Florida Republican Attorney General Charlie Crist swept to an easy victory Tuesday with a margin of 52% to 45% over Democratic candidate Jim Davis. Crist was never behind during the evening as statewide precincts reported their results, and Davis conceded relatively early in the evening.
Reform Party candidate Max Linn turned in a disappointing third party challenge, winning only 1.94% of the statewide vote. A late bloomer who just a week ago crashed the televised Governor's Race debate, Linn had very little name recognition.
Crist campaigned on a mostly conservative platform, pledging to continue popular Governor Jeb Bush's programs, and was strongly supported by the Governor. Crist outspent his opponent by a large margin and ran a professional, savvy campaign. His most serious misstep was to snub President George W. Bush at a rally in Pensacola over election weekend. Crist, who was campaigning in South Florida when Bush was in Pensacola, sought to distance himself from the beleaguered President, but later thanked him during his victory speech Tuesday night, during which he promised Florida's citizens "less taxing, less government, and more freedom" while he is Governor.
Republican Bill McCollum won Crist's old job of Attorney General, while Republican Charles Bronson held onto his Agriculture Commissioner job.
Democrat Alex Sink, whose husband, Bill McBride ran unsuccesfully for Governor in 2002, won the Chief Financial Officer race handily on her impressive credentials as the former President of Bank of America-Florida. As CFO, Ms. Sink will be the state's top business regulator; and as a cabinet officer, she will be an active participant in setting state policy on such important issues as environmental protection, law enforcement, and land use.
The GOP did not fare as well in Florida's Congressional races, suffering a net loss of two critical seats. With a total House delegation of 19 seats, Florida will send 16 Republicans and 3 Democrats to Washington.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Clavos
Politics editors,
Can one of you fix the link in this story for me?
Somehow, the html tags got left off, and I can't edit once it's published.
TIA, guys!
2 - Christopher Rose
Hope you don't mind your article being fixed by a non-Republican, yea, non-American, Clavos. Your coding was seriously messed up!
For future reference, you may care to visit HTML Code Tutorial, which has a very clear explanation of how to make links active correctly, along with a wealth of other good info.
3 - Clavos
Thanks, Christopher!!
Actually, I wrote this VERY late last night, after returns were in; that's why the coding was messed up.
I've had the html tutorial bookmarked for some time.
Usually, I don't have a problem, but then I don't usually do it while asleep!
Thanks again!
4 - Christopher Rose
No worries, Clavos; by the way, congratulations on having stepped up recently from the ranks of commenters to bona fide Blogcritics writer.
¡Felicidades!
5 - Scott
I was way off.
I expected either Idaho governor, Alaska governor or Florida governor (my home state) to go Democratic and be the upset win of the night in governor's races.
For a while I thought it would be Florida...anecdotal evidence suggested low turnout in the panhandle (conservative stronghold) and a high percentage of Democratic early voting in South Florida. Crist's snub of Pres. Bush here on Monday did not sit well with area Republicans, I can tell you that much.
In the end, none of my upset picks went Democratic. That's ok. I was pleasantly suprised Klein picked off Shaw in FL-22 as I was almost certain that race would not flip.
By the way, Florida has 25 total house seats, not 19. The next congress will have 16 Republicans and 9 Democrats.
6 - Clavos
By the way, Florida has 25 total house seats, not 19. The next congress will have 16 Republicans and 9 Democrats.
Oops. Of course you're right; I forgot the ones not up for re-election this year!
And one of them, Wasserman-Schultz, is mine!!
Sigh...
7 - Clavos
Estimado Don Cristobal,
¡Muchas gracias por sus palabras tan amables!
I have to admit I'm enjoying posting articles very much; I now find myself looking for ideas everywhere.
8 - Scott
Democrats gained 6 state house seats. I forgot to mention that.
9 - Clavos
Now that, two days later, we've all had a chance to reflect a little on the election; it appears, to me at least, that the Republicans dealt with their loss with a lot more grace and a lot less acrimony than did the Democrats in both 2000 and 2004.
10 - MCH
Clavos;
Is it remotely possible that your opinion in #9 could be based on bi-partisanship?
11 - Clavos
Should it be?
12 - Peter J
Hi Clavos, Good article, the only thing I take exception to is your comment on Charlie Crist'
"Crist outspent his opponent by a large margin and ran a professional, savvy campaign."
I found his campaign to be mostly a slandering, mudslinging fest. That kind of campaigning is embarrasing and an insult to voters, I've gone as far as to skip a vote or go to a third party (if they're qualified) . It would be nice if candidates themselves would shun such advertising and run strictly on their own merits rather than this sort of scandalizing crap.
It's hard to trust someone who resorts to these tactics.
13 - Clavos
Peter,
Thanks!
You make a good point, although I think it fits the Davis/Dem campaign nearly as well. And, I have to confess I liked the empty chair.
I've gone as far as to skip a vote or go to a third party (if they're qualified
I actually did vote for Linn, and precisely because I thought he was the best qualified of the three.
14 - Clavos
MCH,
Happy Veteran's Day!
Clavos
15 - Jet in Columbus
Uh...check this out before the celebrtion gets too serious!
Jet
16 - RJ Elliott
"The GOP did not fare as well in Florida's Congressional races, suffering a net loss of two critical seats. With a total House delegation of 19 seats, Florida will send 16 Republicans and 3 Democrats to Washington."
Sorry, but that isn't the case. Florida sends 25 Congress-critters to DC, with 16 Republicans and 9 Democrats...
17 - Clavos
RJ,
Thanks, but you're late to the party; See #s 5 & 6.
Clavos
18 - RJ Elliott
Oh, I did not realize that it had already been pointed out...nevermind! :-/
BTW, welcome to Blogcritics! I look forward to reading more of your articles in the future! :)
19 - Clavos
Thank you, Sir! I'm having fun so far.
20 - MCH
Hey Clavos -
Have a good Veterans Day!
21 - RJ Elliott
Happy Veterans Day to both of you.
22 - Clavos
Thanks, MCH and RJ.
And a Happy Veterans Day to Nancy, Andy, SFCSKI, Gonzo (I believe you're a vet; but if not, Happy Vet's Day anyway), and all of America's veterans, wherever and whomever you are!
Clavos
23 - SFC SKI
Thanks, and right back at ya.
24 - Jet in Columbus
Bad move, DON'T force it. Think about things you like, if you don't hit on something take your time.
A suggestion, Go to google news and set up a custom file, put in all of your interests no matter how trivial and then every day check to see if there's a news item on one that piques your interest.
Usually what happens is it'll be something only slightly related that'll pop up that you never thought of on a side tangent.
Never force yourself thinking you HAVE to put out something. Write from the heart, not from the need and you'll be great. The ones you've "forced" out usually are lousy.
I've found a great tool since this site revamped.
In the side bar watch the Most Readers-NOT-the most comments. Some of my best lately, I was really discouraged that I wasn't getting comments on until I realized that my most popular for a while was the story I did on Doogie Howser, but wans't getting any comments on and thought it'd flopped.
You've gotten off to a fine start.
Go get 'em sweetie.
Jet
25 - Clavos
Thanks, Jet.
For both the encouragement AND the advice.
I have a bookmark folder called "BC Research" which gets the tidbits (and larger) of things that catch my eye, good sources, etc. I may have to make another -- it's growing fast!
I see what you mean about forcing it; I won't.
I like the "most Readers" idea-Thanks!
I've always enjoyed your satires. I'd like to try that sometime, but that's really tough to pull off; I'll look at that down the road.
Thanks, my friend.
How are the health issues these days?