Florida Capital News reports on yesterday’s court decision overturning a campaign-finance rule that would have provided additional public matching funds to Bill McCollum’s gubernatorial campaign.

An appeals court Friday barred Attorney General Bill McCollum from getting extra public funding when Rick Scott blows past the $24.9 million spending cap in their race for governor. […]
A three-judge panel of the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta ruled that Scott’s free-speech rights would be violated by the “poison pill” provision of Florida’s public-financing law. The judges overruled U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle of Tallahassee, who rejected Scott’s request for an injunction.
Opting out of the state’s public-finance program, Scott’s lawyers argued the state’s spending cap limited his protected political speech. […]
The law provides that once a non-participating candidate like Scott exceeds the limit of $2 per voter — currently $24.9 million — all candidates who qualify for public financing will get dollar-for-dollar matching money for what the wealthy candidate spends above the cap. That’s in addition to the regular matching money they would get anyway, for agreeing to limit spending.

Outspent four-to-one and with the latest polls showing his campaign trailing Rick Scott’s by as much as 11 points, Bill McCollum had a hill to climb anyway — and now he will likely have fewer resources to do it with.