Although some Floridians seem to be second guessing the whole appeal of electing people who have never served in office, former Ruth's Chris Steak House CEO Craig Miller believes the disdain for "career politicians" on Pennsylvania Avenue is still so palpable in Florida that he's committed to giving Republican primary voters that chance next year.
At the second of five stops across the state Tuesday morning in Tampa, Miller announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate, where he joins an increasingly crowded field.
"This campaign is going to pit someone who will always fight for Floridians, who has lived and grown up and worked on main street, against a 40 year incumbent politician who has repeatedly bowed to the liberal agenda of those on Pennsylvania avenue and not on Main Street…hard to believe that Bill Nelson has been in politics for nearly 40 years."
Nelson, the Democratic incumbent, has been in politics since 1972, when he was first elected to the state legislature. But Miller, who came in third in a GOP Congressional primary in 2010 in the Orlando area in his first crack at political office, was asked at his press conference what about three of the major candidates running in the Republican primary – Mike Haridopolos, Adam Hasner and George LeMieux: Aren't they "career" politicians of some stripe as well?
This article appears in Jul 7-13, 2011.