Polk County Republican state Senator Paula Dockery is about to begin her 16th and last session in the Florida Legislature. Term limits prevent her from running again in 2012, which many political observers believe will be a loss not only for her constituents, but for the state as well.
In recent years a coterie of Tampa Bay area moderates in the legislature's upper body — Dockery, Pasco County's Mike Fasano and Clearwater's Jack Latvala — have become the last vestiges of the more moderate, adult-like part of Tallahassee government.
That style is going out of style, and Dockery has been at odds with many in the Republican Party of Florida for years now. Her disgust at some of the scandals that rocked the party in 2009 led her to briefly challenge the then establishment candidate for governor, Bill McCollum. That was before Rick Scott and his $73 million ended not only her dreams to run the state, but McCollum's (and Alex Sink's) as well.
Her feelings of being deserted by the party to which she has always belonged have only been exacerbated this presidential campaign season as her candidate of choice, former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman, has struggled mightily in public approval ratings since he entered the race last summer.