The campaign team of Rick Scott, who is facing Attorney General Bill McCollum for the Republican gubernatorial nomination on Tuesday, feels good about the heavy turnout for early voting -- and says it bodes well for their candidate.

“Given that as of Saturday, Aug. 21 nearly 520,000 Florida Republicans had already voted by absentee or early vote, we expect overall turnout of at least 1.7 million in the Florida Republican gubernatorial primary,” said Scott strategist Tony Fabrizio in a statement on Monday. “This would represent roughly 41 percent of registered Republicans, a 70 percent increase over the 2006 gubernatorial primary. This is consistent with the increased turnout we have seen in Republican primaries across the country where outsiders have shocked the establishment candidates.”