCollum in Fla. governor's race." Politico, Aug. 24, 2010. David Weigel. "The Hardest Sell." Slate, Aug. 24, 2010. Kyle Munzenrieder. "Alex Sink to Pick Boring Rod Smith as Running Mate." Miami New Times, Aug. 17, 2010. Ryan Mills. "Rick Scott rides TV ads, '21st century campaign' to GOP lead for Florida governor." Naples Daily News, June 16, 2010. Michael E. Arth. "GOV'NOR: A man on a bicycle, with no money, takes on the fat cats, dirty politics (and his wife) to run for Governor of Florida." Golden Apples Media, 2012. [documentary] |
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