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Challenger's Gambit Pays All Summer

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By TOM JACKSON

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 24, 2008

For a guy whose name recognition approximates the balance in his campaign treasury - each is ominously low - this much must be said on behalf of Robert Sullivan, long-shot candidate for Pasco County sheriff: He has an instinct for insurgency.

Staggeringly overmatched in almost every meaningful category, Sullivan, the retired vice and narcotics unit chief, has nonetheless skillfully created headlines at a steady pace by noting shortcomings (real or imagined) in the incumbent, Bob White.

First it was sheriff's office cars inexplicably going home with nonemergency personnel. Then it was White's practice, scarcely unique or scandalous, of naming honorary deputies. Now it's Sullivan's invitation, since turned into a complaint, to engage in a series of town-hall-style forums in advance of the Aug. 26 primary.

Can you say "win-win situation"? As a political gambit, Sullivan's throw-down is nothing short of genius. Well-worn genius, perhaps, but genius nonetheless. Like feeding Michael Jordan at the top of the key, trusting Tom Brady on third and long or investing with Warren Buffett, the underdog challenger's demand for debates is the gambit that keeps on giving.

Bravo, Sir; Deftly Played

It's a total no-brainer. If White accepts, he promotes his challenger to the stage he earned by winning two elections. If White declines, the challenger plays the what's-the-sheriff-afraid-of? card.

Naturally, and perhaps wisely, White refused. You don't survive 30-odd years in law enforcement without being able to sniff out an ambush. The town hall brand may carry an air of everyman nobility, but they are, in fact, deceptively easy to pack, stack or otherwise influence.

That said, if Sullivan is half the politician he has so far proved to be, he had to know White would reject the plan. In fact, he probably was counting on it. Like the small-town kid whose homer wins the baseball championship and a summer of free cheeseburgers, Sullivan can live off his town-hall scheme darn near till Labor Day.

Well done, Lt. (retired) Sullivan. Expertly played.

Issued in conjunction with the close of qualifying last week, when reporters were certain to be paying attention and eager for fresh fodder, the invitation to debate elevated Sullivan's candidacy above the routine process of stories about who's in and who didn't make it.

Ignoring The Ignorable

The most likely problem for Sullivan, however, even beyond his daunting deficits in resources and marketing Q Score, is that he's playing to an audience, Pasco Republicans, scarcely predisposed to anger or dismay about White's tenure. Recruited to acknowledge dignitaries, officials and candidates in the crowd at the Reagan Day Dinner a few weeks back, prohibitively popular Property Appraiser Mike Wells noted Sullivan's presence and, not three minutes later, announced "Florida's greatest sheriff, Bob White."

That's gotta hurt.

Sullivan also should know this: Incumbents ignore those whom their poll-takers say can be ignored. If the insurgent had traction, White would not have been emboldened to characterize Sullivan's proposal as "typically the request of a candidate who has no money or no support."

Nonetheless, it's impossible not to admire Sullivan's grit, resourcefulness and eye for playing the free-media game. Count This Space among the appreciative.

Tom Jackson can be reached at (813) 948-4219.

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