Plans for statewide TV coverage of the proposed final debate between Rick Scott and Bill McCollum were scrapped when Scott balked over the details and declined to attend. McCollum showed up at WKMG’s studio Wednesday anyway, and held a candidate forum instead.
Sans opponent, and without flying attacks to dodge, the one-man debate actually hit the issues, with McCollum touting his “Reagan conservative” record — starting with his legal challenge to the Obama health care bill.
“Seven minutes after President Obama signed the health care bill into law, I filed a lawsuit in the federal district court in the northern district of Florida to have it declared unconstitutional,” McCollum said. “In the enumerated powers of the Constitution where they give Congress certain powers and they reserve the rest for the states, there’s no place in there that says that Congress can pass a law that says if you’re just sitting at home watching your television set, that you have to buy a product, like a health insurance policy, or pay a penalty.”
McCollum also discussed his education plans.
“We need merit pay,” McCollum said. “We need a system that rewards good teachers and inspires them, because we need to dramatically improve our schools — not just because we want to better educate our kids and grandkids, but because it’s important for me, as the next governor, to be able to lure industry here.”
Like Scott, the media were largely absent from Wednesday’s event, so it hasn’t received much play. But if you want to know where McCollum stands on the issues, then take a look at the full half-hour video.