Despite spending millions on television ads, Governor Rick Scott is trailing former Governor Charlie Crist by ten points in a new poll.
One of the key numbers from this poll: voters say 50 - 35 percent that Crist is more compassionate than Scott.
Why does Scott suffer from a 'Compassion Gap?'
Connect the dots.
Last night, the Miami Herald reported that a Florida Keys boy died shortly after the Department of Children & Families received two reports that he and his sibling were in jeopardy because of their mother's drug use. This 479th death of a child on DCF's radar came just days after death number 478, which occurred when 16-month-old Daymeon Chrystopher Wygant was smothered by his father.
Obviously, these deaths are not on Governor Scott, just as the deaths of the children which occurred before his time in office are not on his predecessors.
However, Governor Scott is responsible for this:"Governor's office behind amendment to weaken provisions in child safety bill."
That was the headline of probably the most important blog post written during the 2014 Legislative Session.
As Mary Ellen Klas first reported, a 135-page amendment introduced by Sen. Miguel Diaz de la Portilla on behalf of the Department of Children and Families and Scott's office would have taken out some of the proposed reforms that he said were too expensive. The reforms were proposed in the wake of a Pulitzer Prize-worthy investigation by the Herald.
But after getting pushback, the Miami-Dade Republican withdrew the amendment, and the bill passed unanimously.
Here's the lemon juice in the cut: Not soon after pushing for the above-described amendment, Scott held a news conference with DCF Child Protective Investigators in Jacksonville to tout his actions and spending on behalf of children.
And people wonder why there is a compassion gap in the gubernatorial race?