Although he has spent an astonishing $23 million to take himself to the tops of the most recent polls on who may become the next Governor of Florida, Rick Scott is still learning on the job what it takes to be a full fledged candidate for political office.
Last night he spoke to over 300 people at the Hillsborough County Republican Party's monthly meeting at the Alfano Center across from the USF campus, delivering a 20 minute address, followed by 10 minutes of questions, and then nearly an hour of shaking hands and speaking to grass roots Republicans.
Speaking with more authority than he did in one of his first campaign appearances ever in Tampa two months ago, Scott sounded very much like a Tea Partier when he said he was "scared" of the deficit spending and excessive regulations going on in Washington, bemoaning a loss of freedom in the hinterlands.
He mentioned illegal immigration only once, getting some cheers for saying "I believe if you're in this country illegally, you violate our laws, you should be asked if you're illegal, no ifs ands or buts about it."
He teased his economic plan, giving no specifics but promising more soon (he intends to unveil today at the beginning of a week long bus tour throughout the state), praising former Governor Jeb Bush for allowing for transparency in state government that he says no longer exists. "You can't get on the Internet today to say what's the purpose of that agency, what's the measurement that we can tell that that agency is doing a good job? I'm going to break all of that down," he said.
This article appears in Jul 15-21, 2010.