The Florida's governor's race is off to a dull and boring start. And it appears that the conclusion won't be much better. The Democrats have three candidates, none of whom has caught the imagination of the general public. Janet Reno remains ahead in the polls. The high point in the campaign is her re-enactment of her Saturday Night Live dance party skit. This has gotten her national attention and a lot of free press. She has avoided taking detailed positions on anything except that she is for education, for kids and against bad guys. Darryl Jones, the African-American State Senator from Miami, has raised little money and has failed to generate much excitement. He wants to help the education system through public contributions. It looks to me like he is running to be the lieutenant governor on one of the tickets, most probably McBride's, as he and Reno are from south Florida. Bill McBride has raised more money and has been helped by the teachers' unions who have run TV commercials for him. He has a plan for education that is extremely detailed, but requires action by the Republican-controlled Florida legislature, which isn't going to happen. He is running a controlled campaign and, so far, hasn't attacked Reno. Jeb Bush has an incredible amount of money to spend and no primary opposition. What money the Democrats have will be spent in the primary leaving them with less than two months to try and raise enough money to run a competitive campaign. It isn't going to happen. No matter who wins the Democrat primary, Bush will be an easy winner in November.

However, there is going to be another winner in November besides Bush and that's Bill McBride. The McBride campaign has been devoid of any attacks on Janet Reno or anybody else. It is obvious that his best chance of winning the primary would be to go after Reno on her record. This hasn't happened and, in my opinion, is not going to happen. The reason is the McBride camp is smart, knowing that they are in a win-win situation. If McBride continues to run a positive campaign and loses, he has built his image state wide on a positive basis and is in a wonderful position to run four years from now. He will have the Democrat Party united behind him and will not have burned any bridges. If he continues to campaign on a positive basis and does beat Janet Reno, it will be easy for him to unite the Democrat Party and make a credible run against Bush. Again, even though he loses to Bush, he will have put himself in the front runner's position four years from now. Four years is a long time, but as Jeb Bush proved, that time can be used effectively to build a base even after a losing campaign.

This race looked at one time like it would be a referendum on George W. Bush and then September 11th came along and everything changed. This is no longer a "national race". This is no longer a referendum on George W. Bush. It is a race for governor in Florida with very few people presently interested and very little chance of drama. The winners are Jeb Bush and Bill McBride, who will survive to fight another day.

Lou Frey represented Central Florida in the U. S. Congress from 1969 to 1979. In his last election, he received 78% of the vote. He was elected one of five Republican leaders in the House of Representatives during the 93^rd and 94^th Congress. He served on...