IS MADDOX STAYING IN, OR...

You really don't hear a great deal from Scott Maddox's gubenoratorial campaign, and there have been some rumblings heard that he may not be long for the race.

He missed a political conference over the weekend in Tampa by the Florida Education Association while his two main Democratic rivals were there working the crowds. He told the St. Petersburg Times that he had planned to attend, but caught a stomach bug. Maddox was campaigning in Broward County Monday; he and members of his fundraising team say the former Tallahassee mayor and state Democratic Party chairman is not planning to drop out.

Maddox's campaign has been behind in raising money, and it seems that from reading this piece in The Buzz, the Times' political bug, that the Maddox campaign is preparing everyone for another soft quarter by noting that he has been encouraging everyone to help the hurricane relief effort instead.

I get the feeling that once the quarterly financials are released soon, the rumblings will get louder, and Maddox will be out of the race by year's end.