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 Polls show the two in an expensive, neck-and-neck race for the
country's largest swing state, saturated in recent weeks by tens of
millions of dollars of negative TV advertising.
This time, both candidates took the stage on cue, avoiding another
repeat of last week's embarrassing debate-delaying squabble over a
cooling fan.
The debates have exposed a yawning political gulf between the two
candidates on issues including healthcare, gay marriage, climate
change, education and the minimum wage. As incumbent Scott is riding
the wave of economic recovery while Crist, a former Republican who
switched parties, faces the challenge of convincing Democrats he is
one of them.
Crist repeatedly called the Republican incumbent “out of touch” with
working Floridians, citing Scott’s waterfront mansion and personal
jet. He recalled how a hospital group co-founded by Scott,
Columbia/HCA, paid $1.7 billion in federal penalties for Medicare
fraud during his tenure.
Scott cited his impoverished upbringing and jabbed at Crist’s
“people’s governor” image by noting that Crist’s father was a doctor
who raised his family comfortably in the Tampa Bay area.
“When you’re somebody like Rick Scott and you have a private jet,
you fly 30,000 feet above people all the time, or you live in an
oceanfront mansion, you’re out of touch and you’re not feeling what
people are feeling at home,” Crist said during a discussion about
raising Florida’s minimum wage.
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Scott said that would cause about 50,000 layoffs, while Crist said
“the people deserve it.”
In an hour-long debate aired by CNN from Jacksonville, Scott told of
seeing his father unemployed and having his family car repossessed,
while Crist "never had to worry about money in his whole life."
Crist fired back, "I know you’re worth about $100 million or $200
million today ... God bless you for that wealth, Rick, but the way
you got it was pretty unsavory.”
Crist, who was elected governor as a Republican in 2006, said racist
attacks on President Obama helped his decision to leave the party in
2010.
“Charlie, you are a divider,” Scott snapped back. “You are a
mud-slinger, you are a divider."
(Editing by David Adams and David Gregorio)
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