No doubt there will be a frenzy of commenting on Florida political blogs about what this all means, specifically whether this means that A) LeMieux is in good shape B) That Craig Miller has a fighter's chance, C) That Mike McCalister is the favorite of the Tea Partier in a way that D) Adam Hasner apparently isn't, just yet.
But seriously. Yes, we're still a year away from this election, but there is obviously no Marco Rubio or Charlie Crist (i.e. a household name) in this race, so it begs for other people to enter. There have been all sorts of names, including the boyfriend of actress Sofia Vergara - Nick Loeb, being discussed about getting into the race (Although we won't know about him for another month at least, as he has said everything is on hold until the Emmy Awards, which is good to see that Mr. Loeb has his priorities in order).
We've already seen some speculation on the Internet that Adam Hasner is being called the biggest loser of this particular poll, but what does that really mean? That because he's nine percentage points behind Mike McCalister, that's supposed to be fatal? No, of course not.
Most Florida Republican voters apparently aren't that dialed in yet, certainly. But it's not a stretch to think that some well financed guy coming in could make some serious noise. That figure could still be former Ruth's Chris Steakhouse executive Craig Miller, who we complimented last week for aping Bob Graham's work days ethic (an idea that nobody seems to indicate that Rick Scott ripped off from Miller. Yes, former Senator Graham invented the concept in Florida, but until Miller announced he would do his version last week, who else in Florida was even thinking of such a thing?)
Bottom line is this poll may cause some readjustments in the minds of not only the various campaigns for Senate ongoing in Florida, but also with the Florida press. That's because other than the fact that he finished a surprising third in the GOP race for governor last year, most of the mainstream media has written very little about McCalister, other than to note he's a Tea party favorite. But in Florida politics in 2011, that may be all you need to succeed beyond anyone's imagination.
