Hello Bill: Is it Time for McCollum to Call Sarah Palin?

If he hasn't done so already -- and if Rick Scott hasn't beaten him to the punch -- Bill McCollum may want to put in a call to Sarah Palin.

The GOP rabble-rouser, whose endorsers have scored a string of primary victories, might help lift McCollum's sinking fortunes in Florida's gubernatorial primary, says Daniel Smith, a political science prof at UF.

"He has to do something. Maybe call Sarah Palin," muses Smith, who sees Scott's surge in the polls as a "steady trend with nothing to stop it."

Scott, who has reportedly spent $11 million in TV advertising so far, will see his dollars go further next month when ad rates drop, per Federal Communications Commission rules 45 days before an election.

McCollum's campaign would benefit from those discounted rates, too, but his precipitous plunge in the polls prevents him from waiting too much longer.