Looking at the ballots from Pinellas, Hillsborough, Pasco, Citrus and Hernando counties, the most striking trend is the large number of Republican primaries. Not 20 years ago, the party of the elephant was lucky if it could scratch up a single candidate in some counties. The Republicans have a primary in the U.S. Senate race. Charlie Crist of St. Petersburg is going to win. His opponent, Andy Martin, has been slightly inconvenienced by spending part of the campaign in jail.
Democrats have primaries only in the attorney general and education races.
In Pinellas County, something like 1,950 people are running for four seats on the School Board. Well, okay, there are only 14 candidates. But that is a lot more than any other county, which is clear evidence that people in Pinellas do not have enough to do. A good example of Republican versus Republican is in state House District 43, covering Citrus and northwest Hernando. A challenger named Richard Corcoran is trying to kick out state Rep. Nancy Argenziano.