On the first day of early voting, GOP gubernatorial candidate Bill McCollum brought out the ultimate in star power in the world of Florida GOP politics, former Governor Jeb Bush, to aid his campaign. Bush joined McCollum at events today in Jacksonville, Miami, and this afternoon in Temple Terrace, in front of a jam-packed room of supporters.
McCollum, trailing multi-millionaire Rick Scott in virtually every poll taken over the past six weeks, needs to feed off of Bush's charisma as he tries to close the gap over the next 15 days before the August 24 primary.
He's also appealing to the religious right. In an interview published today in the Florida Baptist Witness, McCollum, who was embarrassed earlier this year when his key witness fighting Florida's ban on gay adoption, Dr. George Rekers, was caught taking a European vacation with a male escort, said that he disagreed with Florida law that allows gays to serve as foster parents.
At a news conference at the campaign event in Temple Terrace, CL asked McCollum to elaborate on that comment.
"Well, I think we have to face the issue whether or not the gay adoption law in Florida is constitutional or not first. I'm defending that law in court. It's the law right now, it's going to go to the state Supreme Court. I think it is inconsistent that the foster care law reads one way and the adoption law reads another way." CL asked him if he'd like to ban gays from being foster parents if elected governor. McCollum replied, "Were going to wait and see how all this comes out in the courts." When asked again by WFLA's Samara Sodos about gays being foster parents, he said, "I think the best thing for children is to have a man and a woman, a mother and a father, not gay parents. I don't think that is the right kind of parenting — that's my personal views, those are my religious views, those are my convictions."
