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Sink’s unlikely ally: GOP contender Bill McCollum

Wednesday, September 29th, 2010

Former Republican gubernatorial contender Bill McCollum, who has said he has lingering questions about his opponent’s character and integrity, defended Democrat Alex Sink against false attacks from Republican nominee Rick Scott.  

Scott, who has some of the highest negative ratings of any candidate in the country for his long history of fraud and deception, has yet to convince Republicans like McCollum and moderates to line up behind his candidacy.

McCollum sticks up for Sink in latest Scott attack

TALLAHASSEE — Alex Sink’s attempt to rebut campaign allegations by Republican gubernatorial opponent Rick Scott that she fiddled while Florida’s investment portfolio burned was bolstered by an unlikely ally Tuesday: Florida Attorney General and former Scott foe Bill McCollum.

Days after Scott unleashed allegations that Sink was at fault for an investment freefall, Scott’s former Republican rival McCollum appeared to go out of his way Tuesday to steer the state’s top investment official to provide cover for the State Board of Administration’s investment oversight during the tumultuous years following the 2007 market crash.

In a series of questions, McCollum led SBA executive director Ash Williams down a path of questioning that sought to refute recent newspaper reports and a $1 million Scott ad campaign that paper losses in the state’s retirement and local investment funds were preventable and resulted in actual losses to retirees and local governments.

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McCollum has ‘serious questions’ about Scott’s character

Friday, August 27th, 2010

Bill McCollum, the GOP establishment pick in Florida, still won’t get behind nominee Rick Scott after their brutal Civil War left serious wounds. Says McCollum: “I still have serious questions … about issues of his character, his integrity, his honesty — things that go back to Columbia/HCA,” McCollum said, referring to Scott’s former hospital chain, which paid a $1.7 billion fine after a federal criminal investigation. “As other voters will do, I will judge him throughout this campaign.”

Bill McCollum withholds backing for fellow Republican Rick Scott, citing qualms about honesty

By John Frank, Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau
In Print: Friday, August 27, 2010

TALLAHASSEE — Bill McCollum doesn’t forget easily.

Two days after he lost the Republican nomination for governor, McCollum still refuses to support winner Rick Scott and continues to raise questions about his former rival’s character.

In his first public appearance since conceding the race, McCollum said Thursday that he called Scott to “congratulate him and wish him well.” But he didn’t bury the hatchet in one of the nastiest primaries in state history.

“I still have serious questions … about issues of his character, his integrity, his honesty — things that go back to Columbia/HCA,” McCollum said, referring to Scott’s former hospital chain, which paid a $1.7 billion fine after a federal criminal investigation. “As other voters will do, I will judge him throughout this campaign.”

The attorney general’s remarks put a serious dent in the message of party unity and reopened a vulnerability Democratic candidate Alex Sink is likely to exploit in the general election.

“I have never been associated with any whiff of a scandal or corruption or cheating the government,” Sink said Thursday, referring to Scott.

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PPP Poll: Sink +7, Scott unfaves “dreadful”

Wednesday, August 25th, 2010

Not only does Alex Sink have a 7-point lead in the latest PPP poll, but Republican Rick Scott’s unfavorable numbers – especially among independents – are some of the worst in the country.

The brutal GOP Civil War drove Scott’s numbers into the ground as he spent the race attacking his opponent instead of attacking Florida’s problems.

A major unanswered question: With national Republicans “reeling” from Scott’s victory, a planned unity rally scrapped, will the millionaire fraudster even be able to unite his party?

Sink starts out ahead

Rick Scott’s an unpopular candidate with a divided party and because of that Alex Sink begins the general election for Governor in Florida with a 7 point lead. Sink has 41% to 34% for Scott and 8% for Bud Chiles.

Sink is doing well because she has a higher degree of party unity than Scott does and because she’s the favorite with independents. 72% of Democrats say they’ll vote for Sink while only 57% of Republicans are committed to voting for Scott. Sink also has a 37-28 advantage with independents.

Scott has dreadful personal favorability numbers with 49% of voters holding an unfavorable opinion of him while only 28% see him favorably. His numbers are even worse with independents than they are with the population at large- a 54% majority of them see him in a negative light.

Sink is still largely unknown but she has good numbers with the people who do know her. 35% have a favorable opinion to 23% with a negative one. Scott’s chances in the general election may rest on his ability to define her with the 42% of folks who have no opinion right now before she gets the chance to define herself.

Republicans hope that Bud Chiles will play a spoiler role for Sink’s chances this fall but at this point he’s actually getting 8% of GOP votes and only 6% of Democratic votes, suggesting that for now his presence in the race is hurting Scott.

Continue reading results here

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Q poll: Sink ahead first time thanks to GOP Civil War

Thursday, August 19th, 2010

For the first time, CFO Alex Sink has pulled ahead of both Republicans in the Quinnipiac poll released today. Sink is effectively capitalizing on the vicious civil war battle being played out on the GOP side with this ad demonstrating that she is the alternative to politics as usual.

Meanwhile, negatives for both Rick Scott and Bill McCollum are jumping as their escalating battle on the airwaves is turning off Florida voters.

August 19, 2010 – Sink Inching Up In Close Florida Gov Race, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds

Apparently bolstered by the civil war for the Republican nomination for Governor in Florida, State Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink, the Democrat, is on the plus side of very close races over either Republican candidate, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. She gets 31 percent to State Attorney General Bill McCollum’s 29 percent. Sink gets 33 percent to businessman Rick Scott’s 29 percent. In either matchup, independent candidate Bud Chiles gets 12 percent and about 20 percent of voters are undecided.

Scott was at 29 percent to Sink’s 27 percent in a July 30 poll by the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University and McCollum had 27 percent to Sink’s 26 percent.

In the U.S. Senate race, Gov. Charlie Crist, running as an independent, leads Republican Marco Rubio 39 – 32 percent, with U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek getting 16 percent, if he wins the Democratic nomination. If Jeff Greene gets the Democratic nod, he gets 15 percent to Crist’s 40 percent and Rubio’s 32 percent.

President Barack Obama has a split 47 – 47 percent job approval rating, compared to a negative 46 – 50 percent approval July 30 and the President’s best score in Florida since April.

“Watching television must have been an enjoyable experience for Florida CFO Alex Sink over the last few months, as she watched Attorney General Bill McCollum and Rick Scott tear into each other with attack ads. Although she trailed either GOP competitor by eight or nine points in June, she has been the unintended beneficiary of the heavy volume of negative television ads her potential November opponents launched against each other,” said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

“She has been able to sit back and save her money for the November election, while whoever wins the Republican primary will have substantial work to do healing wounds within his own party and cleaning up his image,” Brown added.

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No wonder Fla voters despise the GOP gov candidates

Tuesday, August 17th, 2010

This lede says it all: “The closing week of Florida’s rancorous GOP primary for governor has devolved into a blitzkrieg of attacks over which candidate is more ethically challenged.”

Meanwhile, Alex Sink continues to pick up support as Bill McCollum and Rick Scott engage in their increasingly nasty fight for the fringe wing of the GOP.

Ethics salvos hit Fla. airwaves
By: David Catanese

The closing week of Florida’s rancorous GOP primary for governor has devolved into a blitzkrieg of attacks over which candidate is more ethically challenged.

On Attorney General Bill McCollum’s behalf, a Sunshine State 527 is airing an ad that highlights fresh allegations surrounding rival Rick Scott’s leadership at his health care company, Solantic.

Meanwhile, Scott is on the air with a biting new spot that ties McCollum to indicted former state party chair Jim Greer.

With polls forecasting a tight contest, it appears that both sides have determined that the best strategy is to eviscerate their opponent, ignoring the possible advantages the hardball tactics hand to presumptive Democratic nominee Alex Sink.

Florida First Initiative, the third-party group run by a former county GOP chairman to advocate for McCollum, is accusing Scott of failing to explain “criminal acts.”
 

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Sink leads both GOP candidates

Thursday, August 12th, 2010

As Rick Scott and Bill McCollum wage a devastating battle in the GOP Civil War, the newest Mason-Dixon polling shows Alex Sink pulling ahead of both Republicans.

Florida voters are fed up with vicious personal attacks dominating their airwaves and they rightly recognize that Alex, with her business background, is the only candidate who can create jobs, improve schools and clean up the mess in Tallahassee.

 Negative ads help push Bill McCollum ahead of Rick Scott, poll shows

The bare-knuckle Republican race for Florida governor is almost a tie right now. The big beneficiary: Democrat Alex Sink.

Bill McCollum’s nonstop attacks on Republican rival Rick Scott’s integrity and business record have put him in the lead for the first time, a new poll shows.

McCollum is ahead of Scott by a 34-30 percent margin — a huge shift from just a week ago, when Scott led 37-31, according to the latest survey from Mason-Dixon Polling & Research.

Pollster Brad Coker said both candidates’ reputations are taking a hit as they sling tens of millions of dollars’ worth of negative ads against each other heading into the Aug. 24 primary election.

“Democratic candidate Alex Sink is the clear winner from all of this,” said Coker.

Sink, who has trailed in the Mason-Dixon polls since May, now leads McCollum by a 37-35 margin. That’s well within the general election error margin of the poll.

That’s not the case when it comes to Scott. She blows him away by a 40-24 percent margin. Only 42 percent of Republicans would support Scott against Sink. But if she faced McCollum, he’d receive 69 percent of the GOP support.

So Scott is nearly unelectable in the general election, according to the poll.

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Sink moves ahead in Florida

Monday, July 26th, 2010

As a brutalizing GOP Civil War battle plays itself out in Florida, CFO Alex Sink is outpacing the competition, opening up a lead in the latest polling from PPP.

Sink moves ahead

Benefiting from her Republican candidates gashing the heck out of each other, Alex Sink has opened up an unlikely lead in the Florida Governor’s race. She’s up 36-30 on Rick Scott, with Bud Chiles getting 13% and 37-23 on Bill McCollum with Chiles getting 14%.

Scott and McCollum both have very poor favorability numbers. Their primary battle has completely turned off Democrats and independents, and Republicans aren’t seeing them very positively either. 23% of voters have a favorable opinion of Scott while 41% view him unfavorably. While only 34% of Republicans view him positively, 40% of independents and 52% of Democrats see him unfavorably. McCollum’s numbers are even worse. Only 16% have a favorable opinion of him with 51% holding a negative one. Just 27% of GOP voters see him favorably, while 59% of Democrats and 57% of independents have an unfavorable opinion of him.

Sink is pretty much a blank slate to voters in the state, with 54% of voters having no opinion of her. Most striking in her numbers is that independents see her favorably by a better than 2:1 margin, 32/15. She is likely benefiting from being able to stay above the fray while the Republican candidates go after each other.

In the head to heads Sink benefits from a more unified party than either Republican candidate and also wins independent voters. She gets 62% of Democrats to Scott’s 52% of Republicans and leads him 36-28 with independents. She gets 61% of Democrats to McCollum’s 45% of Republicans and leads him 40-12 with independents.

Despite his double digit performance Bud Chiles isn’t having a particularly strong impact at this point because he’s not pulling disproportionately from either Democratic or Republican leaning voters. Against Scott he gets 14% of McCain voters and 11% of Obama voters, and against McCollum he gets 14% of McCain voters and 13% of Obama voters.

It’s been a pretty remarkable turnaround for Sink, who trailed McCollum 44-31 in a head to head contest when PPP last surveyed Florida in March. It’s important to note that in the more likely instance that she faces Scott 25% of Republican voters are undecided to only 16% of Democrats so this race should tighten once the GOP has a nominee. How well the GOP can heal and get on the same page after the primary could determine this race though- there’s little doubt that Scott and McCollum’s supporters hate each other and that could end up handing Sink a victory that four months ago appeared very unlikely.

Full results here

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Can this get any uglier?

Thursday, July 1st, 2010

Hard to imagine how much lower Bill McCollum and Rick Scott will go in their rightwing race to the bottom.

 In Florida?

The Republican candidates for governor in Florida are currently in the midst of accusing each other of being pro-gay, with Rick Scott blasting Bill McCollum for his ties to “pro-homosexual rights” Rudy Giuliani. McCollum aides fired back to the St. Petersburg Times the information that Scott invests in a Latino social-networking site, QuePasa.com, that (like, say, Facebook) includes gay groups. 

Two McCollum aides e-mailed me with this hot piece of oppo yesterday, describing QuePasa as a “gay dating site.”

This doesn’t seem terribly newsy, but I did ask both of the McCollum advisers what their candidate’s position on this issue is. In particular, is he saying that, as well as not being able to marry and adopt, gays shouldn’t even be permitted to date?

No response so far.

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The only thing sadder…

Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010

The only thing sadder than a former 20-year congressman who has lost two statewide races is a former 20-year congressman who has lost two statewide races and now has to pander to the Tea Party.   

Dick Armey Backs Bill McCollum

Kevin Derby’s blog

This morning, former U.S. House Majority Leader Dick Armey, now chairman of FreedomWorks, announced he was backing Attorney General Bill McCollum’s bid to become the next governor of Florida.

With Rick Scott posing a serious challenge to the attorney general for the Republican nomination, Armey went out of his way to reinforce McCollum’s conservative credentials.

“In the Florida race for governor, no one has done more to further the cause of conservatism than Bill McCollum,” said Armey.  “I was proud to have Bill as part of my leadership team when we wrote the Contract with America, and I look forward to him serving as Florida’s next governor.”

“Bill McCollum was ‘tea party’ long before there were tea parties opposing President Obama’s big government agenda and long before he was leading our efforts to repeal the new health-care law’s intrusive individual mandate,” continued Armey. “Our nation needs strong conservative governors, and as governor, Bill McCollum will provide the conservative leadership we need to turn our nation around.”

“Congressman Armey has a tremendous record of principled conservative leadership as the former Republican House majority leader,” said McCollum. “I am grateful to Congressman Armey for embracing my vision to create more jobs for more Floridians without expanding government.”

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Florida’s top cop tied to potentially illegal group

Monday, June 14th, 2010

Down in the polls and under relentless attack for being a career politician, Florida’s top cop, Attorney General Bill McCollum, finds himself in another scandal. McCollum was caught today lending his name to solicit contributions for a possibly illegal political group. The unregistered organization is airing attacks against McCollum’s Tea Party opponent, Rick Scott.

SPT: McCollum soliciting contributions for shadowy political group

 Attorney General Bill McCollum is using his name to solicit contributions for the Florida First Initiative, which is airing attack ads against rival Rick Scott (see below),despite his campaign’s suggestion that they are not affiliated.

 New documents obtained by the Times/Herald show that McCollum’s name is being used in the political group’s fundraising pitch and his campaign finance director, Carrie O’Rourke, is involved in the solicitation. “Bill McCollum asked that I forward this information to you,” the email solicitation reads, followed by the groups M&S Bank in Gainesville account number.

 McCollum, who prides himself on his public disclosure record, could not be reached for comment because he is fundraising in South Florida. His campaign spokeswoman Kristy Campbell wouldn’t answer questions other than to say Florida First Initiative “is not run by our campaign.

 As it appears now, the group — called a federal 527 under IRS tax code — appears unregistered in Florida, which would be a violation of the new campaign finance law.

 See the attack ad, “Refused,” here. [And Scott’s latest ad hitting McCollum is here.]

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