TALLAHASSEE
Mimicking a move that propelled him from a political unknown to the governor of the nation’s fourth-largest state in 2010, Rick Scott is tapping his considerable personal wealth in a final, all-out bid to retain his office.
Gov. Rick Scott in July. (AP Photo / Wilfredo Lee)
Scott told WFOR-TV in Miami that he would be “investing” in his campaign in the last weeks of his race with Charlie Crist. It is already the most expensive and one of the most negative gubernatorial contests in the nation that has yielded a dead heat with the Nov. 4 conclusion looming.
Some $72 million has already been spent by Scott and Crist on television advertising alone through Oct. 20 — with the overwhelming majority of the more than 130,000 spots carrying a negative message, according to an independent analysis.
In 2010, Scott, a business executive who is the wealthiest individual ever elected as Florida’s governor, used more than $70 million of his personal fortune — which at the time was more than $200 million — to beat Attorney General Bill McCollum in a bitter primary and then defeat Democrat Alex Sink by less than 62,000 votes in the general election.
Scott had previously said he did not expect to use personal financing this year, although the highly competitive nature of his race with Crist has altered that equation.
Scott did not disclose how much he would be spending in the final weeks of the campaign. But he told the television station that it would be “a fraction” of the money he and the Republican Party have already raised. Democrats have suggested it could be in the range of $20 million. The funding will have to be reported by the end of the month.
Ironically, Scott, a multi-millionaire, said he is using his money to counter Crist’s support from a wealthy California investor Tom Steyer, who is funding the NextGen political group that is organizing voters and running negative ads against Scott. The group has spent an estimated $12 million questioning Scott’s environmental credentials.
“I’ve got to offset this smear campaign by this left-wing radical billionaire that’s friends of Charlie out of California,” Scott told WFOR-TV.
Crist said he does not think Scott’s financial move will alter the race.
“He’s trying to buy the office again. I don’t think it’s going to work this time,” Crist said. “I hope not for the people’s sake. I think he’s probably pretty desperate.”
Scott’s campaign said it’s Crist who is struggling.
“As Charlie Crist gets more and more desperate, it’s not surprising that Barack Obama has called in a liberal ally from California to try to bail him out,” said Greg Blair, a spokesman for the Scott campaign. “Crist and Steyer have a lot in common — hypocrites who are only capable of political stunts and false attacks.”
Scott also has not disclosed how the last-minute funding will be spent. Much of it is expected to be used on the negative television ads saturating the Florida airwaves.
Since the ad blitz began early this year, with Scott dominating the advertising war for months, the Republicans have run 86,771 ads through Oct. 20, according to the Center for Public Integrity, which is tracking ads and campaign spending nationally. The Democrats, who began responding during the summer, have countered with 43,361 ads.
The ad war has built a weeklong peak of 13,100 spots between Oct. 12-18, with heavier intensities expected in the final weeks.
Scott and the Republicans have spent $45 million on the ad war through Oct. 20, according to the CPI, with the Democrats at $27 million. The analysis notes those numbers are conservative, reflecting only ad purchases through Oct. 20 and do not include other campaign advertising such as the radio or internet ads.
Scott’s advertising advantage has had an impact on Crist’s popularity. In a March 20 poll from Quinnipiac University, Crist had a double-digit lead over Scott and favorability-unfavorability rating from voters of 49-30 percent. A Quinnipiac poll this week showed Crist with upside down favorability rating of 42-47 percent in a tied race.
Scott has never been popular, with favorability rating of 40-48 percent in the latest Quinnipiac poll. But his negative advertising barrage has managed to pull Crist down to his level, leading Quinnipiac pollster Peter Brown to summarize the race for voters as “the lesser of two evils.”
Crist said despite the spending and advertising advantage, Scott has not been able to pull away from him.
“What has he spent?” Crist said. “Fifty, $60 million and he still can’t get ahead.”
But Blair, the Scott’s spokesman, points to the Republican lead in returned absentee ballots, which is currently a 47-36 percent advantage over the Democrats with 1.2 million ballots returned.
“We’d invite him to take a look at ballot returns thus far and notice that he’s losing by double digits,” Blair said.
Rick Wilson, a veteran GOP consultant, said a final money surge by the Scott campaign could help the incumbent.
“Two things you’re running out of in any campaign: time and money. And having one can make up for the other,” Wilson said. “In this case we have a very short number of days left and being able to devote additional resources into either field (operations) or media (advertising) certainly, even in a saturated environment like we’re in now, is always helpful.
“Anybody on the other side who is saying ‘they’re desperate’ or whatever, believe me — if Charlie Crist could find a spare 20 million bucks, whatever the number is, he would happily spend it,” Wilson said.
Dan Gelber, a top adviser to Crist, said the Democrat’s campaign is not threatened by Scott’s decision to tap his wealth, arguing that Crist’s platform is more in tune with voters.
“Imagine where this race would be if we had the same amount of money,” Gelber said.
“He’s got a lot of money. He doesn’t have an argument. But money does matter in some respects. But we’re not penniless either and we also have a better argument.”
