Florida: the state of sunshine, oranges, Stand Your Ground laws, and Disney World. Florida’s gubernatorial election will be held this Nov 4, and if the debate between the Democrat and Republican candidates was any indication of what is to come, the biggest losers during this campaign cycle will simply be the citizens of Florida.
On Oct. 15, Democratic candidate, Charlie Christ took the stage for the gubernatorial debate. There was only one problem, his opponent, Rick Scott, refused to participate. Christ stood behind the podium in front of a crowd of people and moderators for almost eight minutes before Scott stepped on stage. Scott, meanwhile, was protesting the fact that Christ had a fan underneath his podium despite the fact that the rules stated that candidates could not bring any electronics to the debate. Of course, Democrats capitalized on Scott’s embarrassing hissy fit. The incident was dubbed “Fangate” and Jon Stewart had a field day. Florida voters, meanwhile, were left with a stark reminder that they’re facing what might be two of the least-appealing gubernatorial candidates in the country.
Rick Scott: Republican
Republican incumbent, and Voldemort look-alike, Rick Scott has had his fair share of snafus during and before his time as Florida governor. In 1997, Scott resigned as Chief Executive of Columbia/HCA Healthcare, the country’s largest chain of hospitals, due to allegations of fraud. Three years later, the company pleaded guilty to defrauding the government and overcharging on Medicare claims. The government recovered $1.7 billion in the largest recovery ever reached by the government in a health care fraud investigation, according to the Department of Justice. Though many, including a former accountant at Columbia/HCA Healthcare, claimed that Scott was aware of the fraud occurring within the company, he was never charged with any crimes.
He is also extremely unpopular with those who work in the education sector. The first bill he signed into law as governor redesigned the method by which teachers are paid. With a new strong reliance on standardized testing, teachers would be rated based on their students’ performance on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test. His unpopularity is marked by the fact that a 2011 Quinnipiac University poll found that Scott had the lowest governor’s approval rating in the entire country.
Charlie Christ: Democrat
Christ served as Florida’s governor from 2007 to 2011, choosing to run for U.S. Senate instead of reelection as governor. Generally well liked, he had high approval ratings when he left office. There’s only one problem—he was an anti-gay marriage, gun loving Republican.
After losing the Senate primary race to Marco Rubio, he miraculously emerged as an Independent. After publicly supporting President Obama’s economic stimulus bill in 2010, he began to lose traction among Republicans. Though he was still registered as a Republican, Christ ran for the Senate as an Independent. Two years later, his beliefs evolved yet again. He announced that he was now a Democrat on the most popular outlet for liberal news—Twitter.
“Proud and honored to join the Democratic Party in the home of President @BarackObama,” he tweeted.
Though Christ claims to have shed his Republican ways, he still has to deal with backlash from his conservative past. In 2006 and 2008, he supported the Federal Marriage Amendment, which would have constitutionally defined marriage as between one man and one woman. Today, he states that he is pro-gay marriage. During his 2010 Senate campaign, he repeatedly stated that he was pro-life. That is, until he lost the Republican nomination and subsequently removed any mention of abortion from his campaign website. As everyone who has ever been on the Internet knows, if you delete something from your website, no one will find it again.
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