According to the latest Quinnipiac poll the Florida Gubernatorial race, which had seemed to be slipping away, is now narrowing as CFO Alex Sink is now with four points of Attorney General Bill McCollum, who leads 40-36.
One of the first things to take away from the poll is that McCollum’s right-wing pandering leading the charge to overturn the HCR Bill has hurt him in the general, with 38% saying it makes them less likely to support his bid, and 54% of voters saying he should not be suing to try to repeal the bill.
Independent voters especially have panned the move:
The Quinnipiac University poll released Monday found 41 percent of independent voters said the challenge would make them less likely to vote for McCollum, compared with 27 percent who said they were more likely to vote for him.
http://www.google.com/hostedne…
Meanwhile Sink continues to tout her Economic Plan, attempting to woo moderates:
“I’m going to bring my business career to Tallahassee,” said Sink, former president of Bank of America Florida. “That is our future.”
http://www.tampabay.com/news/p…
I can’t tell yet if Sink is going to quit going at McCollum with kiddie gloves and running a Craig Deeds-esque campaign or if she is going to start slamming him for his right-wingery and presenting herself as a true viable alternative for ordinary voters while also shoring up support from progressives by campaigning on Democratic principles, a crucial two-prong campaign she has to run to win statewide: get the independent vote, and get the progressive Demographics to show up. Kendrick Meek running should definitely help her by driving turnout among black voters.
I hope to hear in the near future about her launching a new campaign direction and taking on a new tone. This polls gives new hope, and if she can start running a stronger campaign we have a strong chance to pick up this crucial gubernatorial race, with the teacher pay fiasco also blowing up in the face of Florida conservatives, invoking the wrath of teachers and education groups across the state. Sink is well positioned to tap that as well.
while often a destructive strategy has the potential to help Sink here because of the nature of her opponent. McCollum is a flaming nutjob and hasn’t really made any attempts to hide it — he’s not as smart as, say, Pat Toomey in that regard. I still say Sink should be going after him with both barrels, but there’s a possibility that a safe campaign could actually win here just because of McCollum’s lunacy.