GOP GUBERNATORIAL FRONT RUNNERS DEBATE IN POINCIANA

Attorney General Charlie Crist and his main Republican challenger in the governor's race, Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher, met last evening to debate the issues in Poinciana, a fast growing community that straddles the Polk/Osceola county line. GOP groups from both counties sponsored the event.

The candidates played nice for the 400+ in attendence, with Crist telling the audience at the beginning, "Tom is my friend. That's important to remember."

The two candidates seemed to agree more than they disagreed. Both came out against gun control, as well as a requirment for insurance companies wanting to do business in Florida and that offer property insurance elsewhere to do so here. Both also agreed that a constitutional amendment to make English the official language of the USA is not necessary. And, playing to the local audience, they support a hospital in the area (The Agency for Health Care Administration denied a request for a certificate of need to construct a 120-bed hospital in the community of approximately 65,000 earlier this summer after the application was challenged by hospitals in Haines City and St. Cloud. The decision is currently under appeal.)

Among the issues where Gallagher pointed out the two differed on was illegal immigration and what to do about it. As today's Lakeland Ledger reported:

Gallagher pointed to one difference between the two...saying Crist favors the bill the U.S. Senate is proposing that includes amnesty for illegal immigrants already in the country.

"I believe we must close the borders and stop the flow," Gallagher said. "Once the borders are closed we can decide what to do with the 10 million or 12 million illegal immigrants who are here."

Crist said he also thinks it is important to secure the borders, but made no reference to the amnesty question.

And taxing issues was another area that Gallagher focused on the differences:

"He's running a TV ad that says he'd never raise taxes," Gallagher said and then accused Crist of supporting a tax on sugar.

"For the record," Crist said, "I have never supported a new tax."

He pointed out that he did support making sugar companies help pay for cleaning up The Everglades from pollution caused by the industry.