Democrats Can Win Florida Governor Mansion

The latest Quinnipiac poll shows that Jim Davis leads Rod Smith 38-17 percent. What is even more interesting is that in a match with Charlie Crist - Rod Smith wins and Jim Davis loses. Screven Watson, Smith's advisor, made a great quote about Davis.

Screven Watson, an adviser to Smith, pitched the choice as "breath of fresh air versus more of the same" and likened Davis to the Democrats' 1998 nominee, Lt. Gov. Buddy MacKay. "If Rod Smith weren't in this race, you'd have people saying just what they were saying about Buddy in '98: "Nice man, would make a good governor, and we're going to lose by 10 points.' "

Another Buddy MacKay is not what Democrats need.

Katherine Harris is dragging down Florida Republicans in this year's race. The Quinnipiac poll also shows that President Bush is hurting Charlie Crist and Tom Tom Gallagher. Crist has the biggest name recognition and talk of inevitably. He is not pulling away from the lesser known Davis and Smith.

U.S. Rep. Jim Davis of Tampa and state Sen. Rod Smith of Alachua, both Democrats, are running strong, though four of five registered voters didn't know enough about either one to offer a positive or negative opinion, said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

"Nobody knows who the gubernatorial candidates are," Brown said. "That's pretty remarkable."

Let's stop the myth that Charlie Crist is unbeatable. Personally, I can't stand is flip-flopping on abortion.

Side note: Smith just received an endorsement from the Central Florida AFL-CIO.