Davis v. Crist

"It'll be a bay area governor". See also "The race is on", "Crist, Davis win primaries", "It's Davis vs. Smith for governor", "Crist, Davis win primaries", "Crist, Davis win nominations for governor", "Crist Vs. Davis In November" and "Davis to face Crist in governor's race".

"In their race for governor, Crist and Davis should now move past sideshow issues to focus on property insurance, taxes and schools." "Competing visions".

"How can U.S. Rep. Jim Davis possibly beat charming Charlie Crist, the telegenic, lavishly funded Republican gubernatorial candidate who stuck to the ideological center throughout a sometimes bruising GOP primary? A) He probably won’t. B) But there’s way too much material for Democrats to work with to chalk this up as a foregone conclusion yet." "Beating Crist". See also "Democrats put faith in their choices and hope to regain ground in Florida".

See also "Crist uses status quo; Davis pounces on it" and "A clear message" ("The victories of Republican Charlie Crist and Democrat Jim Davis in Tuesday's primaries stand as triumphs over the negative campaigning that's left far too many Floridians cynical and apathetic about the political process.")




Jebbie's Last Waddle

Our lame duck Governor was repudiated by the Republican voters in Miami. It was, so to speak, "Jeb!"'s Last Waddle:

Embattled Republican state Sen. Alex Villalobos squeaked by his heavily financed and anointed GOP challenger Tuesday, handing Gov. Jeb Bush and Florida's powerful business community a defeat.

With 99 percent of the votes counted, Villalobos garnered 51 percent of the ballots cast while Miami-Dade School board member Frank Bolanos collected 49 percent.

There were no Democrats in the state's most bitterly fought legislative race so Villalobos will automatically return to Tallahassee, where he will likely remain an outcast among the conservative Republican majority.

"Villalobos survives fight, keeps state Senate seat". See also "Sen. King to keep seat; Villalobos in tight race".




Weather Effect

"Some polling places weren't marked clearly, a handful of others opened late and two precincts briefly ran out of paper ballots. But the worst voting glitch Tuesday appeared to be the soggy mess of rain that hugged Florida's lower east coast." "Weather was the biggest hitch with low turnout at the polls".




The Face of the RPOF

Katherine Harris and Charlie Crist, the Republican Team. "Harris easily claims GOP nomination". See also "U.S. Senate: Harris Overcomes Headlines, Secures Nomination" and "Harris' nomination secure".

"About 100 supporters and staffers gathered at Katherine Harris' Tampa campaign headquarters to celebrate her victory. They watched election returns on large-screen TVs and munched on a cake with Harris' photo on it. (They were careful to keep the photo intact.)" "Harris' victory". See also "Harris wins, vows to defeat Nelson in bid for Senate" and "Harris wins handily, takes aim at Nelson".




CFO

"Tom Lee takes GOP race, will face Sink". See also "CFO: Lee Wins, Will Take On Sink In November", "Tom Lee glides to win CFO primary" and "Lee tops Johnson for GOP candidacy".




AG

"Campbell wins Democratic nomination". See also "Campbell rolling over a token opponent", "Democrat Campbell wins easily, will face McCollum", "Campbell defeats Ehrlich, faces McCollum" and "Broward's 'Skip' Campbell to face off with McCollum".

McCollum is spinning this as a "loss" for Campbell because he didn't win by a larger margin. This from a guy who lost to the "Cellophane Man" in the GOP U.S. Senate primary.




Here's A Campaign Theme

"Davis vows to fight special interests in his victory speech".




CD 13

"Vern Buchanan, chief executive of Buchanan Enterprises, a network of car dealerships in southwest Florida, claimed the Republican primary for the House District 13 race Tuesday, narrowly defeating state Rep. Nancy Detert of Venice."

With 99 percent of precincts reporting, Buchanan - who raised $4.1-million for the race, including $2.1-million from his own pocket - took 33 percent of the vote to 25 percent for Detert, 23 percent for Sarasota banker Tramm Hudson, 10 percent for former state Rep. Mark Flanagan of Bradenton and 9 percent for state Rep. Donna Clarke of Sarasota.

In the Democratic primary, Sarasota banker Christine Jennings easily defeated Sarasota lawyer Jan Schneider, 63 percent to 37 percent.

"2 nominated to succeed Harris". See also "Buchanan, Jennings win".




"Coarse, monied and reckless politics"

"If this year's primary season is any indication, the coarse, monied and reckless politics that have come to be associated with Washington now reside in a neighborhood near you. This is one form of devolution voters can do without." "Ballot needed a good scrubbing".




Slosberg

"Deutch ahead of Slosberg in heated primary contest". See also "State Senate District 30: Attorney Deutch leads big-spending Slosberg".




Laff Riot

"Storms Wins State Senate Bid".




"Crist-Crossin' Charlie's Famous House of Waffles."

"With fewer than one-third of the vote counted on primary night, Florida Democratic Party workers began distributing frozen waffles to the media gathered at the Crist victory party in St. Petersburg. Attached to the bags of breakfast food was a press release headlined, "'Welcome to Crist-Crossin' Charlie's Famous House of Waffles.'"

"We’ll be watching for tonight’s waffle hi-jinks to show up on the Florida Democrats’ in-kind reports, because today’s ploy was borrowed most notably from Bush-Cheney’04," said Jeff Sadosky, a Florida GOP spokesman. "Like their recycled election tactics, the Democrats’ agenda has done nothing to motivate even their base voters, so much so that many voters in the Democrat governor’s race and the Democrat attorney general’s race were begging for another option."

"He's the Waffler?".

Has anyone checked to see whether Charlie has received contributions from Waffle House executives?




The Spin Begins

"State Sen. Walter "Skip" Campbell wasted no time going after the man he expected to face all along in the race for attorney general, former Central Florida congressman Bill McCollum. ... Included in Campbell's victory statement, his campaign manager Jeff Garcia said: 'The choice is clear. Bill McCollum has spent the last five years as a Washington lobbyist, his record on consumer issues is freightening [sic] and his association with convicted felon Jack Abramoff needs to be explained...'"

"Tonight, we couldn't help noticing how many Democrats voted against Skip Campbell -- choosing a complete unkown instead," wrote campaign manager Phil Vangelakos. "We continue to receive support from prominent and grass roots Democrats who have told us they can't support the weird liberal policies of Skip Campbell."

"It's On".

"Weird liberal policies"? Come on Bill, you can do better than that, can't you?




CD 11

"Congress: Castor Poised To Win District 11 Primary".




Slow Count?

"Slow to count votes? Supervisor of Elections says no".




The Carol Effect

Rod Smith may be asking, "Carol Who?"




Loophole

"Twenty-two percent of Florida voters are registered as something other than Republican or Democrat, which may help explain the low turnout in Tuesday's primary." "Close The Write-In Loophole".




Post Jebbie

"For the past eight years, this has been, for better or for worse, Jeb Bush's Florida. The next governor will inherit a state very different from the one that existed when Bush first took office." "After Jeb".




HD 78

"House District 78: Machek likely to turn back challenge".




Unnerving

"With heavy rains dampening voter turnout Tuesday, Palm Beach County's primary elections went smoothly until the polls closed. As early results were reported in Election Supervisor Arthur Anderson's first countywide election, vote watchers were surprised that the percent of precincts reporting in each race was not listed on the supervisor's Web site, or being reported at all." "Reporting omission unnerves those following results".




HD 8

"Democrat Charlie Stuart will square off in November against three-term Republican incumbent Ric Keller, who handily won renomination for a fourth term in U.S. House District 8. ... He beat two opponents -- attorney Alan Grayson and two-term Orange County Commissioner Homer Hartage -- to get into what national Democrats consider one of the relative handful of competitive congressional races against a GOP incumbent. Still, he faces an uphill fight in what is considered a Republican-leaning district." "Stuart wins primary fight -- next up: Keller".




HD 90

"House District 90: Former Klein aide takes lead among Democrats".