Columns

Itty-Bitty Postscript on Polls, Reporters and Rick Scott's Story

By: Nancy Smith | Posted: March 21, 2013 3:55 AM

Around the State

How true, how true, Peter Brown. In trying to explain the governor's pre-election predicament during a Wednesday morning press conference, the Quinnipiac University polling guru so hit the nail on the head.

“The jobs numbers in the state are getting better but Rick Scott’s job approval isn’t," Brown told reporters. "Now we have 20 months until the election and one assumes that Mr. Scott will use his considerable resources to remind voters of what’s happened under his watch and he may have a good story to tell. But at this point, he’s not getting it through.”

I nearly fell off my chair.

Of course, he's not getting through.

Check out this video of Scott's meeting with the press just one day earlier.

The governor had good news to tell. Exciting news. News that screamed "I'm over here, guys -- SUCCESS STORY!"

Florida had just registered an unemployment rate of 7.8 percent, below the national unemployment rate of 7.9 percent for the first time in five years.

Watch him deliver the news, then watch what happens afterward when he turns it all over to the press for questions. Does a single reporter care about the good stuff? Anybody want to hear more? Not in Tallahassee. Not if it comes from Rick Scott.

Press folks in the company of this governor move right along to controversy, as they did here. Not that they used any of their questions or the governor's answers in a story, by the way.

So, getting back to Peter Brown's statement: He's right, Rick Scott is not getting through, and he won't.

Absolutely Scott will have to use his "considerable resources" to tell his story. What choice does he have? And when he does, watch the mainstreamers throttle him for throwing his millions into "negative" TV ads.

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Video Credit: Dave Heller

Reach Nancy Smith at nsmith@sunshinestatenews or at (850) 727-0859.

Tags: News, Peter Brown, Quinnipiac University polling, Rick Scott, Columns

Comments (6)

Bill Cotterell

8:28PM MAR 23RD 2013

Nancy, all the job figures had been reported on Monday. The governor's news conference in Orlando was covered completely, with news that the state's unemployment rate had fallen below the national average for the first time in five years, I believe. This press "gaggle" was the following day, when Gov. Scott recapped what he'd said the previous day. The questions dealt with actions occurring the same day, at the Cabinet meeting 20 minutes earlier and in legislative committees that morning.

bakersacres57

3:01PM MAR 21ST 2013

Too funny, Republican't pollsters not good enough? Rick Scott is bad history, no chance at reelection. By the way , the economy is turning around, no thanks to you Tea baggers.

Repubtallygirl

11:11AM MAR 22ND 2013

The same was said about Barak Obama.

bakersacres57

11:32AM MAR 22ND 2013

What?, tea beggers have a hard time with reality. Read any poll on the popularity of the tea baggers. Maybe 20%.

RepublicanConscience

7:51AM MAR 21ST 2013

If Rick Scott needs a replacement for Carroll which I doubt, it should be someone who is not living off the taxpayers. Their thinking is corrupt. He needs someone with proven business skills. Craig Miller, CEO of Ruth Chris Steakhouse comes to mind. But there are a number of people business men he could tap, who know how much the regulations and government are screwing up the businesses of Florida and could augment Rick Scott's efforts to fix the system.

The poll is bogus since no one knows the players. Quinnipiac is the worst, most biased, left wing Democrat machine organ, and I would not trust it one bit. It is a liberal college, hiring indoctrinated liberal student sot take the polls. Could it not be biased?

Frank

10:32AM MAR 21ST 2013

Ahhhh . . . . . what's the matter . . . . a couple of polls not displaying the truthiness you can believe in . . . . . has Ohio gone for Romney yet . . . . yes, all polls not showing our valiant Rick Scott leading, especially over that evil Crist person, must be "bogus" and part of the "most biased, left wing Democratic machine organ" . . . . yes, you just keep believing that . . . . just like you did for Romney right up to the end . . . . . . wouldn't want to burst that delusion for you in your tender state . . . . . .

Pathetic . . .