Paula Dockery Ready To Enter Governor’s Race

Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum's hopes of an uncontested primary appear to be fading fast.  Paula Dockery, a Republican State Senator who represents the Lakeland area, is poised to announce her entry into the GOP primary for Governor.  According to reports, Dockery is lining up a campaign team and will make an announcement by the end of October.

McCollum, a former US Representative who has held public office in Florida for over two decades, has apparently failed to excite the Republican base at this point despite the efforts of GOP officials to promote him as the inevitable candidate.  McCollum's weak fundraising numbers in the last quarter--roughly $500,000--were easily eclipsed by the $1.6 million raised by Democratic candidate Alex Sink, the state's CFO.  The numbers appear to reflect what many Republicans have been concerned about--after two failed bids for the US Senate and a successful bid for Attorney General, Republican voters have grown tired of Bill McCollum.

Dockery became a folk-hero of sorts to many during the last legislative session by single-handedly defeating the 2009 Commuter Rail Legislation.  The bill, which was known as SunRail, was seen by many taxpayer watchdog groups as unfairly tilted towards the railroad industry and other powerful land holders.

With most GOP officials lined up behind McCollum's bid, it would appear that Dockery might face an uphill battle in her bid for the nomination.  At the same time, voter anger--particularly within GOP ranks--appears to be growing towards the "establishment", something that Dockery will no doubt seek to capitalize on to wage an outsider campaign.

Dockery's biggest asset in the race will be that she is not Bill McCollum.  At 48, she's younger and a much more dynamic candidate.  She has the ability to self-fund her campaign, something that will give her a jump-start as she seeks to play "catch up" over the next several months.

For those who are unfamiliar with Dockery, check out a video of her in action below.

Tags: Alex Sink, Bill McCollum, Paula Dockery

This entry was posted on Friday, October 9th, 2009 at 6:06 AM and is filed under State Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.