Wealthy Insurgents May Fall Short in Florida

By: Stephanie Condon
Topics: Campaign 2010

Democratic Senate hopeful Kendrick Meek answers a question as he speaks to the Florida Press Association in Sarasota, Fla., June 17, 2010.

(Credit: AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Despite pouring tens of millions of dollars into their respective campaigns in an election year presumed to favor outsiders, two Florida businessmen are stuck in tight races against established politicians one day before Florida's Democratic and Republican primaries.

Recent polls show Democratic Rep. Kendrick Meek leading his Senate primary challenger, real estate mogul Jeff Greene, while Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum remains locked in a tight battle against businessman Rick Scott for the Republican gubernatorial nomination. A number of both Democratic and Republican voters remain undecided.

Meek leads Greene 39 percent to 29 percent in the Democratic Senate primary, a Quinnipiac University poll released today shows. The poll gives McCollum a slimmer lead of 39 percent to 35 percent over Scott in the Republican gubernatorial primary. Twenty-two percent of Republican likely voters remained undecided, as well as 28 percent of Democratic likely voters.

Similarly, a Mason-Dixon poll released Saturday showed Meek with a double-digit lead over Greene (42 percent to 30 percent), while McCollum had a clear lead over Scott (45 percent to 36 percent). The Mason-Dixon poll showed 23 percent of Democratic voters remained undecided, as well as 15 percent of Republican voters.

Democratic firm Public Policy Polling, which conducts automated polls, also gave Meek a strong lead in a poll released over the weekend. This firm, however, showed Scott leading McCollum 47 percent to 40 percent -- within the poll's margin of error.

Scott and Greene, both political outsiders, have made substantial personal investments in their campaigns. Scott has spent $38.9 million of his own fortune, while Greene has dumped $23 million into his own campaign, outspending Meek four to one.

CBSNews.com Special Report: Campaign 2010

Nevertheless, today's Quinnipiac poll shows that after a summer of negative campaigning from all sides, Florida voters have net negative views about both wealthy insurgent candidates.

While Scott and Greene have had the advantage of their financial fortunes, they were hampered by certain details about their past. Scott was CEO of the hospital chain Columbia/HCA before it was fined $1.7 billion for Medicare fraud. Greene made hundreds of millions of dollars from the nationwide housing bust and has been dogged by headlines this summer about escapades on his 145-foot yacht.

The winner of the Republican gubernatorial primary is expected to face off against Democratic candidate Alex Sink. Sink is expected to win the Democratic primary, but she remains unknown to about half of Florida voters.

If Meek beats Greene in the Democratic Senate primary, he will be up against Republican candidate Marco Rubio and Gov. Charlie Crist, who left the Republican party to run as an independent. The White House and the Democratic establishment would almost certainly give Meek public support in the general election campaign. At the same time, Democrats are expected to appeal to Crist to caucus with their party should he win the race.

Stephanie Condon
Stephanie Condon is a political reporter for CBSNews.com.
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by MerrellObrian August 24, 2010 10:27 AM EDT: No mention of the TRUE NEXT Governor of Florida, Alex Sink, who is leading in all the polls. Odd. I'm absolutely amazed at Republicans who can't take credit for ten years of their failed policy, nearly driving us into the ditch of Depression! Obama hasn't "fixed" everything in less than two. He's kept us from going into the second Great Depression! Pardon us if it takes a little more time to right the apple cart. Also, I watched Florida Republicans scam and swindle low-income people into buying mortgages with impossible terms. YOU put us in 12.5% unemployment! YOU own the work trucks filled with illegals who do your roofing and construction, with your Union-Busting tactics and "cheap labor, to hell with the real costs!" I watch W.W. GAY sent hundreds of thousands to Tallahassee's and Jacksonville's Republicans while they contract our of city and under the table. You've bought into the rich man's "tax argument" without even understanding how taxes affect wages. EVERY tax decrease in American history is followed by a wage decrease by corporations. What? Does it surprise you they are sharing the wealth? It doesn't get much more RED than SC, GA and North Florida. How do you like being on the very bottom in education, bottom in wages and bottom in health care? Oh yes! We NEED more Republicans...like we need to super glue our retums shut!; Reply to this comment


by jgg000101 August 24, 2010 10:24 AM EDT: "wealthy insurgents"? so we started calling terrorists "insurgents" because it hurt their feelings, and now we are transitioning people of wealth to the same category as the terrorists?; Reply to this comment

by Rachel262 August 24, 2010 10:00 AM EDT

Just don't vote for a dammed democrat!!! Never again after obama sold us out. Where are the jobs????? obama "promised" us jobs! Quit blaming President Bush....stop this muslim charade & do what you said you would do. Create jobs!!!

Reply to this comment


by doctordawg August 25, 2010 6:45 AM EDT: You want jobs? Tear the money out of billionaire bankster's grip, and we can make new jobs. We can either do that by force (not very democratic) or by letting the Bush billionaire giveaway tax cuts expire, and up the ante by taxing BONUSES banksters give themselves. You think Republicans will do that? No freaking way. They have already stated they want to return our nation to the policies of 2007 - the ones that killed our economy while making them richer.

Vote. Vote Democrat. Vote Progressive Democrat as if your child's life depends on it, because it does.


by aarroozz August 24, 2010 8:50 AM EDT: We the people are becoming knowledgeable about our nations history and also about the dangers of a media of the politicians and for the politicians. Every tyrant in history first seeks control of the media and then seeks to register and confiscate those ever so dangerous firearms. Our founders understood this and the American people do to. Americans are fleeing the two party system and understand the rhetoric that a third party as a spoiler is a misnomer cultivated by the billionaire Ross Perot because it serves his and the wealthy class desire to control the masses. Look past the garbage of the major media for our people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. The same rich two percent responsible for our crippled economy are controlling our electorate and our media and profit handsomely by this control. America must understand WE ARE IN A CLASS WAR and before we can begin to win we must recognize our enemy. They use the oldest and most effective war tactic DIVIDE AND CONQUER to weaken our defenses. United we must stand, black and white, to win this war.; Reply to this comment


by ouchitatom August 24, 2010 6:06 AM EDT: When the blind and ignorant and educated stop collaborating with liars and thieves. Washington will become so quite you can hear a mouse p--sing on cotton all the way to the Rocky mountains.; Reply to this comment


by bradkt1 August 24, 2010 12:05 AM EDT: I just don't think that it is a representative form of government when people with money can simply buy a political office.

Those people don't represent me and they don't care about my concerns.
How can they when they have never walked a mile in my shoes, know people who have faced the issues that I have faced or lived in my world?; Reply to this comment


by tiredofeverything August 23, 2010 10:55 PM EDT: Who cares?
It's people with a lot of money running against people with a lot of money.
Hardly what I would consider 'change'; Reply to this comment


by doctordawg August 23, 2010 8:47 PM EDT: Crist is a PLANT! His "thank God I'm not a Republican" posturing is meant to split Democrat voters and not spit Republicans. Democrats will fall for his bullpucky hook line and sinker, and Florida will have a Republican Senator whether Crist wins or loses.

Insurgents are exactly what they are. Rising up against an established government - capitalists rising up against the Democracy they intend to destroy.; Reply to this comment


by scottyusa August 23, 2010 5:50 PM EDT: "Wealthy insurgents"? You guys could have come up with a better title than THAT. Insurgents is what we called terrorists in Iraq when we decided that terrorists was too harsh a term for them because their numbers got polluted by regular pissed off Iraqis that joined up.; Reply to this comment