Formalities aside, Scott, Crist in the race


By JIM SAUNDERS
THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

Forget suspense. Rick Scott and Charlie Crist are in the race for governor.

The Republican incumbent governor and his leading Democratic challenger formally qualified Monday to run in what will be a nasty, big-bucks campaign. The sniping between the Scott and Crist camps has been building for months, and qualifying was one more reason to unload on each other.

Before Scott and Crist can throw down in November, however, they will have to win party primaries.

Two Republicans, Yinka Abosede Adeshina of Tallahassee and Elizabeth Cuevas-Neunder of Sarasota, qualified Monday for the GOP primary. Democrat Nan Rich, a former Senate minority leader from Weston, is expected to qualify today. Also waiting for the winners of the primaries will be a Libertarian candidate, with Adrian Wyllie of Palm Harbor qualifying Monday.

State candidates are required to qualify this week for the 2014 elections, with the qualifying period starting at noon Monday and running throughnoon, Friday. Primariles will held Aug. 26 with the general election Nov. 4.

The three incumbent Republican Cabinet members — Attorney General Pam Bondi, Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater and Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam — quickly qualified on the first day. Their challengers had not qualified as of a  listing on the state Division of Elections website.

Also, dozens of legislative candidates qualified Monday.
The Senate qualifiers included Boca Raton Republican Joseph Bensmihen, who will run in District 34 in Palm Beach and Broward counties. That will be one of the most closely watched legislative districts in the state, as former Sen. Ellyn Bogdanoff, R-Fort Lauderdale, hopes to unseat Sen. Maria Sachs, D-Delray Beach, in a rematch from a 2012 race.

But Bensmihen’s entrance into the race ensures that Bogdanoff, who had not qualified Monday afternoon, will face at least one Republican primary challenger. A financial disclosure filed as part of qualifying indicates Bensmihen has several business interests in South Florida, including home-health care companies.

Also qualifying Monday was Sen. John Thrasher, a St. Augustine Republican who is widely considered the leading contender to become president of Florida State University. 

As it remains unclear how long a muddled university search process will last, Thrasher qualified to seek re-election in Senate District 6, which includes all of St. Johns, Flagler and Putnam counties and part of Volusia County. Also qualifying for the race were fellow Republican Derek Hankerson and no-party-affiliation candidate Greg Feldman.

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