Tampa Bay Times reporter Craig Pittman – a native of Floridian – addresses why many people consider the southern sunny state one of America’s most idiosyncratic. Among other topics, he delves into the too-close-to-call gubernatorial race between incumbent Rick Scott and Charlie Crist, which has increasingly turned nasty in accusatory campaign ads.
On the Florida governor’s race between Scott and Crist, Pittman said the state’s voters are notoriously fickle. “The current status of the race is that it is pretty much neck-in-neck, Crist holds a slight lead in the polls now. And both candidates are running ads now that basically say, ‘Vote for me, because I’m not that other guy.’
Florida has seven major media markets, and all are currently being flooded with political ads. “Right now the ads we’re seeing the most, all over Florida, are attack ads – Rick Scott attacking Charlie Crist, Charlie Crist attacking Rick Scott, and you can’t even turn on YouTube without getting bombarded with these ads now.”
“The Scott camp is pointing at Crist and saying he hangs out with crooks and fraudsters, and the Crist camp is pointing fingers at Scott and saying he is a crook and a fraudster. And so that’s pretty much the issues that are being debated these days.”
He also addressed the voting implications of the many retirees who decided to settle in Florida from either the northeastern U.S. or Midwest, and said both groups have commonalities in their attitudes about living their later years there.
“One thing that they both seem to have in common is they feel like, ‘Hey, I paid my taxes up north, I supported the schools and so forth, and I don’t really want to see high taxes down here in Florida.”
Watch the full episode for a discussion on the controversial Stand Your Ground gun-rights law and George Zimmerman trial, plus details on alleged corruption surrounding the state’s powerful sugar industry lobby.
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