FLORIDA -GOP's Crist continues to lead Democrat Davis in race for governor

[demo dutch]

GOP's Crist continues to lead Democrat Davis in race for governor

Sunsentinel
By BRENT KALLESTAD
Associated Press
Posted October 10 2006, 10:34 AM EDT

TALLAHASSEE -- Republican Attorney General Charlie Crist has a commanding lead over Democratic nominee U.S. Rep. Jim Davis in their race to replace Gov. Jeb Bush, a new poll shows. Crist was backed by 53 percent of likely voters, compared to 43 percent who said they favored the Democratic congressman from Tampa, with 3 percent undecided.

snip
Davis' biggest obstacle, according to the poll, seems to be that he remains largely unknown, only weeks from Election Day. Nearly three in five respondents, 57 percent, said they still didn't know enough about him.``He hasn't come close to introducing himself to enough Floridians to win,'' said Peter Brown, Quinnipiac's assistant poll director.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-1010guvpoll,0,2555176.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines

Florida, we're going to get stuck with yet another GOP-er running this state. What the hell is wrong with the Davis campaign!!!! and what about the gay rumors surrounding Crist, will that deter the right-wingers?

[SteppingRazor]

1. Davis won't use the Crist-is-gay+Crist and Foley are friends...

at least, IMHO. It's a really sleazy tactic, and I doubt Davis will go there -- admittedly, though, he could probably win with it.

[Aviation Pro]

2. Why not go for it?

Afterall, it wins elections and the other side would not hesitate one second to use it.

[SteppingRazor]

3. I don't necessarily disagree with you...

I just think Davis will.

[demo dutch]

4. Well then, get ready to loose again. None even knows who Davis is!!

I'm just sick of it!

[jpak]

15. Someone touched upon this subject in the Pensacola News Journal today...

http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061010/OPINION/610100303/1022/OPINION03

<snip>

Family values

Family values is a term often tossed about during an election campaign. Candidates show pictures of their families and recount their family's place in the community in an effort to show they are more attuned to the family situation than are their opponents.

But not so in the Florida gubernatorial campaign. Jim Davis has the long-term marriage, children in public schools, modest house with a mortgage, etc.

Not so for Charlie Crist. His only marriage ended after nine months, a long time ago. He rents an apartment, and apparently has a penchant for fancy cars and boats. He has never owned a house nor had a mortgage and has no children.

It is no wonder that Crist has been strangely silent on the "family values" issue. He has nothing which identifies him with the families whom he hopes will vote for him.

<more>

[seasat]

16. The FDP did issue a record request regarding Crist and Foley

They're trying to find if Crist knew anything about Foley before the scandal (LINK). It's a long shot but may tie their names together. There have been a lot of rumors floating around about the two. I heard that Crist and Foley were roommates when they were both in FL Senate together. It was originally floated by Gallagher supporters before the whole page incident. However, the St Pete Times questioned Crist's campaign about it and they said it wasn't true. Wayne Madsen Reports has a post that claims Crist and Foley attended gay sex parties in Coconut Grove together (Oct 4th post). However looking at this site it sounds like it is more rumor than fact.

Personally, I've heard two different stories about Crist. One friend knows someone, who knows a former gay lover of Crist. He is well connected with Tallahassee politics so his sources are usually very reliable. The other friend used to be a bar tender on St Petersburg Beach. They said that Crist came in all the time with different female companions who looked to be of barely legal age. They found Crist to be rather sleazy and a womanizer. They're also pretty reliable and have a first hand account. I've also seem some postings about Crist being a womanizer on other blogs. He supposedly got drunk at a sporting event and tried to put his campaign stickers on the breast of various women.

If he is gay, he's kept it under pretty good wraps. I imagine that the Gallagher campaign would have pounced on anything if it was available. Either way, though, it sounds like Florida may eventually have some sort of sex scandal in the Governor's mansion with Crist if he is he elected. He sounds kind of hedonistic to me.

[ngant17]

5. don't understand why Crist is in the lead

because I haven't seen anymore from him than I have from Davis.

In the worst case scenario, a Crist win doesn't mean any of the local Fla. races will be affected.

I remember how helpless the new Gov. Jeb was, during the Elian Gonzalez crisis in 2000, because we had a popular President and a strong Democratic Party who could do the right thing even when Jeb and the ultra-conservatives were dead-set against Att. General Janet Reno and the operation to rescue Elian from that sordid crowd in Miami.

Very likely we could see the same scenarios in 2008, if Dems can win local and national races despite a Repug stronghold in governor's mansion.

[demo dutch]

6. I don't understand it either, however Crist has name recognition

[FlaGranny]

8. Except that Crist has been around for 8 years

in the news and people do recognize him and know who he is. God, I hope Davis can get a boost before election day.

[benEzra]

7. Running a pro-gun-control candidate in one of the most pro-gun states

in the nation wasn't exactly the best idea, IMHO. I lived in northwest Florida until a few years ago, and can say that Floridians are VERY protective about the contents of their gun safes; they don't call it the "Gunshine State" for nothing. It was easy to see this coming...

http://www.sptimes.com/2005/12/18/State/Can_Democrats_avoid_g.shtml

"Whether they like it or not, we're going to do everything in our power to make sure the gun issue is on the radar screen in a big way next year," said Peter Hamm of the Washington-based Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. "They're going to need to talk about those things."

Likewise, NRA lobbyist Hammer promised that her group's 350,000 Florida members will be well-informed about Davis' record. The gun issue, she said, is a big reason why many registered Democrats vote Republican in general elections.

"That grade is a death knell issue for Davis in North Florida," said Rep. Stansel, a Smith supporter. "Being able to have a weapon is very important to people up here. They'll eat him up on that. The NRA'll do mailouts."

Davis noted he strongly supports hunters and sportsmen. He dismissed the potential problems the NRA might create if it tries to cast him as someone staunchly opposed to gun rights.

But I'm sure there is a lot more to it than that, but the ban-more-guns issue certainly isn't going to help him in Florida. And most gun owners are NOT "hunters and sportsmen," in Florida and elsewhere, a fact Davis seemed oblivious to when that article was written. It looks like Davis's strategists are stuck in the early 1990's.

[mcar]

9. Where is Davis?

I've seen next to nothing about him anywhere - no signs, no bumper stickers, no ads, nothing.

I don't know what he's waiting for. I know Crist has more money but Davis needs to get himself out there. And what about Daryl Jones? The first AA Lt. Gov. candidate. Have any DU Floridians seen him since the announcement?

The democratic party in FL is simply not doing the job.

[demo dutch]

10. I'm the only one w/ a bumper sticker. The Dem party in FL is a mess!

[BentleyJD]

11. yes it is

lets see Chirst runs three ads in a role.
davis just started running 15 second ads last week
Crist is suddenly a populist, the biggest turn arouond I've ever seen by a bought and paid for right winger
democratic party needs to really grab something by the horns, it ain't doing shit now
take care
tony and wonder guideddog dietirch

[AllexxisF1]

12. No kidding, I live in Palm City

and I have seen squat in terms from Davis. Crist is all over the damn place in commercials and pressing the flesh. I just moved here from Northern Virginia (where I grew up) and along the Treasure Coast is a Democratic haven. Everyone here seems to be a Democrat, yet ZERO from Davis.

[seasat]

13. IMHO, the problem is money.

The Repugs rule the state and all the special interest money goes to them. Chameleon Charlie has even cut into the trial lawyers group by getting backing from the head of Morgan and Morgan (a supposed Democrat). Kottkamp, his LG pick, is a lawyer from Morgan and Morgan. He has the backing of the major developers in state. Both Mel Sembler and Donald Trump have been running fund raisers for him. He has the backing of all the major lobbyists in the state. A fellow named Ballard, major lobbyist for Florida Power and Light, recently hosted a big fundraiser for Crist.

Since the legislature, thanks to gerrymandering, is dominated by Repugs, they changed the campaign finance laws to benefit them. They raised the limit for an individual candidate to 21 million from 8.8 million last year. Once a candidate reaches the max limit, state funding will kick in to the opponent. By setting the limit so high, they keep Davis' state funding at a lower level.

The Repugs are also laundering special interest money through their state party. If you check out the campaign finance report on the Crist campaign (LINK) you can see over a million from the state party. The state party just accepted over a million from a special interest 527 that has Tampa Electric Co, US Sugar, and a major developer as it's primary donors. Crist can then take in special interest money without showing it's ties to his campaign.

You add all this to a bruising primary that left Jim Davis' campaign broke and weakened after fighting special interest 527 attack ads financed by the big sugar corporations. I'm surprised Jim is polling within 10 of Chameleon Charlie.

Looking at Chameleon Charlie's money sources. We can expect that he'll work to overturn some of Jebbie's tort reforms (which may not be a bad thing). He won't do anything to clean up the 'glades. He won't do anything to prevent urban sprawl. He won't appoint folks who will better regulate the our utility rates. He probably will support the spread of gambling in Florida. Chameleon Charlie has shown that he will say and do anything to win an election.

Jim is a strong candidate. He has good ideas. He just released a plan to lower property insurance (LINK). He is doing all the right things by bringing in every national Democrat figure he can find to help in fund raising and publicity. However, he needs funds to get out his message. Since Crist has all the big money donors tied up, the only way Jim can do that is by our individual contributions. If folks on DU can send anything to the campaign, it would help. At least stop by and post some postive stuff on the campaign's blog (LINK). The bright side is that if Jim manages to pull off an upset and win this thing, we'll have Governor that does not owe anything to special interest groups.

[Joe Chi Minh]

14. All they need to know is that Davis isn't a Republican. Where's

the rocket science in that?

I'm always suspicious of polls. If they understate the Republicans' unpopularity, as I'm convinced they do, they're sure not going to baulk at overstating a Democrat's unpopularity.

[samsingh]

17. good people of Florida, please wake up