Monday, August 30, 2010

Miami Herald: Why Rick Scott Won

Courtesy of POLITICO's excellent daily update Morning Score comes this report from the Miami Herald about Rick Scott's spending in his primary win over McCollum:

The average TV viewer in the Jacksonville area saw a Scott ad 198 times between April and the Aug. 24 primary. Viewers in Miami-Dade and Broward counties -- Florida's most expensive media market -- likely saw Scott's spots 150 times. In Tampa Bay and the Orlando area: 266 and 265 times, respectively.

In nearly every city, Republicans likely heard Scott's message via the $1 million he spent on conservative talk radio, frequently listened to by six in 10 GOP primary voters. That was on top of the one million phone calls placed to voters and the staggering number of glossy fliers -- 28 -- sent to more than two million GOP voters in general. The campaign specifically targeted soldiers overseas, women and even gun owners with specially designed messages.

Scott delegated so much responsibility to his advisors that, in the waning weeks of the campaign, he said he had no idea how much and where they spent his money on TV. In one case a media buyer plunked down a $105,000 check at a Tampa broadcaster's office and said: "We'll take whatever's available."

Scott advisors compared the strategy to ``the Colin Powell doctrine'' -- a reference to the military theory of employing overwhelming force.

Read the whole thing...

In other words, any reports of Governor Huckabee's decline (or irrelevance) due to the McCollum loss are greatly exaggerated. The amount Scott spent on negative advertising — almost all of which was his own money — approaches the point of ridiculousness.

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