It must be flattering to have people tug at you to run for office. But in the end, Joe Scarborough did the right thing for the right reason. If the fire isn't in your belly then the reason for running is not right. Joe received a lot of input from his former Pensacola constituents who were about 3 to 1 against him running for Senate according to a phone poll taken by the local ABC TV affiliate WEAR-TV.
Would you vote for Joe Scarborough if he ran for the U.S. Senate? 28% Yes 72% No
In reality, Joe would be a good candidate, a shoe-in in fact, were it not for the bad taste left in the mouths of his constituents over two things, his quitting 6 months after being re-elected, which also cost taxpayers money to have a special election to replace him, and his announcing that he would be working with the Levin Law firm. The latter being the home of Air America Radio host big-law type Mike Papantonio, a raging liberal in a law firm full of them.
Pensacola is unique in politics in that there are nearly as many democrats as republicans, but they have a conservative voting record producing conservative landslides of the kind that got him elected 4 times.
Had he made it known that he had left the Levin firm a couple years ago then things may have been different. It is or was a costly PR oversight. But this didn't come out until he spoke about it in an interview just a few days ago. That notwithstanding, his belief that if you have to be coaxed into running then you would be running for the wrong reason. Hats off to our 'regular Joe' for his candor. One reason he has been as popular as ever. The time isn't right for him now, but if he gets the fire in his belly to effect some change in Washington, Pensacola would once again support him.
Missing in all this hoopla is the cowardly or fearful attitude surrounding declared candidate Katherine Harris. Some republicans are afraid of the 'baggage' of the 2000 election. She did nothing wrong or illegal. The republicans need to stand up and support her and quit trying to duck the criticism that will come no matter who runs against Bill Nelson. The republican establishment, to their detriment, is too quick to discard good people under fear of the inevitable attacks that could be expected from the left. They need to find their backbone in cases like this. Although Scarborough will not challenge Harris for the Senate seat, the question remains will he support her?
Scarborough Won't Challenge Harris in Fla. (AP).  AP - Talk show host and former congressman Joe Scarborough said Saturday he had decided not to challenge U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris in the Republican Senate primary.
[Yahoo! News: Politics News]
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