MyDD :: Chiles out of Florida Governor's race

Chiles out of Florida Governor's race

by FloridaD, Tue Mar 01, 2005 at 12:09:56 PM EST

TALLAHASSEE -- Lawton ``Bud'' Chiles III is dropping out of the governor's race, citing a provision in the state constitution that requires a gubernatorial candidate to live in the state for the seven years before the election.

Chiles, the son of the late governor, announced in January he was going to run for the seat being vacated by Gov. Jeb Bush. But he recently learned about the residency restriction and decided to drop out of the race, said Ron Sachs, a friend of Chiles and former communications director for his father.

Chiles, a Democrat from Orlando, moved back to Florida two years ago after living in the Northeast for about a decade. He previously lived in Tallahassee, where he ran a communications company.

Chiles planned to make the announcement at a previously scheduled speech before members of the AARP.

Bush can't seek re-election because of term limits.

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Wow (none / 0)

Good thing he didn't try and pull it off anyway, that would have sucked. Must have been another Dem that told him, as the Republicans would have held off. Anyway, he raised his name ID a bit, and can run again when he has met the requirement.

by Jerome Armstrong on Tue Mar 01, 2005 at 12:13:40 PM EST

DAMN!!!! (none / 0)

He was our best hope. Now they'll be clearing the field for Betty Castor.

by raginillinoian on Tue Mar 01, 2005 at 12:23:06 PM EST

Re: DAMN!!!! (none / 0)

Lawton Chiles was definitely not our best hope.

He isn't well know around the state, both because he has lived out of state for a while and the fact that so many of the residents of Florida moved here from other places in the 11 years since his Dad was Governor.

He also didn't seem to have any idea how to run a modern campaign. He planned to spend months walking the state, the same stunt his Dad used with success. However his Dad did it in his first race, in 1970.

Things have changed in 25 years. The netroots are more important than any walking tour. As far as I know Bud did not have a web presence and never talked about making the internet a focus of his campaign.

As for Betty Castor, I'll be shocked if she were to decide to run. She hasn't seemed very interested. That leaves us with Cong. Jim Davis and state Senator Rod Smith for now.

by FloridaD on Tue Mar 01, 2005 at 01:07:51 PM EST
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Re: walking tour (none / 0)

Don't discount a walking tour so quickly. The net is a good place for like minded people to get together, it has yet to replace FTF meetings, especially when you are trying to woo over the undecideds.

Plus, a walking tour is a free, feel good story on the local news. It let's you meet the folks that don't use a computer on a daily basis.

There are still plenty of people in the USA that rely on local news stations for their news, talk to people at their local church or coffehouse about politics, and don't get all their news from mydd, dailykos, smirkingchip, or talkleft.

by jd142 on Tue Mar 01, 2005 at 01:54:31 PM EST
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Re: walking tour (none / 0)

Agreed, but the way to reach those millions of voters is to raise money to pay for tv ads. Bud Chiles said he would limit contributions to $250 per person. He would never raise enough money to be competitive, and no matter how long he walked he would never meet enough people to get enough votes to win. Florida is a much different state, millions more residents, lots of people in gated communities, lots of people with no actual ties to the community. The way to reach those folks is advertising, and that takes money.

by FloridaD on Tue Mar 01, 2005 at 02:28:14 PM EST
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Re: walking tour (none / 0)

That's how Wellstone got elected to the Senate in 1990: walking and talking and sitting in cafes listening and riding around in an old, green schoolbus. As I recall, he only ran a grand total of two TV ads during the whole race. Don't knock a walking tour.

by craverguy on Tue Mar 01, 2005 at 02:33:39 PM EST
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Re: walking tour (none / 0)

Those Wellstone TV ads were absolute classics though, not the usual drivel too many uninspired political consultants try to pass off as professional work product.

by dicta on Tue Mar 01, 2005 at 03:32:16 PM EST
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Re: walking tour (none / 0)

I just was looking at the stats. 16% of internet users read the blogs everyday, from 66% of the population that gets on the internet, so we are at about 10% nationally that are engaged with the blogs.

I would write off a walking tour, look at how good that ploy went for Eric Fingerhut in Ohio.

by Jerome Armstrong on Tue Mar 01, 2005 at 06:24:12 PM EST
[ Parent ]

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