Lost in the mishmash of covering so many different issues in the past week, we neglected to note that GOP State Senator Carey Baker from Eustice has dropped out of his race against Congressman Adam Putnam for the Republican race for Agriculture Commissioner. One big reason was he couldn't hang with the Polk County Representative when it came to fundraising. At the beginning of this year, Baker had raised $495,471. That was less than half of Putnam's $1,158,473.
Baker's departure makes for smoother sailing for Adam Putnam and the Florida Republican Party, which already has enough issues to deal with. Then again, if soon to be departing State Chairman Jim Greer had his way, Baker would never have gotten into the race in the first place, as he seemed to intent at the beginning of this election cycle in paving the way for the front-running contenders for all of the open seats on the Cabinet and Senate to run unopposed.
Baker was a favorite with Tea Party members, and he was prepared to run hard against Putnam on issues like the Congressman's support of the $700 billion TARP in 2008. But now the Republicans will stand together and hope that that Cabinet position can stay in GOP hands (from the departing Charles Bronson).
This article appears in Feb 10-16, 2010.