A new Quinnipiac Poll was issued this morning, showing Rick Scott closing in on Charlie Crist in the race for governor in Florida in 2014. Crist leads Scott 47-40, which is the closest the two men have been in the Q survey. It was a 10-point spread back in June, and a dramatic 16-point spread back in March.
The quickest analysis to make about the closing gap is that Rick Scott has been seriously working it over the past few months (any which way we he can), and it's no longer a fantasy that Charlie Crist would oppose him. Now he's a very real candidate, with all of his flaws and foibles (and they are considerable). But let's not get carried away here. While Scott has been making the rounds all over the state, until a few weeks ago he did not have a serious challenger. Again, all due respect to Nan Rich, but the Q survey shows Rich losing to Scott by eight points, and getting skunked by Crist 60-12 percent. We'll have more on this survey in an upcoming post.
Well, Marco Rubio gave what his aides were describing as a "major" speech to the conservative think tank the American Enterprise Institute yesterday. Rubio said that Secretary of State John Kerry and President Obama should not make any deal that allows Iran to continue enriching uranium, a stance that aligns him with other hardliners like Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu.
It appears that all of Hillsborough County's power players — the County Commission and the constitutionally elected officers — want to get rid of the county's Civil Service Board, or at least significantly reduce their power. However the man who runs the board says that would be a mistake.
And earlier this week the city of Tampa held a big party celebrating its 126th birthday. A bit unusual to celebrate this particular anniversary perhaps, but it's always somewhat significant when all of Tampa's living former mayors congregate. Except not all of them were there.
