After steering a moderate course through the gubernatorial election campaign, would Democrat Alex Sink make a hard left turn as governor?

Sink's post-election transformation from a middle-of-the-road Democrat to an Obama-style progressive could make one of the most intriguing political turnabouts of the year, and a close look at her position papers reveals a possible roadmap.

Superficially speaking, Sink stresses her business experience at Bank of America and her reform-oriented agenda as the state's chief financial officer. Her TV ads and campaign appearances burnish an image of nonpartisanship and moderation.

That airbrushed strategy, twinned with fierce attacks on Republican rival Rick Scott's own business record, has enabled Sink to avoid the political pitfalls that have engulfed Democratic officeholders this year. Sink presents herself as a new Democrat somehow different to the dysfunctional rabble in Washington, D.C.

The effect can be intoxicating. After viewing a recent Sink-Scott debate, incoming state Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, came away thinking, "Gosh, she sounds more conservative than I am."

But beyond the pleasant sound bites about reforming government and reining in spending, Sink's core principles appear to be more Keynesian than centrist.


ADDING UP THE NUMBERS


Undergirding Sink's agenda for reviving Florida's stagnant economy is the belief that more, not less, government spending is the key to prosperity.

In just three policy initiatives listed on her website, Sink would spend more than $12 billion in public funds. (Price tags are estimates from legislative budget data.)

• On transportation: Supports extending high-speed rail line to Miami. Price tag: $9.2 billion.
• On education: Wants to boost K-12 spending to 61 percent of general revenues and bring pre-K outlays to the national average. Price tag: $2.4 billion.
• On state employees: Favors raises for state workers by bringing payroll expenditures per resident to the national average. Price tag: $575 million.

Nowhere does Sink say how she would pay for these ventures, and her campaign staff did not respond to Sunshine State News' request for comment. But Sink stands by her claim that she will save the state $700 million in the first year of her governorship.

If the numbers don't add up, that hasn't fazed the Tallahassee press corps, which has thus far given Sink a pass on her fuzzy math.

Such inattention to details helped grease Charlie Crist's ride to the governor's office in 2006. A consummate politician, Crist deftly manipulated public opinion into believing he really was all things to all people.

Campaigning as an honest heir to Jeb Bush's legacy, Crist went wobbly after taking office. Lurching leftward on social and fiscal issues, the man once known as "Chain Gang Charlie" eventually tacked himself right out of the Republican Party.

Will Alex Sink serve Gov. Charlie Crist's "second term"? It's hardly a far-fetched proposition.

Sink, who sits with Crist and Attorney General Bill McCollum as  trustees on the State Board of Administration, has at times behaved more like a feckless bureaucrat than a hard-nosed businesswoman. On Sink's watch, the SBA's ill-advised flier on a New York real-estate deal went belly up and lost the state pension fund its entire $266 million investment.

The CFO also passed the buck when she granted waivers to felons to sell insurance. And, along with Crist, she has done little to resolve the financial problems faced by Citizens Insurance -- a quasi-public concoction that skews the private market and puts Florida taxpayers on the line for hundreds of billions of dollars in liability.