Most Floridians know all about the Florida governor's race. Know it inside and out. But imagine how crazy-vicious Sunshine State politics must have looked to the rest of the country Tuesday night.
Nevertheless, this third and final debate of the 2014 gubernatorial race between Gov. Rick Scott and former Gov. Charlie Crist was the most substantive yet.
Charlie's fan stayed home, uninvited and barely referenced.
Thankfully, CNN's Jake Tapper quickened the pace from the Broward College debate a week ago, working in a wide range of questions, exploring the candidates' differences on everything from job creation and the minimum wage to Stand Your Ground and lifting the Cuba embargo.
It seemed to me, for that rare Florida voter still trying to make up his mind between these governors, both with way too much money from dubious sources, the debates -- not the negative TV ads -- would be the bigger help in deciding who gets his vote.
It's true, I'm not one of those still struggling to choose. Anybody who reads this column regularly knows who I like and don't like and why. Nevertheless, I did take away a couple of things from Debate No. 3 that surprised even me.They aren't so much the picky, poisonous little differences in answers Scott and Crist gave to Tapper's questions; they're the impressions their answers made -- on me and perhaps others.
Actually, I have three of them:
Believability
Rick Scott -- because he is not slick, is not an effective communicator, because he clings to the issues he knows best, the ones he lives 24/7 -- actually struck me as the more genuine of the two. That was something of a surprise. I wasn't looking for it and didn't expect to be left with that impression.
Charlie Crist, on the other hand, is slick, polished, most certainly knows how to carry himself in front of a camera. But it's career-politician polished. He presents himself like a good counterfeit bill. You have to look closely to see what he's saying isn't real -- or is it?
In a meaty debate like CNN's, Floridians got a close look. The truest words out of Crist's mouth were, "I am who I have always been." But then he proceeded to describe all the new things he is, the polar opposite of who he was before.
Crist talked about
Though we've heard him say these things at different venues over recent months, until the debates -- especially this one -- he hasn't had Scott at his side to add contrast and perspective.
