On the heels of a new poll showing him leading the race for Agriculture Commissioner 31%-30% over Republican Adam Putnam, Democrat Scott Maddox is finally getting a chance to crow a little:
Since folks started to pay attention to this race, we’ve been considered by political pundits to be the underdog in the race to become the next Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Even our opponent, Congressman Putnam decided to tell the press we are running a “losing” campaign.
But the political conventional wisdom – and Putnam’s arrogance – just got turned on its head by a Mason-Dixon poll released today showing that we’re leading Putnam 31%-30%!
It’s also clear that Floridians don’t trust politicians who would jeopardize our natural resources and tourism economy by putting oilrigs near our beaches. I was the first candidate to oppose near shore drilling and have fought this bad idea from the very beginning.
Last week, I called on all the candidates running for the Florida Cabinet to sign a pledge saying they will never vote to allow drilling near our beaches, which Putnam refused to sign. In fact, he reaffirmed his support for offshore oil drilling just days after the Deepwater Horizon went down. That’s why people just don’t trust Congress to solves Florida’s problem. And they don’t seem to trust Congressman Putnam.
The opportunity for us in this race is that according to Mason-Dixon, 39% of voters remain undecided. When faced with my pro consumer positions vs. Putnam’s record of being in the pocket of big oil, credit card companies and Wall Street, we know who they’ll choose. Now we just need to make sure we have the resources to let that 39% know who will really fight to protect them.
