Bud Chiles, son of the late governor Lawton Chiles, who had been running for governor and had planned to walk across the state like his old man did, has dropped out of the governor's race. It turns out that, though he's lived in the Orlando area since about 2000 or so, he doesn't meet the state constitution's residency requirement. To run for governor, you must have been a state resident for at least seven consecutive years. Prior to his return, Chiles had lived overseas managing an international relief charity.
Chiles has actual executive managerial experience, a good name, and seems like a decent fellow; though I don't know his politics he probably would have been a good participant in the primaries and possibly a good general election candidate and governor. Instead he'll probably bide his time, running against Mel Martinez or an incumbent GOP governor in 2010, though he might surprise (Ric Keller, are you watching your back?).
Unfortunately, now that the Dem governor's primary is down to two big names and no 800-lb gorilla, the party will have little sway in keeping others out. Castor, Deutsch, Jones, Penelas, Campbell, Maddox... we'll probably see any or all of them throw their hat in the ring in the next few weeks. As much as I enjoy watching a good free-for-all, unless cooler heads prevail the Dems will manage to lose the governor's race before the first votes are in.
No comments:
Post a Comment