Qualifying ended on Friday and Florida Democrats are putting all their eggs in Charlie Crists basket. But outside the gubernatorial race, Florida Democrats arent poised to stop Republican dominance in Florida.
Allison Tant promised to run competitive candidates in every state Cabinet race. After the dust cleared on Friday, Democrats have little to cheer about. Crist and Nan Rich are both credible candidates to challenge Rick Scott. George Sheldon and Perry Thurston both qualified to run against Pam Bondi, but the attorney general starts off with a clear edge.
But if Democrats could bring out big-name candidates against Scott and Bondi, Tant failed miserably against Jeff Atwater and Adam Putnam. William Rankin was the only Democrat to qualify against Atwater and his past raises major concerns. By the end of May, Rankin barely raised $13,000 since getting in the race back in October and hes already spent more than $13,350 thanks to loaning his campaign $10,600. Most of what he had in the bank would have been used to pay the qualifying fee. Thats not enough for a serious legislative campaign, let alone one for statewide office.
Thad Hamilton, running against Putnam, is in even worse shape. Since getting in back in February 2013, Hamilton hasnt raised $13,000, all of which he spent. Hamiltons above water only because he loaned his campaign $5,000. Again, like Rankin, Hamiltons just not a serious threat to beat a Republican incumbent.
Stuck with Rankin and Hamilton, Tant simply failed to deliver on her promise to run major candidates against the Republicans in the Cabinet. At the very least, she could have tried to lure Sheldon or Thurston out of the primary to run against one of the other Republicans in the Cabinet.
Democrats arent going to make much progress in the Republican-controlled Legislature, either. Republicans control the Florida Senate 26-14. Thats not going to change in November. Only three Democrats are challenging sitting Republican senators. Its not mathematically possible for Democrats to flip the Senate this year. Tant and the party failed to deliver once again.
Things are a little better in the House. Republicans are running candidates in 93 of the 120 Florida House races while Democrats have candidates in 80 of them. But even thats an uphill stretch. Its telling that a sitting Democrat in the Florida House -- Reggie Fullwood -- bungled his paperwork and failed to qualify in a slam dunk race for his party, leaving no candidates in the race.
Polls show Crist running close to Scott, but even there his lead has dwindled in recent months. Bondi will be a tough out for whoever wins the Democratic primary. Atwater and Putnam are locks while Republicans remain in charge of the Senate and have an overwhelming lead in the House.
Allison Tant was supposed to make Democrats more competitive in Florida. Now that qualifying is done, its clear that the Democrats have no game plan besides hoping Crist, a former Republican, can beat Scott. This is a major step back after 2012 when Barack Obama and Bill Nelson scored big wins for Democrats in Florida.
Tallahassee political writer Jeff Henderson wrote this analysis exclusively for Sunshine State News.
