Candidates shake hands for votes

A six-county Whistle Stop tour through the Panhandle on Saturday showcased a number of lesser know Republican candidates fighting for attention amid the Marco Rubio-Charlie Crist showdown and gubernatorial hopeful Rick Scott's big-money campaign.

With sweat soaking through shirts and campaign fliers doubling as hand fans, U.S. Rep. Adam Putnam, an agriculture commissioner candidate, and Holly Benson, a former state lawmaker running for attorney general, showed that retail politicking still holds a place in a state known for its media-market campaigns.

Observations from the campaign trail:

--The details: The tour began at 9 a.m. central time in Chipley before stopping in Bonifay, DeFuniak Springs, Ft. Walton Beach, Gulf Breeze and finally ending in Pensacola at 6 p.m. The crowds varied from the 25 people under a park pavilion in Gulf Breeze to the 200 awaiting the statewide and local candidates in Ft. Walton. The oppressive heat, with temperatures topping 100 degrees, kept enthusiasm to a minimum. In fact, in DeFuniak Springs, a tense auction for a two-layer patriotic cake drew more participant attention than most candidates.

A new group emerges to attack Scott

A new shadowy political group will debut this weekend, debuting attack ads titled "Fraud" that take aim at GOP candidate Rick Scott.

The group, Florida First Initiative, purchased $616,282 in television ads that will air Saturday through Wednesday, June 16 -- two days before the state election filing deadline.

The group -- which has connections to GOP rival Bill McCollum's campaign -- is a 527 that registered in Florida in March and lists a registered agent at Ken Cleary and the email address of Alachua County GOP Chairman Stafford Jones. 

Jones hung up on a reporter who contacted him Friday and McCollum's campaign said they aren't affiliated with the group. McCollum's TV buyer purchased the TV time for Florida First and did the same for a different political group, Alliance for America's Future, which previously spent $1.9 million to air attack ads against Scott.

The latest figures also show Scott spent $14 million from his own pocket on his campaign's ads.

Despite contradiction, McCollum urges Crist to sign abortion bill

Attorney General Bill McCollum sent a letter to Charlie Crist on Friday urging him to sign the controversial abortion bill (HB 1143) expected to hit the governor's desk next week.

The move is not surprising given that a key provision in the bill gives McCollum's office better legal justification for suing President Barack Obama for the federal health care mandate.

But the bill (originally designed to tighten controls of nursing homes) has become a lightning rod because of the abortion issue. "Ensuring that patients are fully informed prior to making a critical health care decision should be a policy we all support," McCollum wrote.

McCollum didn't address the fact his support represents an apparent contradiction: he is fighting a health care mandate (the federal law) while supporting a state health care mandate (an ultrasound before abortions in the first trimester).

Democrats want statewide prosecutor off the case

The Democratic Party of Florida is asking Statewide Prosecutor Bill Shepherd to recuse himself from the investigation of the state GOP, suggesting his close ties to Attorney General Bill McCollum will keep his team from further examining the role of top Republican officials.

Chairwoman Karen Thurman, in a  letter to Shepherd, notes that he contributed $500 to McCollum's campaign in 2009. "Because of your relationship with Attorney General McCollum and potentially other Republican leaders closely connected to this case, I am concerned that there is a clear conflict of interest that renders you unable to impartially investigate and prosecute this case," she wrote, suggesting the scandal goes higher up the food chain from Jim Greer to Republican elected officials.

Shepherd addressed this yesterday in his press conference and denied it existed, saying the state Supreme Court played a role in his selection.

State campaign finance records show Shepherd also made $1,000 in contributions to both Gov. Charlie Crist and Senate President Jeff Atwater.

Bondi names Panhandle leadership team

Republican Pam Bondi named key supporters in her bid for attorney general. Her Escambia and Santa Rosa teams include Jeb Bush loyalists Mayra Fillmore and Sandra Phillips and the local GOP committee chairs. For others, read below.

McCollum changes tone on federal oil cleanup

Attorney General Bill McCollum issued a blistering condemnation of President Barack Obama's response to the disastrous oil spill, calling it "unacceptable." But it doesn't jibe with his previous response just two days prior.

From his office's statement Thursday: "President Obama’s press conference today only reinforced what Floridians have known for weeks – the federal government is not doing everything it can to prevent further damage from the Deepwater Horizon spill."

But asked Tuesday if the federal government needed to takeover the cleanup effort from BP -- as CFO Alex Sink suggested and Gov. Charlie Crist embraced -- McCollum's office struck a different cord: "The Attorney General believes that more federal oversight on the oil spill response would certainly be welcome."

McCollum's earlier statement also suggested the onus falls to BP, more than the federal government, for cleanup and claims. "Federal law already makes BP the responsible party, and we will continue applying as much pressure as possible on behalf of Floridians and Florida businesses to BP as it manages the claims process," it continued.

GOP TV war approaches $13 million

The latest round of television advertisements from Rick Scott pushes the total spent in GOP governor's race media war to $12.7 million.

By far, the Naples businessman's spending on TV and radio ads far outpaces his competitor, Attorney General Bill McCollum. His sixth major buy (running May 28 through June 6 and totaling $2.9 million) puts his total spent to date at $10.9 million.

The new attack group against Scott, Alliance for America's Future, spent another $906,000 to air its TV ad from May 27 to June 2.

And McCollum's campaign, put $804,000 into the game after debuting with a Jeb Bush endorsement spot.

Rentboy scandal: Florida Democrats demand McCollum return $120,000 paid to George Rekers

Just received from the Florida Democratic Party:

In light of Attorney General Bill McCollum's role in spending over $120,000 in taxpayer money on hiring discredited witness George Rekers, today Florida Democratic Party Chair Karen Thurman demanded McCollum pay back the State of Florida for the full cost of the funds he steered towards the so-called 'expert' embroiled in the "Rentboy scandal."

Click here to read Thurman's letter to McCollum

Voters undecided in statewide 2010 races

A new Ron Sachs/Mason-Dixon poll shows wide open races for statewide offices with few voters confident about which candidate to elect. (Here are the findings.)

Take the race for Attorney General: voters are 73 percent undecided in the Democratic primary (feature Sen. Dan Gelber verse Sen. Dave Aronberg) and 72 percent undecided in the three-way Republican primary (which pits Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp against prosecutor Pam Bondi and former agency head Holly Benson).

The most intriguing figures come in the Agriculture Commissioner election where the poll tested a the match-up between Republican U.S. Rep. Adam Putnam and former Tallahassee mayor Scott Maddox, a Democrat. It's a deadlock with Maddox at 31 percent, Putnam at 30 percent and undecideds at 39 percent. (The margin of error is 4 percent for this question.)

"The huge number of undecided voters is really where this election rests," said PR guru Ron Sachs, whose firm isn't representing any candidates.

McCollum lobbied for witness who hired Rentboy escort

In defending the state's gay adoption ban, Attorney General Bill McCollum personally lobbied then-DCF Secretary Bob Butterworth to hire expert witness George Reckers, who is now emboriled in an online gay prostitute scandal.

In a July 2007 letter to Butterworth, McCollum writes that his staff members "strongly recommend" Reckers as a witness. "They believe that this expert and his testimony are necessary to ensure a successful result in this case."

McCollum said yesterday, ""I wouldn’t do it again if I knew what I know today, but I didn't know that then and neither did anybody else."

Download Rekers request