Even to some in his own Democratic Party, Florida Senate candidate Charlie Justice’s campaign performance has been viewed as pretty abysmal, at least measured by his fundraising results. Justice, now in the House from St. Petersburg, has raised only about $53,000 so far, according to reports released this week. His Republican counterparts, Rep. Kim Berfield and Rep. Frank Farkas, have raised $374,000 and $317,000, respectively.
But as far behind as that is, there are signs of hope in the world of this mild-manner legislator. His first quarter fundraising totals were nearly double that of his previous efforts over 12 months. He has a new hard-ballin' campaign manager, Mitch Kates, who wrestled professionally under the name "Jason the Terrible" and who was forced to apologize by his candidate for calling one opponent a "punk bastard" and the other (the mayor of Boston) a big, drooling teddy bear. And now, Justice has a new internal poll that Kates says shows his client in the driver's seat in the race to replace Republican Jim Sebesta in District 16.
This article appears in Apr 12-18, 2006.