Competition good for Republicans

State Sen. Paula Dockery's decision to challenge Attorney General Bill McCollum for the GOP gubernatorial nomination may upset the party's elders, but the competition will be good for the Republican rank and file.

Party bosses would have preferred a quiet primary devoid of infighting, but Republican voters neither need nor want a fait accompli. With Dockery's entrance, the issues will be vetted, and voters will have a choice between two qualified candidates to take on Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink of Tampa, the likely Democratic nominee for governor, in the general election.

Dockery joins former Agency for Health Care Administration Director Holly Benson as the second candidate in a week to shake things up for the Republicans. Benson announced her candidacy for state attorney general and will fight Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottcamp, the establishment choice, for the nomination.

All of this competition should be good for the Republicans, who have held power in Tallahassee for more than a decade. But the party of late has seemed cautious and regimented. Some competition could breathe new life into the GOP.

Just look at what former House Speaker Marco Rubio has accomplished in his effort to overtake Gov. Charlie Crist in the Republican U.S. Senate primary. Although Rubio doesn't have Crist's money or name recognition, his challenge is making things interesting.

The same thing could happen with Dockery.

She has a long way to go in this campaign. She doesn't have the name recognition of her primary opponent, who has run statewide three times. But neither does she have McCollum's baggage.

The former congressman twice lost campaigns to be a U.S. senator. Though he's been an energetic attorney general, he probably always will be remembered for his harshly partisan role during President Bill Clinton's impeachment.

Dockery has been in the Legislature since 1996, having spent six years in the House before moving on to the Senate in 2003. She is an astute lawmaker and popular with her colleagues. She is a fiscal conservative and champion of agriculture but also a strong environmentalist.

We know Dockery to be a smart and tenacious fighter. Although a proponent of rail as a transportation alternative, she almost single-handedly stopped the state's deal with CSX Transportation to sell 66 miles of freight track near Orlando for commuter rail.

She studied the proposal and determined it represented a threat to taxpayers and to her hometown of Lakeland, which would end up with more freight lines running through its downtown.

She didn't like the way the deal was developed largely outside the legislative process and thought the $1 billion-plus price tag was too steep. She convinced her colleagues the plan exposed the state to unreasonable financial risks if an accident were to occur along the commuter line, and for two legislative sessions in a row she kept hold of the votes she needed to kill the plan.

McCollum so far has a big fundraising advantage, having collected $1.9 million. But Dockery comes to the race with seed money of her own and the promise of many well-wishers to open their pocketbooks.

Florida voters, in any event, can be pleased that all three candidates in the governor's race are capable and experienced.

But if Dockery is successful in overturning the GOP elites' carefully orchestrated plans, Florida can look forward to a historic contest that would determine who would become the state's first female governor. And the choice would be between two women from the Tampa Bay area.