Rick Scott's Money Didn't Buy Him the Election, His Message Was 'Music to Voters' Ears'

Across all 50 states the only self-financed politician to run for a major office and win is Rick Scott.

Scott nearly didn't. His victory in the Florida gubernatorial race cost him $75 million and still boiled down to only a 1 percent, down-to-the-wire squeaker.

But his accomplishment was some incredible feat considering other well-heeled candidates who paid their own way:

Meg Whitman in California was the biggest loser. The Republican sunk $143 million into her disastrous run against Democrat Jerry Brown. Brown didn't just beat her by 13 points, he cost her an estimated 10 percent of her fortune. His cost per vote: $6.34; hers, $47.

Another super-loser was Republican Linda McMahon, former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment. She spent about $47 million of her own cash to try for a Senate seat in Connecticut, only to fall like a rock to the Democrat state attorney general.

Other go-it-alone losers include billionaire Democrat Jeff Greene in Florida who spent his own $24 million and couldn't get past the primary to win the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate. Greene was beaten by Congressman Kendrick Meek. Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, also in California, shelled out $5.5 million of her own money to fall to the incumbent, Sen. Barbara Boxer.

A Pit Boss story "revisit" on Politico ("Self-funders strike out big-time") explores why the losers crashed and burned, but it does not explain how a complete unknown, a rank outsider -- Florida Gov. Rick Scott -- could upend two entrenched Tallahassee insiders, one in the primary and one in the general election, both with strong party support and the backing of every endorsing newspaper in the state.

On Saturday, Washington, D.C., political insider Harry Frank Myers talked about the election briefly on Bloomberg News Radio. "Rick Scott is something of a phenomenon and so is the mood in Florida," Myers said. "This is a state hungry for jobs. The status quo couldn't deliver so voters were ready to try something else.

"The money he spent was to get his message across as a newcomer. The reason he won was the voters liked his message, which was 'I'm going to deliver jobs.' Music to voters' ears."