The woman who hopes to become the first to lead the great state of Florida, Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink, is reporting that she raised $1.6 million over the past three months. Her top Republican Party opponent, Attorney General Bill McCollum, has yet to announce his fundraising totals over the past quarter year.
Sink is in better shape financially at this stage of her campaign — a little over a year before the general election — than were Jim Davis, Bill McBride or Lawton Chiles, the last three people to run for the Democratic nomination for Governor. All three of those men lost.
For those who like their politics hardball, the Sink-McCollum race promises to provide the goods. The Florida Republican Party has acted scared about Sink for a while. The day after she announced her candidacy, the party, never known not to be in good stead with the financial industry, blasted Sink for her longtime banking ties (she worked in the industry for 26 years, ending her career as Bank of America's president of Florida operations in 2000).
The possible wild card in this race is whether Lakeland State Senator Paula Dockery gets in the GOP race.
This article appears in Sep 30 – Oct 7, 2009.