Have some more good news to report:
http://postonpolitics.blog.palmbeachpost.com/...
Usually liberal-leaning Public Policy Polling has a new survey out that shows Democrat Charlie Crist edging Republican Gov. Rick Scott by 45-43 percent, with Libertarian Party contender Adrian Wyllie drawing 8 percent support among Floridians.
The survey of 1,161 likely voters was conducted Oct. 3-4 by PPP for the Center for American Progress Action Fund, a policy advocacy organization headed by former Ohio Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland.
Crist’s lead is within the margin of error of plus-or-minus 2.9 percent.
The survey bolstered the group’s position that Scott’s refusal to push harder for Medicaid expansion or endorse an increase in the minimum wage and efforts to ease climate change are hurting him among Florida voters. - The Palm Beach Post, 10/7/14
This is the third poll to confirm Crist is in the lead:
http://www.sunshinestatenews.com/...
In last week’s WFLA poll, Crist led 46 percent while Scott took 40 percent and Libertarian Adrian Wyllie took 8 percent. In the latest WFLA poll released on Tuesday, Crist drops to 44 percent while Scott moves up to 42 percent and Wyllie falls back to 6 percent.
The poll finds both Crist and Scott are upside down. Only 36 percent of those surveyed see Scott as favorable while 46 percent see him as unfavorable. Crist is also seen as favorable by 36 percent while 44 percent view him as unfavorable.
Also on Tuesday, 0ptimus (yes, that's a number in their name instead of a letter) released a poll showing Crist at 40 percent, Scott with 39 percent and Wyllie moving into double digits with 13 percent. - Sunshine State News, 10/7/14
ANd even the polling showing Scott with a slight lead still has bad news for him:
http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/...
The newest poll, coming from the YouGov/CBS News/New York Times online survey, shows Scott leading Crist 47-44 percent with leaners included.
Without leaners, Scott leads 44-40 percent.
So, we still don't know what's going to happen.
Still, according to the Miami Herald, trends seem to be leaning toward favoring Crist.
Citing polls that show Crist leading by 6 percent in SurveyUSA and a new Republican data-analysis Optimus showing him leading by 1, the Herald says the numbers are moving toward the challenger.
"The story here is these guys have been spending a ton of money," Scott Tranter, an analyst with Optimus told the paper. "But the only guy who's seeing any movement here is Charlie Crist."
The Optimus poll shows Crist collecting 41.1 percent, with Scott getting 40.1 percent.
Meanwhile, a News-Press forecast model gives Scott a 52.2 percent chance of winning the race in November. So who the hell knows.
The reason for the tight race remains that Floridians just don't care for either candidate.
In Quinnipiac's latest survey in late September, when likely voters were asked, "Is your opinion of Charlie Crist favorable, unfavorable or haven't you heard enough about him?" 49 percent said they have an unfavorable opinion, as opposed to 41 percent who said they like him.
Likewise, Scott gets an unfavorable rating of 48 percent compared to a 42 percent favorable. - Broward/Palm Beach New Times, 10/6/14
It's not that difficult to understand why Crist is back in the lead. Scott has been getting some very bad press lately:
http://www.tampabay.com/...
Kurt Eichenwald is a contributing editor of Vanity Fair and a former senior writer and investigative reporter for the New York Times. He has two prestigious George Polk awards under his belt, including one for his coverage of alleged corruption at Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corporation, the nation's largest hospital chain run by Rick Scott.
If not for his journalistic chops and reputation, Eichenwald, 53, would look like a thoroughly reckless hack doing what he did yesterday: Firing off tweet after tweet about Gov. Scott, essentially calling him a crook and hurling out anecdotes that he he apparently was never comfortable enough to report in the New York Times. - Tampa Bay Tribune, 10/7/14
Here are the Tweets:
Crist has been hitting Scott on the Medicare fraud as well. And he's been hitting Scott on this:
http://www.wtsp.com/...
After shaking hands with spectators and the media and petting a dog named Sanibel in Centennial Park on Monday afternoon, Democratic candidate for governor Charlie Crist blasted opponent Gov. Rick Scott's environmental record and vowed to clean up the Caloosahatchee River.
With a quick, "Let's do this," the former governor started the press conference on time and wrapped it up in about 15 minutes.
"It's obvious why we're here on the banks of the Caloosahatchee River," he said. "During Rick Scott's administration, the river has become polluted beyond recognition. It has to stop."
Crist was referring to large nutrient-laced freshwater releases from Lake Okeechobee down the Caloosahatchee that have caused massive algal blooms, which foul beaches, smother seagrasses and kill fish.
"I will work with the Army Corps of Engineers to stop the backpumping and the discharges and stop the pollution of our rivers and streams," Crist said. "All it takes is a governor who cares. I care."
Crist also took a stand against oil drilling in the Everglades, an idea that Scott supports.
"I can't believe it's even a topic of conversation," he said. "It's unbelievable that anybody would consider drilling in our pristine Everglades." - 10 News, 10/7/14
And it's looking like Scott is running out of negative attack lines against Crist:
http://miamiherald.typepad.com/...
After months of negative ads savaging Democrat Charlie Crist, Gov. Rick Scott has been slowly running more positive spots, including the latest one where he essentially takes his opponent to task for running.... negative ads.
"After all these attack ads, Charlie Crist wants you to hate me," Scott says. "I guess that's all he's got."
For a while, it was all that Scott had.
When Crist entered the race in November, Scott ran $1 million in negative ads featuring all the bad things Democrats once called the former Republican, Crist. And ever since cranking up his full-time ad machine in March, Scott and his supporters have outspent Crist and his backers $44 million to about $19.7 million. It's now a $65 million -- and growing -- ad race.
Almost all the spending has been negative, on both sides. But Scott
The Republican-leaning firm 0ptimus has modeled the ads that each side has analyzed the ads on broadcast TV in each major Florida market for the past nine weeks and found that likely voters in Florida have at least glimpsed 2.1 million ads bashing Crist and 1.7 million ads bashing Scott
So Scott's negative impressions outnumber Crist's by 26 percent in the past nine weeks. - Miami Herald, 10/6/14
Still a close race but one we can win. Click here to donate and get involved with Crist's campaign:
http://www.charliecrist.com/