Backroom Briefing: McMullin backers offer something to chew on
By JIM TURNER AND JIM SAUNDERS
THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA
THE CAPITAL, TALLAHASSEE, September 22, 2016.......... A Tallahassee food bank received hundreds of Publix muffins Thursday because the state's third-largest political party, in terms of registered voters, isn't on the November ballot.
Two of the more than 250,000 members of the Independent Party of Florida first brought the muffins to the governor's office hoping Gov. Rick Scott --- attending an event in Tampa --- would direct Secretary of State Ken Detzner to reconsider a decision not to include the Independent Party and its presidential nominee, Evan McMullin, on the ballot.
"We are hoping to have Gov. Scott just maybe rethink his position, and see that there are a lot of people in Florida who feel that they would like to have this option," said Michele Carmichael, a resident of the Gadsden County community of Havana and party member.
Meredith Beatrice, a spokeswoman for the Florida Department of State, said Thursday the agency followed state law in setting up the ballot, which lists candidates from six parties: Republican, Democratic, Constitution, Reform, Libertarian and Green.
"The Department of State applies the same process to all minor political parties as required by Florida law," Beatrice said in an email. "The Department of State did not have the authority to order the names of the candidates and permit the number of persons to be certified as electors according to the law."
Florida law requires the parties to be recognized nationally by the Federal Elections Commission.
McMullin has appealed the decision, but many county supervisors of elections are already printing their ballots.
The first ballots go out to overseas and military voters on Saturday. Vote-by-mail ballots will start going out Oct. 4 to residents in Florida.
Carmichael said she believes the move was made because McMullin, a former CIA official highly critical of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, will draw more voters from the GOP.
"The Independent candidate is a true conservative," Carmichael said.
As for the $500 worth of muffins, McMullin sort of sounds like muffin. A local outlet of a certain international fast-food chain couldn't fit a sizable McMuffin order in time, but party members brought along a handful of the egg, cheese and Canadian bacon breakfast treats.
After the party members delivered their message, they agreed, with the media in tow, to take the muffins to Second Harvest food bank.
TRUMP MAKES UP GROUND
McMullin might be highly critical of Trump, but the Republican nominee has made progress among Florida voters, according to a Suffolk University poll released Thursday.
The poll showed Trump leading Democrat Hillary Clinton by a margin of 45 percent to 44 percent --- a statistical tie --- as they battle for Florida's crucial electoral votes. Libertarian Gary Johnson was at 3 percent, and Green Party candidate Jill Stein was at 1 percent.
A poll released last month by the Boston university gave Clinton a 4-point lead.
"Hillary Clinton's support remains in the mid-40s, but she has lost her August lead because Donald Trump is aggregating previous undecided and Johnson supporters in his camp," David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center, said in a prepared statement. "One of the more striking findings is that Florida voters don't perceive Hillary Clinton as easy a winner as they did in August."
The poll of 500 likely voters was conducted from Monday to Wednesday and has a margin of error of 4.4 percentage points. It also showed Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio holding a nine-point edge over Democratic challenger Patrick Murphy in their high-stakes Senate race.
TWEET OF THE WEEK: "It is hard to believe we have a teenager in the Gardiner house! Happy Birthday Andrew! - AG." --- (@flsenate). Florida Senate President Andy Gardiner offers birthday greetings to his son, Andrew, who has Down syndrome and helped spur Gardiner's focus on issues related to people with developmental disabilities.
