Through the years, Republicans have vocally opposed public funding of campaigns at all levels. This year Rick Scott has opted not to abide by public financing limits and will spend as much as needed to retain his hold on the Governor’s seat while Democrat Charlie Crist agreed to take matching funds. No Republican statewide candidate has a primary, yet all Republican cabinet members agreed to abide by public financing limits and followed the state’s guidelines to accept public money. Pam Bondi, Jeff Atwater and Adam Putnam all submitted their documentation by the state’s June 27th deadline and received checks on July 25th, despite the public fact many Rs are vocal in opposition to the public financing campaigns.
Even though Democrats are almost always behind in fund raising, strangely not a single Democrat running statewide received matching funds the day it was available. This just seems like a bad news all around and once again, questions the idea that Democrats are prepared to take on Republican challengers. Nan Rich received her public financing a week later but to this point Charlie Crist, George Sheldon and Perry Thurston have not gotten a dime from the state. Crist was late with his documentation while Sheldon and Thurston were likely late as well. Rich was late but not as late as the other three, meaning despite missing the deadline, her campaign stands out among Democrats as the most organized on this issue.
All four Democrats have primaries and yet evidently did not submit their paperwork in a timely manner to the state. The question needs to be asked why all the Republicans were organized and structured enough to get this done in a timely manner, while the Democrats were not? Is the a failure of the party not informing candidates as to deadlines and procedures for accepting matching funds. Is this similar to qualifying when House Republicans sent out a memo to all candidates about qualifying procedures and House Democrats did not leading directly to the Reggie Fullwood debacle. (CORRECTED: WE HAVE OBTAINED A HOUSE VICTORY MEMO THAT DID INDICATE QUALIFYING PROCEDURES)
Considering Democrats are going to be heavily outspent this election year, it seems absolutely shocking that the party’s statewide candidates would not be all over the free money. The cash infusion from the state means a lot more for every Democratic candidate because of the huge money gap, yet apparently no campaign was organized enough to take advantage. Republicans took full advantage of this and were timely in filing. While this is one of the many issues in state-wide Democratic campaigns, this one seems wholly preventable and avoidable.
Florida Democrats have enough trouble as it is competing in the arena of finance and organization. But this situation has exposed simple campaign flaws that plague democrats and each has made it into the mainstream press. It is more of a shocker given the whiny nature of some many Democrats about money and financing of campaigns. Assuming public financing remains in place, Florida’s Democrats should be much better about accepting free money.
The Florida Squeeze 
Maybe it is because like the full wood situation the division of elections is run by Scott republicans looking to trip up democrats. Nan Rich got her $$$ before Crist or Thurston/Sheldon for that matter because she is being run by Scott.
They have held up the Democrats paperwork while accepting the Republicans paperwork. This is a common tactic by this Scott administration.
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Only in Florida does the democratic party accuse the republican party of being behind the only democrat in the race. NPA for life, and that’s why.
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Stupid!
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This is all on the campaigns and a total embarrassment. No one to blame other than the candidates and campaigns themselves.
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Republican shinanigans.
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No republican plot. This comes down to structure and organization. The republicans have it we don’t. It is simply meeting deadlines. We didn’t and they did.
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“Democrat,” I would appreciate your giving the source and documentation for the accusations you make. If you have no proof, you are just slinging mud.
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This is embarrassing. Should the party have some sort of way of notifying and reminding candidates about this?
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Bingo!
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This is really unacceptable. Embarrassing for the party. It is amazing no urgency among these campaigns. This comes down strictly to organizations, administrating and executing. Crist, Sheldon and Thurston have all proven they cannot do it.
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This is very telling about the state of the party and many of our campaigns.
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Getting matching funds is relatively easy if you keep your accounting practices in order. I remember this from the Davis campaign. It is very simple. So what we have is a bunch of Democratic candidates who haven’t been keeping campaign reports in proper order this whole time.
This is very disappointing and shameful. It is a very bad sign for the fall.
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The reason they failed to get their paperwork in on time is because the FDP fired J. Ryan, who was the paperwork guy that kept all candidates aware of their deadlines and fundraising.
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