Campbell Leads in Race for Attorney General

Democratic State Senator Walter "Skip" Campbell (seen in the photo with Miami Mayor Manny Diaz) holds a slight, but significant lead in the race for Attorney General. In the most recent public poll, he leads with 41% of the vote to 36% for former Congressman Bill McCollum.

When McCollum entered the race, he quickly raised significant campaign monies and cleared the field in the Republican primary. His wide name recognition from campaigns for the U.S. Senate in 2004 and 2000 gave him a seemingly insurmountable advantage.

Unfortunately, he has not been nearly so successful as the GOP might have hoped - and a big reason is because what most Floridians remember about McCollum is voting against him. In 2000, he lost to Bill Nelson in the general electino and in 2004 he lost to Mel Martinez in the GOP primary. In both campaigns, he developed a reputation for negative attacks and hard-line conservative image.

24% of the electorate is still undecided, but because McCollum is already a known commodity, he will find it difficult to win them over. Undecided, traditionally, break for the lesser known candidate because the better known candidate has already had significant time to win them over and failed (in McCollum's case, six years and two statewide races).