Ruh Roh. It looks like Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum's ludicrous, backwards, racist-tinger, taxpayer dollars-wasting lawsuit against the federal government over health care reform is already backfiring on him. Instead of giving him traction in his race to be Florida's next governor (please God no!), Republican McCollum's lawsuit has caused the race to tighten against his likely Dem opponent, Florida CFO Alex Sink.
A new Quinnipiac poll out today shows that McCollum's lead over Sink has shrunk to four points, 40 percent to 36 percent. McCollum's lead is down since Quinnipiac's last poll of the Florida governor's race in January, when McCollum had a 10-point lead, 41 percent to 31 percent.
As it turns out, a major factor in McCollum's sinking lead (no pun intended) is his bogus lawsuit against the federal government over health care reform. Turns out that people other than the wingnut-crazy tea partiers aren't too happy about this BS move. Who would've thunk it?
McCollum has been the front runner in the race to replace Gov. Charlie Crist since August but, according to the poll of likely voters conducted April 8-13, he's not getting much traction among independents with his plan to sue the federal government over its healthcare reform package.
Voters say, 54-40 percent, that it's a "bad idea" for McCollum to file a lawsuit challenging the plan, and they say, 38-28 percent, that it makes them less likely to support his bid for governor. Among independents - the historically crucial voting group in Florida - the idea is particularly unpopular: 41 percent oppose the lawsuit challenge, while 27 percent support it.
"Florida voters mostly disapprove of the healthcare plan, 48-44 percent, but trying to stop it in court is not a political winner for McCollum, at least at this point," said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.
With Dems outnumbering Repugs by about 700,000 voters in Florida, any Republican who wants to win a statewide office in Florida has to rely on independent voters, so these numbers don't bode will for "Howdy Doody" McCollum.
I've met McCollum several times through my professional responsibilities, and he always came across to me as a fair-minded, decent fellow (if not the brightest bulb in the box). But after this lawsuit, my view of him has changed for the worse - significantly. Now, I never would have voted for him anyway, but I suspect that many people who had a similar view of him that I did and may have considered voting for him have also been totally turned off by McCollum's HCR lawsuit fiasco. The strange thing is that McCollum doesn't have a serious primary opponent, so his decision to step over far, far to the right to appease the batshit-crazy teabaggers is especially baffling. Someone is giving him some BAD advice.
But all the better for Alex Sink, who should be Florida's next governor. Here's hoping that Bill McCollum is one of many Repugs who sink their careers by tying themselve to the wingnut fringe of the party.
Donate to Alex Sink