Endorsements are for losers

Sigh. If only politicians set aside a fraction of the time they spend chasing and flaunting campaign endorsements for real work. The economy would be humming, the terrorists would be losing, and affordable health care would include weekly massage treatments.

But as we head into the dog days of summer, when most voters are paying closer attention to their cuticles than to elections, candidates have nothing better to do than fund-raise and name-drop.

At this early stage in the election cycle, endorsements are not directed at voters seeking assurance. They are for impressing donors, intimidating opponents and returning favors. Keep reading here.

Sink calls McCollum's anti-Obama attack 'ridiculous'

Asked to respond to Republican opponent Bill McCollum's recent tirade that the Obama administration is moving the U.S. toward "socialism,'' Democratic candidate for governor Alex Sink called it "ridiculous."

McCollum assailed the administration's spending and increasing intervention in the private sector during his recent speech to the Miami-Dade Republican Party. He also suggested Sink would be a pawn for Obama.

"I'm nobody's puppet,'' asserted Sink, in Miami today to address the Latin Builders Association. "When the people of Florida get to know me and where I came from, they'll have an opportunity to see that for themselves."

Sink, a former banker and the state's chief financial officer, called herself a "fiscal conservative'' and said she was concerned about the increasing deficit. But she added that many economists recommended the federal government's spending package to stimulate the floundering economy.

"We're in historic times,'' she said. "Government does have a role to play in stabilizing the financial industry and stabilizing our markets, at the same time government shouldn't overreach."

Sink promises change, wants your spare

Echoing the campaign slogan of you know who, Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink is promising "change" if Florida elects her governor. And in a play on words, the Democrat is asking supporters in an e-mail today to donated their spare "change" to her campaign.

"The change Florida needs is not complete, and that's why with your help and support I am determined to be Florida's next governor.'' Sink said at the Florida Democratic Party's Jefferson Jackson dinner last month.

Republicans, however, are trying to saddle Sink with the controversial aspects of the Barack Obama administration -- the bailouts, the deficit, et al.

"The last election they tried to sell us change,'' Senate President Jeff Atwater told Miami-Dade Republicans last week. "Now we know they sold us change we cannot afford."

Attorney General Bill McCollum, the Republican frontrunner for governor, has tried to put his own twist on the "change" slogan, calling for "a new way up."

Still waiting for the Florida candidate who will try to sell us hope.

McCollum channels McCain, Joe the Plumber

Bill McCollum, the Republican frontrunner for governor, sounded kind of like Republican presidential nominee John McCain in his "Joe the plumber'' days.

"Socialism failed in Europe and socialism will fail here,'' he told the Miami-Dade Republican Party tonight. "We believe in individual liberty, in opportunity, in free market, and growth. We believe in growing wealth, not resdistributing it."

McCollum awkwardly tried to sound bi-partisan and inclusive while defending the Republican party's basic philosophy.

"We'll invite everybody to participate in governing this state,'' he said. "We do not have all the best ideas sitting in this room tonight. Somebody else may have some great ideas. We've got to find those common grounds, but we will do it with our principles, from our vantage point, because we know that the way that we believe, and the way that we understand how the world works is the right way, the way forward, the way up, what I call a new way up for Florida."  

Welcome to Miami, Mr. McCollum

Tonight's Miami-Dade Republican Party dinner is a key opportunity for statewide candidates from outside South Florida to show their face in the state's largest county. Lobbyist and political consultant Richard Pinsky said about 30 percent of the voters in a GOP primary come from Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties.

"Bill McCollum has got to spend a considerable amount of time down here,'' Pinsky said of the attorney general and GOP frontrunner for governor in 2010. "Even though he's a statewide officeholder, there's a big disconnect between politics down here and Tallahassee."

U.S. Rep. Adam Putnam of Bartow, who is running for agriculture commissioner, is also making the rounds at the Miami Airport Hilton. "I wouldn't miss it. Had to be here,'' he said.

Putnam is here with his campaign manager, Trey McCarley, who ran Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson's campaign.

McCollum has 'different view' than Crist on stimulus

Attorney General Bill McCollum, the Republican frontrunner for governor in 2010, said he would not have campaigned with President Barack Obama for his economic stimulus package like Gov. Charlie Crist did in Fort Myers in February.

"I have a different view about that,'' said McCollum in an interview before the Miami-Dade Republican Party's annual Lincoln Day dinner.

McCollum, a former congressman, said he would have voted against the plan had he been in Congress and would have opposed it had he been the governor. But once the legislation passed, "we needed to get our fair share,'' he said.

"I don't think it was good for the country to go into debt,'' he said. "I would not have embraced the stimulus before the fact, but if it passed over my objections, that's another story."

Lt. Gov. Anitere Flores?

Here's an interesting name being dropped as a potential running mate for Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill McCollum: state Rep. Anitere Flores of Miami.

Supporters of the attractive, 32-year-old Cuban-American -- the only Hispanic female in the Legislature -- say she would brighten up a Republican slate dominated by older white males. She could also help the GOP bring younger, Hispanic voters into the fold.

What she doesn't do is bring the Republican ticket more to the political center. One of the more conservative members of the Legislature, Flores has sponsored legislation aimed at curbing abortions and embryonic stem cell research. (Ask John McCain how a young, pretty, conservative female worked out as a running mate.)

McCollum will have a chance to talk to Flores Saturday when he's in town for the Miami-Dade Lincoln Day dinner.

McCollum to headline Miami-Dade Lincoln Day

In what appears to be his first Lincoln Day dinner as a candidate for governor, Attorney General Bill McCollum will speak at the Miami-Dade Republican Party's annual fundraiser on Saturday at the Hilton Miami Airport.

"He is generating great enthusiasm,'' said state Rep. David Rivera, who serves as chairman of the local GOP.

Tickets are $150. More information here.

Poll shows tight governor's race

Democrat Alex Sink holds a narrow 38-34 lead over Republican Bill McCollum in the 2010 governor race but voters give him a higher job approval rating, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll.

Sink, the state's chief financial officer, received approval from 39 percent, while McCollum, the attorney general, received approval from 51 percent.

"One reason may be that in the survey he is identified as a Republican and she a Democrat,'' Quinnipiac University pollster Peter Brown said. "In Florida, as in much of the nation these days, the GOP label is not necessarily a plus..."

Brown also said Sink got a small boost in the head-to-head matchup from voters who like that she would be Florida's first female governor.

All the numbers are here.

Dan Gelber running for AG