Alex Sink, the top Democratic contender in the governor's race, may be the biggest beneficiary of the costly slugfest between GOP primary candidates Bill McCollum and Rick Scott.
Sink, of Thonotosassa, is serving her first term as the state's chief financial officer, the only political office she has held. Before that, she worked for 26 years in banking and business, becoming chief of Florida operations for Bank of America.
"I've seen just enough of state government to know that the partisanship and special interests are even worse than you think, and I'm fed up with it," Sink says in a video advertisement. "I want the wasteful spending cut; I want the corruption out the door; I want this economy to grow."
She is the wife of Bill McBride, who ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2002.
Her campaign has raised $7.3 million in contributions, including $1.1 million last quarter - enough that Sink declined last month to accept public campaign money for the time being. Expected to win the primary easily against lesser-known challenger Brian Moore, Sink has nearly $5.8 million in the bank.
Moore is a health care management consultant from Spring Hill who ran as the Socialist Party's candidate for president in 2008. He ran as a no-party candidate for the U.S. House in 2002, as a Democratic U.S. House candidate in 2004 and as a no-party candidate for U.S. Senate in 2006. At the end of last quarter, he had raised $3,175 in contributions.
Moore said in an e-mail that he is the best qualified candidate in the race to turn around Florida's economy.
"Everything from a non-profit state banking system, to a single-payer health system, to mass transportation, to manufacturing a new generation of solar cars, I will generate and save money, and not have to tap into the state budget," he wrote.
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