A debate between the Republican candidates for Attorney General – Holly Benson, Pam Bondi and Jeff Kottkamp, will be aired this Sunday night on Bay News 9 here in the Tampa Bay area.
It will air just a little over three weeks before primary voters will go to the polls to select their nominee, and until a substantive poll is conducted and released, we're all pretty clueless about who is leading at this point.
Earlier this week the St. Pete Times Steve Bosquet reported on that paper's Buzz Blog that he had obtained a McLaughlin & Associates poll conducted for the Florida Medical Association asking 600 likely Republican voters who they would vote for in the AG race.
The results clearly showed that most voters haven't decided yet, with Holly Benson with 11.8% support, Jeff Kottkamp at 10.8% and Pam Bondi at 9.5%.
Bondi is flush off getting the endorsement from the Florida Chamber of Commerce on Thursday. It follows an endorsement last week from the Tampa Tribune in the primary, though to say the Trib did so with faint praise would be an understatement. Or how would you refer to this passage, that came with the endorsement?
But she is hazy on some key state issues, including growth management, and it's disappointing that she supported near-shore drilling until the recent spill. She needs to move beyond party talking points and show she will think for herself.
This article appears in Jul 29 – Aug 4, 2010.