How Florida's Republican Governor Could Cost Trump the Election

[babylonsister]

How Florida's Republican Governor Could Cost Trump the Election
Rick Scott is Trump's biggest booster in the state—and also maybe his biggest problem.

Pema Levy
Sep. 15, 2016 6:00 AM



The day after Donald Trump won the Republican primary in Florida, Rick Scott, the state's Republican governor, endorsed the New York businessman. Scott declared that it was time to unite behind Trump, writing in a Facebook post, "If we spend another four months tearing each other apart, we will damage our ability to win in November. It's time for an end to the Republican on Republican violence."

To many Florida Republicans, that must have smacked of hypocrisy. Scott, party insiders say, has perpetrated his own violence against the state party, sowing dysfunction in a once-formidable operation. Now, with Trump counting on the party organization to get out the vote for him in November, Scott could end up being responsible for Trump's defeat.

"The Republican Party of Florida is fractured and weaker than it has been in quite some time," says Aubrey Jewett, an expert in Florida politics at the University of Central Florida. "The problem for the Republicans is that there's sort of an every-candidate-for-themselves mentality right now, starting with Rick Scott."

It would be almost impossible for Donald Trump to win the election without carrying Florida. With polls showing a razor-tight race for its 29 electoral votes, FiveThirtyEight calculates that it's the state most likely to tip the election. Scott's support would, in theory, help put Trump over the top. Not only did Scott endorse Trump; he's also the chair and fundraising force behind a super-PAC supporting Trump nationwide.

snip//

Scott, an uberwealthy businessman, won his 2010 race by spending record-breaking sums, mostly on television ads. In 2014, he won a second term largely the same way. "He beat us two times in a row just by sheer force of money," says Schale. "But neither time did he really have an operation on the ground."

That's a problem for Trump. Scott can't offer Trump the kind of political machine that many governors can deliver. It's unclear how much he will campaign for Trump (or how much it would help, given his low approval rating). He may not even be helpful in raising money for Trump in Florida, since the super-PAC he leads is nationally focused. Perhaps the one thing Scott has gifted to Trump is a small dose of manpower: Three of his former staffers have taken top jobs with the Trump campaign.

Trump has openly rebuffed the idea that a ground game is necessary to win, in Florida or elsewhere. Karen Giorno, who until recently ran Trump's Florida campaign and briefly did event planning for Scott, believes the campaign will win on the basis of big rallies rather than door knocks and voter registration. "We're running a unique campaign in the sense that we can draw 15,000 people together at a time," she told the Tampa Bay Times last month. "There are over 40,000 people that we've touched in the last two weeks with just four events."

more...

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/09/donald-trump-florida-rick-scott-republican-party-election

[no_hypocrisy]

1. There also must be some lingering resentment connected to the way Trump treated Jeb Bush.

He may be out of office, but he's not forgotten.

[babylonsister]

2. Yes, excellent point. Meanwhile,

there's rubio with his lips firmly affixed to trump's ass.