HERE'S MY TAKE ON SCOTT MADDOX

As I mentioned in a post earlier this morning, the past couple of weeks have not been kind to Scott Maddox. I shall not go into the details of what he has been through, but you can read them on my posts from June 22, June 23, June 24, June 28, June 29, and today.

Needless to say, as these various issues came up during his dual tenure as chairman of both the Florida Democratic Party and Leon County Democratic Executive Committee, there are a lot of pundits who are saying that Maddox should "pack it in" for this race; that he simply cannot recover from this amount of controversy.

Many would say that as the "captain of the ship" when these issues came about, Maddox is ultimately responsible for what goes on during his watch, directly involved or not, fair or unfair. It's certainly true that the person at the top gets to take the credit when things go well, but must also accept the blame when things don't.

I say: Don't count Scott Maddox out yet. And I say that being personally undecided on which of the three major Democratic candidates to support, as I still need to hear plenty more from all of them on issues that concern me.

His state comptroller/Leon DEC treasurer (she did double duty as well) screwed up, likely due to personal and professional stress added by her husband's diagnosis with being in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease and his eventual placement in a long term care facility. Most of the problems landed in her office, and she failed to either file the necessary paperwork on time (Leon County DEC) or notify Maddox of tax issues with the IRS.

Maddox is a young man with a charismatic presentation, and he can excite a crowd of liberal partisans almost as well as many televangelists. He's still the best known among the Democratic candidates statewide, and is still hauling in money in amounts larger than expected...the most important thing needed to maintain a successful statewide campaign. And...it's over a year until the primary. That means that in all likelyhood the "mainstream media" across Florida will turn to other campaigns and other candidates, unless some new controversy creeps into Maddox's camp.

Of course, the GOP will not forget, and will make a point of focusing on these issues if Maddox wins the primary and faces off against a Katherine Harris in November. But that's over a year away, plenty of time to perfect talking points and bounce off any possible questions, as well as reflect and remind voters of Mrs. Harris' role in 2000.

There's still a looooonnnnng way to go, friends.