A Bitter End to Florida's Republican Gubernatorial Primary Race
"All politics is local."
While this is very true in many cases, here in my home state of Florida, all local politics can get downright nasty as well. This notion especially applies to the Republican primary for governor between current Attorney General Bill McCollum and former health care executive, the very wealthy Rick Scott. To say that the campaign became heated in a hurry would be a gross understatement.
The primary battle immediately became one of the career politician, McCollum, who has overstayed his welcome versus the outsider, Scott, who wants to bring accountability back to state government. Each candidate's main points of contention with each other always seemed to come back around to a couple of items.
Scott was at the top of the food chain at Columbia/HCA (Hospital Corporation of America) when it was slapped with a $1.7 billion fine after allegations of Medicare and Medicaid fraud and various other kickbacks were leveled against the company. At the time it was handed down, this was the largest penalty of its kind in American history ever levied against a corporation. Scott was never actually charged with a crime, but he was quickly removed from his position as Columbia/HCA CEO.
McCollum does not have such a blot on his record, and for the most part, has achieved a reasonable level of popularity in Florida after an admirable performance as the state's Attorney General. What he could not escape, however, is his initial opposition to S.B. 1070, otherwise known as the recent Arizona illegal immigration law. Not long after the law was passed, McCollum was asked about it. He referred to it as "far out" and said, "We don't need that law in Florida. That's not what's going to happen here."
Scott's campaign parlayed successful use of the audio of McCollum's quote in television and radio advertising into triumph on Tuesday night, and he will not go on to face the Democratic candidate, Florida Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink, and independent Bud Chiles, son of former governor Lawton Chiles, in the general election. I won't really go into my overall thoughts on Rick Scott other than, much like my good friend Curtis Silver, a fellow Technorati writer much smarter than me, I don't trust him as far as I can throw him.
What stood out to me in the GOP campaign more than anything was Bill McCollum's concession speech late on Tuesday.
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