In an attempt to pull black and women voters away from his political rival, Republican nominee for Governor Rick Scott has selected the only black Republican in the legislature. As Whitney Ray tells us, Democrats say they’re not worried, because candidates, not race or gender will win the election.

In a move that some say smells of political calculation and insider strategy, self-proclaimed outsider Rick Scott picked a running mate to help pull votes from the other side.

Scott won the Republican nomination by labeling his opponent and party officials as the ultimate insiders. But just days after the election Scott made nice with the party and now he’s named a legislator and former department head as his running mate.

Scott picked Jennifer Carroll Thursday. Carroll could pull black voters and women away from Democratic Alex Sink, although Sink’s not buying it.

“I think people, when they go to vote, they are passed all these gender and racial issues. They are really looking at the candidates,” said Sink.

One in five Florida voters is black, but just two percent of them are Republicans.
Republican strategists say Carroll brings more to the ticket than just her gender and race. They say her service in the Navy and years as a small business owner will play well in the campaign.

But one part of her story she won’t be telling on the campaign trail is how she made headlines in 2004. Carroll told GOP insiders that Hillary Clinton should take in a play at Ford’s Theatre, the same sight where President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated.

“That was not my inference nor was it my intent, that was the reporters spin,” said Carroll back in 2004.

Carroll does bring a North Florida presence to the Republican ticket; also her son is a Miami Dolphins football player which could attract some fans to the polls. Carroll is a member of the NAACP and the NRA. In 2009, she was named legislator of the year by the Florida Veterans Service Association. She’s 51 years old and has three sons.

An early morning explosion in the Gulf of Mexico is sending shock waves all the way to Florida’s state capitol.

An oil rig exploded just west of the infamous Deepwater Horizon explosion. There is still no word on whether or not the well is leaking oil, although a 100 foot wide sheen can be seen on the water near the site of the explosion. Governor Charlie Crist, who fought for a constitutional ban on offshore oil drilling in Florida, was still catching up on the news when we caught up with him around noon today.

“We’ll I heard the same news. I think some of the details are yet to be revealed. We don’t know what all the facts are, but obviously it’s very disturbing to hear about anything like that. We hope that nobody was hurt, but I’m sure we’ll no more in a few hours,” said Crist.

This second explosion comes just one day after Florida House Speaker Larry Cretul told members there was no need for a special session to address issues related to the first explosion, which forced thousands of fishermen and tourism workers out of jobs. Supporters of a special session are using the incident to renew calls for returning to Tallahassee.

A Republican State Senator is going against his party and opposing a constitutional amendment weakening class size restrictions.

Many supporters of smaller classes are now supporting lifting some of the restrictions because there’s no money to get it done. Senator Alex Villalobos says the strictest phase of Class size could be easily implemented if the state legislature funded schools better.

“I’ll be traveling the entire state and letting people know what this is about. Number one it’s about money and less money going toward education and number two it’s about, the people have already spoken and they have said that they want smaller classes,” said Villalobos.

Villalobos is leading a campaign called No on 8. There’s also a lawsuit to kick the amendment off the ballot that will be in court next Wednesday.

As of right now, voters will be asked to vote yes or no on six proposed constitutional amendments in November. There were nine, but three placed on the ballot by the state legislature were ruled misleading, and removed. As Whitney Ray tells us, the issues taken off the ballot dealt with healthcare, property taxes, and the drawing of legislative districts.

Medicare recipient Bob Root doesn’t hide his distaste for the new federal health care laws.

“A majority of people didn’t want it to begin with and I think this state ought to have the authority to opt out,” said Bob.

Bob wanted to vote in November on an amendment aimed at blocking part of the regulations in Florida, but the Supreme Court ruled the ballot language drafted by the state legislature was misleading.

Besides health care, the high court also kept two other legislatively backed amendments off the ballot. A tax cut for first-time homebuyers, and an amendment thwarting proposals to limit lawmakers’ power when redrawing districting.

“You go around the state and you see a district that starts in West Palm Beach and goes over to the Naples area; that just doesn’t make any sense,” said Ron Meyer.

Former Democratic lawmaker and candidate for Chief Financial Officer, Loranne Ausley says the legislature is out of control.

“Time and time again they put things up and the Supreme Court says no. We take an oath to uphold the constitution; we probably need to be looking at that a little more closely as legislators are passing bills,” said Ausley.

The decision to keep the three amendments off the ballot comes just days before the printing deadline, but one amendment effecting school children will be on the ballot no matter what’s decided.

Next Wednesday a judge will hear the case to remove an amendment easing class size restrictions, which means it could be ruled misleading, yet stay on the ballot. If a judge removes the amendment after the ballots have already been printed, voters can still fill in a yes or no circle next to the amendment, but the outcome will have no impact on state law.

Parents, teachers, and administrators are signing a petition denouncing a strict merit pay system for Florida teachers.

The petition drive was launched this morning at the state capitol by former lawmaker and Democrat for Chief Financial Officer Loranne Ausley. The petition is meant to thwart future legislation like Senate Bill 6 which was forced through by the legislature against the wishes of most teachers. Governor Charlie Crist vetoed the bill, but state lawmakers have vowed to bring it back. Ausley is calling out the Republican CFO candidate, current Senate President Jeff Atwater for his role in passing Senate Bill 6.

“My opponent Jeff Atwater still supports SB 6 and his fellow Tallahassee politicians are promising to bring it back in 2011, well I’m here to say not on my watch,” said Ausley.

Ausley is asking Atwater to sign the petition. We called and emailed Atwater’s campaign but no one has called us back.

Independent candidate Bud Chiles is expected to drop out of the governor’s race tomorrow, according to a news release from his campaign manager. Early polls showed Chiles getting 20 percent of the vote, but more recent polls show him pulling less than 10 percent. Chiles said last week he didn’t want to be a spoiler, and with the leak of his resignation both sides are beginning to claim his resignation will help their candidate win. Democratic Candidate for Chief Financial Officer and longtime friend of the Chiles family, Loranne Ausley says Bud’s resignation will help Democrat Alex Sink.

“We actually spoke yesterday. I’m close to the Chiles family. I am 100 percent an Alex Sink supporter and I’m pleased to hear that it looks like Bud might be moving this way,” says Ausley.

Shortly after news of Chiles pulling out reached the blogs, an email began circulating claiming a majority of Chiles supporters voted for John McCain in the 2008 Presidential Election, and Chiles bowing out will push voters to Rick Scott. Still Chiles is expected to endorse Sink.

Incoming college freshmen are finding out their Bright Futures Scholarships don’t go as far as the scholarships given to the upperclassmen. High school students are finding it harder to win the waning award. As Whitney Ray tells us, the SAT requirements to receive a Bright Future scholarship are increasing in an effort to save the state money.

High School Senior Tori Bradley scored a 12-80 on her SAT: more than enough points to land her a full Bright Futures scholarship,

“It’s going to pay for a lot of my undergraduate, because, I’m going to have graduate school to pay for,” said Tori.

The scholarship program was started in 1997, with a few thousand being awarded the first year; now 170-thousand students are receiving Bright Futures.

The scholarship program costs the state more than 400-million dollars last year, but lawmakers have a plan to shave a 100 million off the cost by raising the standards. Board of Governors Chancellor Frank Brogan says the program is getting too expensive.

“If I were going to give any student advice today, middle school, high school, or even elementary, I would say start working for that Bright Futures Scholarship now,” said Brogan.

To qualify for the full award students must score a 12-70 or higher on the SAT. For the class of 2013 the standards will be raised 10 points. The qualifying standard will top off in 2014, when students will have to score a 12-90 for the top award. Senior Chris Hill scored a 13-20, but is still disheartened to see the standards go up.

“It’s still just a bad situation for students where they are going to have to continually increase every year because that’s going to be difficult and the test isn’t going to get any easier,” said Chris.

In 2008 the average SAT score in Florida was 993, good enough for a partial scholarship now, but not for the class of 2013. The standards are going up even more for students looking to land a partial Bright Futures scholarship. Right now students can get 75 percent of their classes paid for if they score a 9-70 or better by 2014, they’ll need to score a 10-50.

Just a week after accusing him of fraud and spending millions of dollars on that message, the GOP troops are falling in line behind their nominee Rick Scott.

Scott beat party-backed Bill McCollum in last week’s Republican Primary for governor. McCollum is still holding out his endorsement, but almost every other GOP leader is backing Scott. Jeb Bush is expected to eat dinner with Scott tonight, in an effort to show party unity. Florida Democrats aren’t buying it. Chairwoman Karen Thurman says the Republicans are still divided.

“They are out there for themselves and that has been proven by their lavish spending, through their credit cards, that has been proven through the fact that they can’t come together at the end of an election and feel good about themselves. It’s a sad day for them,” said Thurman.

But Republican leaders say it’s a happy day. After spending 50 million of his own dollars, Scott is enjoying a “rock star” status and has agreed to raise money for the party.