Democratic AG Race Remains Close and Civil

While the primary battle for the Democratic nomination for attorney general has been a close contest, unlike the spat fornomination for the U.S. Senate seat it has generally been a civil affair between Sen. Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach, and Sen. Dave Aronberg, D-Greenacres.

It looked for a moment as if things were about to change. BP hired Akerman Senterfitt to handle the legal mess resulting from claims due to the spill in the Gulf. Aronberg demanded Gelber resign from Akerman Senterfitt -- which he did last week.

Trying to build momentum, Gelber is hitting the campaign trail hard this week with stops in Naples, Tampa for a huge fund-raiser tonight, an event with Rep. Betty Reed, D-Tampa, on Wednesday morning, followed by the Association of Counties before heading over to Orlando. Then he's back down to St. Petersburg on Thursday for an event with Rep. Darryl Rouson, D-St. Petersburg, returning to Tampa, then back to St. Petersburg. This is followed by events in Sarasota, Fort Myers and Marco Island on Friday.

Keep an eye on the fund-raising numbers for the second quarter which ends on Wednesday. This is a close race and, unlike Kendrick Meek and Jeff Greene in the battle for the U.S. Senate, the two Democratic candidates for AG have not taken the gloves off -- yet. But they also have not done much to create any distance between them. If neither of them shows any advantage over the other, expect a close race down to the primary, and this contest -- which has been the model of political civility -- may take a nasty turn.