While most eyes are on former Gov. Charlie Crist and former state CFO Alex Sink, Nan Rich, who served more than a decade in the Florida Legislature where she eventually rose to lead Senate Democrats, is the only active major Democratic gubernatorial candidate so far in the 2014 race.
Rich might have a head start on her Democratic rivals but, as her paltry fundraising and poor polling show, she is not picking up much steam.
Despite an appendectomy earlier in the month, Rich is keeping an active schedule. A week ago she spoke to the Polk County Democrats and she continues to win praise from party activists.
But Rich has not gained much traction since throwing her hat in the ring almost a year ago. From April 23 until the end of 2012, she raised some $80,500 and spent more than $20,500. Thats not impressive, especially considering Rich raised almost $251,000 for 2010, when she won her last state Senate campaign. Rich raised almost as much in the first quarter of 2009 when she hauled in nearly $78,000 for her Senate bid than she has in more than nine months as a gubernatorial candidate.
Nor is Rich showing much momentum in the polls. While Quinnipiac University released a poll this week offering a snapshot of the 2014 gubernatorial race, they did not even bother to include her.
Democrat pollster Public Policy Polling (PPP) released a poll this week showing Crist, Sink and former Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio beating Gov. Rick Scott in possible 2014 matchups. Unlike Quinnipiac, PPP actually included Rich but the poll contains no good news for her because the only Democrat Scott beats in the poll is Rich. While the other potential Democrats all have the edge over the Republican governor, Scott takes 42 percent against Rich -- trailing with 36 percent.
The PPP poll finds that Rich is unknown to most Floridians despite her 12 years in the Legislature and having run for governor for the last 11 months. While 8 percent of those surveyed see her favorably and 18 percent see her as unfavorable, a whopping 74 percent dont know enough about her to have an opinion.
Even Democrats dont know much about Rich, according to the PPP poll. Seventy percent of Democrats are stymied on her identity. Even with the Democrats who know who she is, Rich is upside down, with only 11 percent seeing her as favorable while 19 percent see her as unfavorable.
Needless to say, with those numbers, Rich is an afterthought when PPP looked at a possible Democratic primary. Crist leads with 50 percent, followed by Sink with 21 percent. Iorio took third with 9 percent, followed by Rich with a paltry 3 percent.
PPP surveyed 500 Florida voters as well as 300 usual Democratic primary voters from March 15-18. The margin of error for the overall sample is +/- 4.4 percent and +/- 5.7 percent for the Democratic portion.
Tallahassee political writer Jeff Henderson wrote this analysis piece exclusively for Sunshine State News.
