Davis: 'I was simply overwhelmed'

Jim Davis gave a final news conference in Tampa on Wednesday, saying he felt his campaign elevated important issues but, in the end, could not compete with the Republican money machine.

"I salute Charlie Crist on his win, but the amount of money spent in this campaign was dramatic. Governor-elect Crist and the Republican Party raised and spent almost $50-million in the general election and despite that, finished with just a 7 point margin," he said. "Yesterday was a day that many Floridians stood up and said, "This is about us; it's not about the money.' But it just wasn't a majority."

Davis said he had no regrets. "The only thing I would have done different was try to get the election moved a week later."

Davis, who returns to congress next week, hinted he intends to remain in politics. "I have relationships with a lot of wonderful people around this state - Democrats, Republicans or independents who believed in me. And I haven't stopped believing in them. After I get things settled at home, I'll have some time to think about my future."

- Photo by Associated Press

Comments

The Sentinel Picture was better ... all you can see of the sign behind him is "over" ...

Way to go Jimbo. You couldn't leave on a high note from last night's graciousness. You had to get all whiney and make excuses. Bye bye now squinty.

[Will]

They are all whining. Did you hear Skip Campbell? Ridiculous.

Remember John Kerry, he said talk radio and fox news caused his loss. Yea right, how about his personality, his 8,000 gaffes and many other things.

[terminator]

$40 million dollars could tend to do that.

Actually, I think Jim Davis ran a very credible campaign.

I think everyone and all the unions figured Rod Smith had it in the bag.

If I were the Dems, I'd have Davis-Jones lined up for 2010.

Reminds me of Jeb's narrow loss to Chiles in 94 and subsequent triumph in 98.

If Crist has an "uneventful" four years or opts for greener pastures on the national stage, it could happen.

Of course four years is like light years in politics.

Maybe Jim should start a foundation or something to keep him busy in the interim.

[Will]

Termie,

Did you say narrow loss? Jeb lost by 2% in 1994, and did not have to run against Chiles in 1998.

Davis lost by 7%, in a very democrat heavy year. If this was 2004, Crist would have won by 9%-10%. Davis has no future in the governorship.

It seems that you can indeed buy a governorship, senators seat or council position. Throw enough cash at the idiot box and you will win.

I would support legislation that removed political ads from television completely. This is where the majority of the money is spent. Or perhaps just put a cap on the amount a candidate can spend on the campaign. Make the cap some mathematical portion of the voters registered for the office being sought. Say for example .50 for each registered voter in the area the candidate is seeking office for. (just an example)

Just divide the amount of money any candidate recieved by the number of votes they got in the election and you will see how much each vote cost them. It is sickening from all sides.

Included in the legislation could be a provision that candidates are not allowed to mention their opposition in any way shape or form on any advertising.

That would stop the negative campaigns and make voters actually learn something about the people they are voting for rather than just sitting in their La-Z-Boy scarfing down a bowl of Ben and Jerry's while watching CSI when a political ad happens to come on.

Do the math Terminator...

what a sour guy!

charlie beat him in every aspect, not just fundraising.

mackay, mcbride, mcdavis.

Just FYI

Charlie Crist paid 15.95 for each of his votes

Jim Davis paid 2.30 for each of his.

Both were too much in my opinion.

s/b Davis: "I was underwhelming."

6:18

Did you see the debates? Did you see ALL the polls of who won the debates?

Crist just threw money at the race.

Memo to Jim: You by no doubt were the most qualified candidate to represent the state, however many people still think where they go to the bathroom.

If the southern part of the state were a separate state you would have won.

With that said we wish Charlie the best and will work to make Florida a leader amongst the states.

The people have spoken and will keep speaking. The "Bushes reign of terror" has come to an abrupt halt and the American people have reason again to believe in the future. Scare tactics and fear monging are a thing of the past...happy days are here again. And yes, women too can be leaders..go Mrs. Pelosi! and get used to Hillary she has more brains and brawn than the whole Bush, Rumfeld and Cheney cabal put together. Lynn is an awful disgrace even though I like her books. Respectability needs to be returned somehow to the GOP - we need a 2 party system. Checks and balances are the cornerstone of the republic which just happens to be more democratic at this time.

Unity is the futute, division is in the past. Let's talk about America again and not refer to it as the homeland as Hitler once did when referring to Germany.

6:32

Standing O for you! Well spoken!

Maybe Jim should just do what floridians do. Show up for work now.

I could see a successful Davis vs. Martinez race

Mr. Davis was not absent from his job any more than Mr. Crist was from his.

Man I wish you guys would understand that.

Mike

Davis could do Senate, but he wanted to get back into the Florida system. Many people forgot that he was a state representative for 10 years prior to being a US congressman.

Yes he was in the state house before the US house. Look at the mans voting record during his entire 20 years of service to the people of Florida in both offices and then...put a lid on the missed vote stuff. It is lame.

The glass was more empty...now it is more full!

Oh, the wisdom of youth. 6:03 - no tv. Where the hell will people get to see who is running? On this blog? No? Trust the newspapers to give good fair coverage to all comers??? Limit to 50 cents per voter??? Good way to insure that only the incumbents with name recognition win. Try again.

[Robert C.]

Re: 4:57

Jones-Davis would be better. And Jones-Anyone would be better than that!

90 days till Crist Gets outed..Kotkamp for gov..Softpink boots

[Will]

6:27

For Charlie you included the RPOF money, for Davis you did not. Davis raised about $7 million dollars, FDP added $5 million to it. Crist raised $19 million, RPOF added $8 million to it.

Crist is around $10.50 per vote
Davis is around $6.00 per vote

So what if its a lot of money, people donate, and people run on issues, and people win. Deal with it.

[Soothsayer]

Yep, Crist will be outed very soon, and we'll have Governor Jeff "Rebel Yell" Kottkamp, a guy who I've never even heard speak, and I'm a political junky. Then Rod Smith will smash Kottkamp in 2008 59-41%. Jim Davis runs and beats Mel "I haven't done a damn thing in 2 years" Martinez in a close U.S. Senater race in 2008, 51-49%.

RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman outed as gay on CNN's Larry King Live.

[3kidsCatholic]

I am amazed by all of the gay bashing, racist, dumocrat bigots on the Buzz Blog.

How do you all live with yourselves and work for your beloved dumocratic party?

The COMPLETE story for this election cycle has yet to be truly written.

Florida, and specifically Hillsborough County, bucked the national trend and fought back the dems by bringing out the base.

The RPOF 72 Hour program in Hillsborough County, pulled out stunning victories for Charlie Crist, Gus Billarakis, Mark Sharpe, McCollum, Bronson, Kevin Ambler, Rose Ferlita, and MANY others. We did it without the full support of all the evangelicals and the participation of the Tampa Haters down in South Hillsborough County.

We are NOT NEO-Cons! We are normal, rank and file, working people, some rich, some middle class, but all great Americans.

We STOMPED DoNothingDavis and the Bull Dozer, the old fashioned way, we worked for it!

We made more phone calls, put more signs out, bought better advertising, recruited better harder working volunteers who walked most of the neighborhoods throughout Florida. We raised more money, and then spent that hard earned money on better advertising and better gimmicks to get MORE name recognition and our message out there in front of independents and swing voters.

MOST of all we had Charlie, the MOST genuine likeable, down to Earth politician in Florida. No matter what they trew at Charlie he had an answer for everything. He worked harder than any candidate I have ever supported. Must have been the RED BULL!

Mountain Dew CODE RED kept me going everyday, not Starbucks latte like the dems.

Charlie will change Tallahassee. Charlie will change Florida. Charlie will change the GOP. He will lead the trek back to the bedrock of Reaganesque principles and values.

Less taxes, less government, more freedom!

There is NO dumocrat mandate in Sunny, Florida! The GOP won and still controls Florida!

How about the Maestro?!!

What a performance! Great Job!

Seems like George owned Karl Rove just like he owned Brett Doster this year.

Live it up NOW, it may not last forever. Just remember Lee Atwater and Ed Rollins, they won and lost many big elections over their careers.

[TPAHummer]

Any CHAIRs in that picture of Davis?

How much money did the davis camp spend on imported consultants? There sure were cars from every state in the union at that office on Himes.

Where were all of the 527s for JIMBO?

Where did all of the thousands of volunteers go to? Were you all just using the Davis headquarters as a phone bank for other states?

[3kidsCatholic]

Let's take a poll here on the BUZZ Blog.

What will Do Nothing Davis do after losing the campaign to Charlie Crist.

A) Run for Tampa City Council
B) Run for County Mayor in Hillsborough County
C) Set up a Lemonade stand on Davis Island
D) Start a new career as a CHAIR Salesman
E) Join a LOBBYING firm in DC
F) Go to work for Frank Sanchez

http://www.donothingdavis.com/

Where's Jimbo? Surplus chair from outgoing politician, Ebay Item number: 150055219216

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=005&sspagename=STRK%3AMEBI%3AIT&viewitem=&item=150055219216&rd=1&rd=1

Don't you think it's ironic that the Republican Party bases so much of it's platform as being "the traditional family values party", and always utilizes wedge issues such as gay marriage to hurt Democrats, when so many Republican politicians and their operatives are themselves gay? So far we have RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman, Mark Foley, Ted Haggard, Charlie Crist (also many of Crist's campaign staffers), plus many more gay Republicans yet to be "outed". Be sure to watch Bill Maher on HBO Friday at 11:00 PM. He's going to name names- a large list of in-the-closet-gay Republicans. It should be interesting...

"Oh, the wisdom of youth. 6:03 - no tv."

Thanks, I haven't been called young since I voted for Nixon.

Remember the earlier years of politics when debates and mailers and public rallies got the job done without the gobs of cash spent on horrible TV ads? That's what I was hoping for. More real contact with the candidates, less sound bites.

I saw Reagan speak at Al Lang field. That was magical.

I first became aware of Mr. Davis when he was walking door to door in his first bid for the state house 20 years ago. How long has it been since a politician has walked a neighborhood? Granted it is not practical in a statewide campaign, but have any of you ever had your state legislator or county commisioner knock on your door?

Oh yes...

Check the campaign fund report totals...then get back to me with your adjusted tally. I did, my numbers are accurate. Both are absurd.

I don't care if Crist is gay. I care what he will do for Florida. He talked a good show, now it's time to perform. I hope he can pull it off.

My main concerns about him were

1) He owns no property. He wont even invest in the state he wants to govern, and knows nothing of property taxes or homeowners insurance.

2) He harped on Davis' missed votes when he was away from his desk just as much, if not more.

3) He has no family or kids in the school system. He doesn't know what it is like to have a child study for an FCAT exam.

4) He said that special interest tax breaks being repealed was a tax hike. that is just twisted logic.

5) He said nothing on the Terrie Schiavo case in public. I don't believe he did privately either.

6) He received too much money from the insurance industry to make me feel comfortable.

Those were my issues with Mr. Crist

7:37

Is there any part of my proposal that you feel has any merit, or do you feel no funding reform is needed?

Say we allow TV ads (they are indeed good to reach lots of people as you noted). But what if we dont allow them to mention the opposition at all and force them to be about the candidates position on issues instead.

Im not trying to be combative, that is not in my nature, i'm just thinking aloud what might be done. I feel the system is in need of repair. If you don't, thats cool. I just thought we migh have a real discussion on funding reform or if it is needed.

The government is deeply in debt and yet look at all the money thrown at the elections nationwide. Somehow that just seems wrong to me.

Maybe i'm just old fashioned but I feel a candidates support (no matter the party) should come from individuals.

[moderate]

I still say Rod Smith would have fared better in this race.

The Dems would have voted for him anyway, and he would have gotten more crossover votes from Rs that didn't like Charlie, but were too scared to vote for Davis.

9:47

I suppose that is possible but one must wonder why US Sugar would pump so much money into a candidates campaign...in a primary no less.

7:49, the problem with much of what you suggest is you trample on freedom of speech rights. that goes for a candidate's right to say what he wants and also for an individual's right to say what they want about an elected official.

have you ever driven on us27, 9:52?

10:12 Point taken. Any ideas of what CAN be done? Don't you feel it is out of control?

10:40 Yes I have. But Im not sure I get why big sugar would dump buckets of money into a particular candidate unless they thought he would favor them or that his opposition would not favor them. That was my point...I think. :)

6:03,
Building on 10:12, it's also trampling on freedom of speech in telling people who they can or cannot give their money to. It doesn't matter what occupation that person has, or if a group of individuals comprise a corporation and give money in the corporation;s name. A political party is not a government entity, but, at its core, is merely a group of like-minded individuals who pool their resources to support candidates like them. Again you cannot ban funding from parties without trouncing on the members' freedom of speech. Furthermore, matching funds from government are imperative since they are designed to help candidates who cannot finance campaigns out of their own pockets. If we had no governmental funding, we would be represented only by the rich and others would have no chance at all. Finally, although the amounts spent on campaigns seems staggering, why does it matter? Certainly that money could be better spent elsewhere, but who's to say that people would donate that money to good causes instead of to candidates? If it's just because you're annoyed by commercials, then turn the channel -- we don't have the ability or the right to demand that television only show what we want to see. The idea of banning mentioning a candidate's opponent in campaigning is simply ridiculous. First of all, negative ads work. Secondly, what if an opponent had a huge criminal record and this never came to light because his opponent was barred from mentioning anything about him? American voters must be informed about the candidates they are to choose between, even the negatives, and no candidate is going to volunteer the negatives himself. I'm not saying that the system cannot be improved, but I don't think your proposals would do it.

11:07

Points taken.

What can we do then? Place caps on contributions? I believe there are some in place already. I know there are for individuals.

Im just looking for answers. Along with the freedom of speech comes a responsibility not to abuse it. I saw many negative ads (not just the Crist/Davis race) and some looked close to slander. I believe many candidates, in both camps, crossed the line this election, and I believe the line is moving all the time.

In two more years we will see more of the same...only worse.

What can we do to get the candidates to tell us more about what they WILL do that what their opponent has done wrong? How can we stop a candidate from winning an office just because they saturate the airwaves with negative ads?

Lets speak in a bi-partisan way because I believe this is a bi-partisan issue. Both camps do this. I remember a time when this was not so. We still had good and bad elected officials then so it is obvious that the process as it is currently is not helping "weed out" the bad candidates.

What can we, as citizens do to help get back to the days of politicians stumping for their platform, not against the other guys? And what measures can be taken to assure that someone doesnt win just because they have more money behind them?

Any answers? Suggestions?

How about eliminating the TV ads for two weeks prior to election day?

See, the problem now is that the system is open to abuse. A well funded candidate can flood the airwaves the weekend before election day with negative ads that are twisted, untrue or misrepresentations of the opponents position and the other candidate has no time to respond or refute.

The press cant reach the number of people necessary in time to clear the mess up either. A two week ban on political ads would allow time for all negative ads to be heard and responded to before election day.

Sort of like the coach can't challenge a play in the last two minutes of a football game. :)

Any merit in this idea?

If you think the system is OK as is, just say so. Im not going to go postal, I like a good civil discussion.

I think that's a fair, honest introspective on Jim's behalf.

I actually thought Jim ran a good campaign within his means. He did well in the debates, handled the personal attacks well, and I loved Daryl Jones as his running mate.

The reason he didn't win was two-fold: First, he was outspent. Because face it, Republicans are the party of big business, and big business has the big money to donate to their candidates. Democrats raise moreso on the grassroots level, which is more noble, but in the end it just won't go as far. And the extraordinary amount of money allowed Crist to advertise every commercial break possible and get his name out, whereas Davis just didn't have that luxury. In a state with a lot of persuadable independents and undecided, that's going to put you at a natural disadvantage.

Second, in a year where Republican and Republican policy were roundly rejected nationwide, Crist was able to posture himself palatable enough to independents and nominal Democrats to buck the trend. Crist has always fancied himself a moderate, even during the primary election, and thus escaped the vitriol that conquered many of his party-mates. The question is how he will handle himself as Governor. And even as I was a strong and vocal Davis supporter, I hope for the best from Crist and a much more reasonable and rational tone coming out of Tallahasee than what we've seen for the past eight years.

Some may dispute this, but I really think had Davis been facing Jeb Bush instead of Charlie Crist, he might very well have pulled it off, money disadvantage or not. Jeb Bush is a much more divise and acid-tongued figure. Factor in that his last name has become more and more synomymous with ineptitude the past few years, and the fact the national Democratic party probably would have put more of an effort in to unseating the President's brother (as opposed to a relatively moderate and middle of the road state attorney general) Davis could have pulled an upset.

But I don't think Jim has anything to be ashamed of. Many Republicans on this board were predicting Crist to win with a 10, 15 or 20 percent margin. Now don't get me wrong, 7 points is a solid win, but all things considered Davis gave it his all. I hope he continues to be involved in politics and public life, and I commend him for a job well done.

Moderate--

I don't think Rod Smith would have done better against Charlie Crist. The theme of the 2006 elections was a revolt against the hardline Republicans of the President's ilk. Crist was a moderate who would have still attracted independents and undecided.

Now I think both Davis and Smith would have done better against Gallagher, because I think that race would have put it more in line with the national trend, a national trend which went strongly Democratic.