by Javier Manjarres

This past Friday, I completed my travels on the Rick Scott for Governor Bus tour that started off in Miami and ended in the panhandle. Day 1 and Day 2 of my trip are already documented and Day 3 took the tour to Clearwater and Tampa. The day started very early when Scott bolted to an early breakfast, then to a couple of other mid-morning meet and greets, before  his lunch engagement in which Hillsborough GOP Chairwoman Debbie Cox-Rousch introduced Mr. Scott, and where State Senator Paula Dockery joined him on his bus tour.
That same morning, we released the video of Mr. Scott supporting Marco Rubio, as well as the video of him stating that he would be forgoing his Governor’s salary if elected Governor.  Just to clarify, the videos posted before and during Rick Scott’s purported ‘gaffes’ at those earlier events. I was not present at these early morning and mid-morning events, but I was present at the lunch event.

So in all fairness to the parties that are questioning my objectivity, I am posting up what was reported by my colleagues earlier that day.

1. Rick Scott is being accused of  making a gaffe, not a ‘maccaca’ moment, when speaking about education, as reported by the St. Pete Times.

2.The Palm Beach Post also reported that Scott said,”Marco’s lost his momentum.”  The Scott campaign confirmed that he did say this but, in all fairness, what was the context in which he said it?  Regardless, Scott did make that comment.  So what does Scott really think of Marco Rubio? Rick Scott Supports Marco Rubio (VIDEO)

3. On Day 1 of the bus tour, there was an issue with the campaign and a local TV reporter, when the reporter questioned Mr. Scott’s mother on tape. I did not join the bus tour until shortly after this incident, so I can only go by what I was told and what is on tape.  See the story here: WPLG Local 10

Rick Scott and AG Bill McCollum are still locked in a war on the airwaves, and both camps seam to have sharpened their attacks as we approach the August 24th primary. From the looks of it, Scott has surged ahead in the polls and has very strong momentum, but McCollum is benefiting from a number of  important endorsements he has received, and seems to have great support from the veteran Republican leadership and grassroots behind the local REC’s.

This past Friday night, I flew back to Fort Lauderdale and drove up to the opening of the Palm Beach GOP Victory office opening,which was more like the McCollum HQ, because of the amount of literature and collateral that was distributed around the office. Because I flew in so late, I missed AG McCollums remarks to the crowd. But from what I was told, AG McCollum show some great ‘pep-in-his-step’ when he addressed the guests-something I have personally noticed that past several times I have seen him speak.

From what I saw, the overwhelming majority of the people in attendance were supporting McCollum for Govenor, including Representative Adam Hasner and Palm Beach GOP party boss Sid Dinerstein. To be fair to Rick Scott, I spoke to a good dozen or so people that were quietly supporting him. What is most important to me- and seemed to be a prevalent feeling amongst the Republicans that I spoke to–was that they will support whomever wins the primary.

This race will no doubt go down to the wire, and we can expect that both candidates will pull out all the stops to win. The candidates have finally agreed to two debates, the first on being on August 5th.