Lee's Struggles Continue - FOP Withdraws Endorsement, Endorses Randy Johnson Instead

The Fraternal Order of Police endorsed Senate President Tom Lee (see photo) in his bid for Chief Financial Officer back in 2005. In a dramatic and damanging turnaround, they have withdrawn their endorsement from the Hillsborough senator's campaign and thrown their support behind his opponent in the GOP primary, Rep. Randy Johnson.

All in all, this campaign has not gone well for Lee. He was expected to be the 800 pound gorilla in this race, but things are not falling into place for the Senator.

Johnson has not gone away, as he was expected to. In fact, he has been gaining momentum on Lee. First he won the endorsement of the Florida Profession Firefighters and now the FOP. Johnson has been campaigning aggressively on the issue of hurricane insurance and there is talk that the lobbyist community may direct their contributions towards him, rather than the Senate President.

Finally, there is an undercurrent of conventional wisdom which suggests that the Democratic candidate, Alex Sink, is slightly favored in the general election.