Scott's strategy to "spend the enemy into submission"
Aaron Deslatte: "The opening move in Gov. Rick Scott's campaign playbook has been to try to spend the enemy into submission."
Since March, the Republican has pumped close to $13 million into the earliest-ever blitz of television attack ads in a Florida gubernatorial contest. The aim is to take enough skin off Democratic challenger Charlie Crist so he can't fully recover even when his ads kick in sometime after July 4."Scott is deploying a scattershot approach of attack ads mixed with softer, biographical spots of Scott with one of his grandkids."
More than $6 million in television ads has been steered into the crucial Orlando and Tampa TV markets with 10 ads attacking Crist for tuition hikes, supporting Obamacare and opting to seek the U.S. Senate in 2010 instead of a second term as governor."Gov. Scott's ad blitz aims to hit Crist early."South Florida's more expensive Miami-Broward and West Palm Beach markets have drawn $2.5 million, including Spanish-language ads. One spot that aired before a Bill Clinton fundraiser mocked Crist for saying in 1998 the country would be "better off" if the president resigned.
Outraised 3-to-1 thus far, Crist's campaign is calculating that the former GOP governor has enough popularity and name-ID banked with voters to wait out the early barrage.
Wanna hazard a guess?
It is unclear "whether state officials will fight the regulation requiring a 38 percent cut in Florida’s carbon emissions by 2030. A spokesman for the Florida attorney general’s office confirmed to Watchdog.org the state is already involved in litigation over a previous EPA air pollution rule. The spokesman wouldn’t say whether Attorney General Pam Bondi will take on the new federal edict." "Florida Officials Mum on EPA Rule; Natural Gas Wins Big."
Crist has a Cuban voter problem
"Charlie Crist has a Cuba problem and a Cuban voter problem, a new Miami Herald/El Nuevo Herald poll of Miami-Dade’s electorate shows." "Graphic: Miami-Dade County Voter Poll."
Bush and Rubio campaign checklists
See "2016 campaign checklist: Jeb Bush" and "2016 campaign checklist: Marco Rubio".
Scott fan club getting desperate
The usually thoughtful Nancy Smith reaches a bit with this one: Nancy Smith "Prison Visit: The Boys in Charlie's Band."
Potential Cuban oil disaster
"The scenario is fiction, but the high-level attention it is drawing to a looming Florida threat is real. . . . Cuba has announced its intentions to begin exploratory drilling in late 2015 — without access to the top-of-the-line equipment that would help reduce the chances of a spill. The U.S. trade embargo prevents that." "Graham fears Cuban oil disaster".
"Political Dominos Could Fall"
"Political Dominos Could Fall if FSU Selects John Thrasher."