by John Kennedy
The News Service of Florida
The Florida Republican Party’s newest supernova, gubernatorial nominee Rick Scott, blazed Monday across Central Florida on a party unity tour with legislative leaders and a star-studded fly-around on deck.
After events in Tampa and Orlando with incoming legislative leaders Rep. Dean Cannon (R-Winter Park) and Sen. Mike Haridopolos (R-Merritt Island), Scott rolls Tuesday through Miami and Jacksonville, with former Gov. Jeb Bush and Republican Governors’ Association chairman, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, on board.
But while the self-styled political outsider basks in the glow of party insiders, Scott also is preparing to create an instant celebrity of his own. Scott must choose a running mate by Thursday, under state law.
Sen. Paula Dockery (R-Lakeland) opened selection week by announcing she was not interested in the job, ending speculation fueled by the political mashup of putting a pair of mavericks together, one a woman who could balance a ticket for a fall campaign against Democratic nominee Alex Sink and her lieutenant governor candidate, former state Sen. Rod Smith.
Whether Dockery was ever deeply in the running mate running is not immediately clear. But she did say she offered some advice to Scott over a Sunday evening dinner in Tampa with the candidate and wife, Ann.
“I do think it’s going to be a woman that he chooses,” Dockery said. “And it’s got to be someone who shares his same vision of the direction he wants to lead this state.”
Jen Baker, a Scott spokeswoman, agreed with part of Dockery’s analysis.
“There’s a lot of criteria involved,” Baker said of the running-mate search. “We’re not going to engage in speculation. But foremost, it’ll be somebody loyal to his agenda.”
Scott has pivoted his campaign around creating jobs, cutting business regulation, and shrinking the size of state government. A central plank of his campaign platform, and a recurring television ad, is his support for an Arizona-style law cracking down on illegal immigration.
Scott lost South Florida to rival Bill McCollum in last week’s primary, including dropping populous Miami-Dade County by an almost two-to-one margin in light turnout that was seen as an angry response by Hispanic voters to both Republican candidates’ support for tougher immigration laws.
That’s added heft to talk of such prospective Scott running mates as Rep. Anitere Flores (R-Miami), seen as a shoo-in for a state Senate seat, or Rep. Juan Zapata (R-Miami), who is term-limited and a Scott supporter since even before the former health care executive declared his candidacy in April.
Zapata downplayed the possibility Monday, telling the News Service of Florida that the two men have spoken plenty of times and the lieutenant governor’s job hasn’t come up.
“He’s obviously facing a deadline and I would think he’s throwing as wide a net as possible,” said Zapata, board member with the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials. “I do think he needs someone who knows how Tallahassee is wired. A woman makes sense. But I think Central Florida, the I-4 area, makes sense as a place to look.”