Rick Scott Has Early Lead, and He Might Need It

Jillian Bandes | November 02, 2010 4:10 PM

Scott has a total lead of almost 1:3 in early / absentee votes cast in the Florida governors race. That's not enough to rely on in terms of an overall advantage, but it is enough to lead the

Miami Herald to predict an early 5% boost for Scott. This could very easily get knocked off by Sink, but it means good things out of the gate.

A Florida source says that he may need it. Matthew Klein is a Republican volunteer in Orlando.

The only impression that I've seen is that a lot of Republican voters are not enthusiastic about Rick Scott, and a lot of the Republican voters who have turned out have left the governor's race blank. My impression is that Republicans will take most of the close races in the state except the governor's race. The only thing I can say is that there will be a huge Republican turnout for Marco Rubio, and then Rick Scott will ride the coattails. I have heard of a huge number of people who have abstained on Rick Scott.

...I voted for Rick Scott because vote for a Republican governor is bigger than a vote for the person this time around. That's what I've been explaining to the hesitant Republicans.

This impression is one I've gotten again and again when speaking with Florida Republicans. Scott's got a solid jobs plan, but his baggage is too much for them to bear.