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Campaign Trail
Bland Office -- Not-So-Bland Candidates
The race for chief financial officer heats up.
Senate President Tom Lee used to disclaim interest in higher office and has pointedly resisted some Bush legislation like growth management and tax cuts (he preferred more money for education). But he changed his mind about running because he "felt that he had something more to offer our state." And he turned into a crusader for Bush causes earlier this year and won Bush's endorsement. Lee says he's "not an ideologue. I'm a thinker."
Johnson makes thinly veiled references to people who "pretend to be something that they're not." Lee says, "I don't have anything bad to say about this guy."
While Johnson and Lee duke it out all summer in the Republican primary, Alex Sink is assured of the Democratic nomination and can stand above the fray until the primaries are over in September. Sink was Florida president for Bank of America and its predecessor, NationsBank, from 1993 to 2000. She now serves on corporate boards of Raymond James Financial, Raymond James Bank and First Advantage Corp. and is married to Bush's Democratic challenger from 2002, lawyer Bill McBride. She has never sought public office.
Because of her statewide connections through Florida government and business organizations, her candidacy could peel off enough business support from the Republican alliance of business people and cultural conservatives to make her the winner.
Black and blue
Republicans have been worried about their vulnerability this fall. Besides a very unpopular president and a fragmented national party, the state Senate's Republicans had a very public split over such issues as class-size limits and school vouchers. And for all their statewide experience, Republican candidates look like the seven dwarves next to Jeb Bush -- in both height and political stature. They are all jockeying for the leadership in the post-Jeb party, although they may find that Bush continues to have a transcendent role.
Democrats have a real shot this year at regaining a couple of statewide offices, possibly even the governorship. Besides the chance to start rebuilding a bench of future governor candidates, two Democrats could create a stark division on Cabinet issues, on which the governor needs one additional vote to prevail.
Sink is often viewed as the Democrat Most Likely to Succeed. She has no contentious voting record to defend, while Lee is stuck defending the midnight compromise on insurance, and Johnson has to contend with such stands as his support for the Terri Schiavo intervention. Sink says her experience makes her "a perfect fit" for the job.
There's a debate about that, too, of course. Lee says his resume as an executive in his family's homebuilding business and his legislative experience beats Sink's resume in his polling. And Johnson retorts, "Coming from an industry you propose to regulate, I think that is an issue."
