Scott Shocks McCollum, Meek Beats Greene

Republican Gov. candidate Rick Scott

MANATEE COUNTY -- In two see-saw battles that had been going back and forth in the polls, one held steady and another went on its ear. In the Republican gubernatorial primary, health-care billionaire Rick Scott, who was down by as much as 9 points in recent polls, came back to beat Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum by 4%, after a massive TV and radio blitz over the last 2 days.

 

Scott, who spent nearly $50 million of his own fortune on the primary, will now face Democrat Alex Sink, who won her race easily, and independent Lawton Chiles III in November, in the race that will determine the next Governor of Florida. Scott will now need to win over McCollum supporters that he may have alienated in his brutal primary assault.

Scott did not poll nearly as well as McCollum against Sink, because so many Republicans said they'd vote for the Florida CFO were Scott to get the nomination. McCollum had said before the primary that he wasn't sure whether he could support Scott were he to win.

 

US Congressman Kendrick Meek held his recent double-digit polling lead over Jeff Greene to win the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate, in a race that had polled much closer for most of the summer. The win puts Meek into a three-way November race with Republican Marco Rubio (who won by a wide margin as expected) and Governor Charlie Crist, who is running as an independent.

 

In the Florida Attorney General race, Dan Gelber easily won the Democratic nomination (17% margin), despite a nasty and expensive battle with Dave Aronberg. In a three-way Republican battle, Pam Bondi squeaked by in a very tight race and will face Gelber in the fall.

 

James Golden defeated Rick Eaton by double-digit points to earn the Democratic nomination for US House District 13 and will face Republican incumbent Vern Buchanan in the general election. Greg Steube easily took the District 67 Republican State House nomination with more than 53% in a three-way race, while incumbent District 55 Rep, Darryl Rousson easily fended off April Sheffield, getting nearly 75% of the vote.