Rick Scott's pick for running mate doesn't look like GOP insider

So what does state Rep. Jennifer Carroll bring to Rick Scott's gubernatorial ticket?

Probably not as much as a Hispanic Republican from Miami-Dade would have. Scott doesn't need any help in conservative Jacksonville, where Carroll is from, but the primary showed he's weak in vote-rich Miami-Dade and among Hispanic voters.

Critics are already scoffing that Scott diminished his outsider status by picking a veteran legislator and party insider. He criticizes politicians for failing to tackle Florida's economic policy woes and then picked as his running mate the chairwoman of the House Economic Development Policy Council. And this is the woman indicted former House Speaker Ray Sansom appointed to the state Republican Party executive committee.

Don't expect that criticism to play. An African-American woman and retired military officer hardly looks like a typical Republican insider.

Part of a running mate's job politically is to build bridges with core constituencies, and Carroll is a true-blue conservative who can help bring on board some of the grass roots activists who worked their tails off for Bill McCollum in the primary. She was never a front-bencher in the Legislature, but she is well liked by colleagues, many of whom remain skeptical of Scott.

'We clicked'

Check out Carroll today on Political Connections on Bay News 9, where she talks about her strong support for McCollum in the primary. Here's what she said of Scott before he won the nomination:

"We do not need that seat to be a seat where you're learning, to be a seat where it's for personal gain, to be a seat where the residents and the citizens of the state of Florida will be negatively impacted because of the lack of vision."

Here's her explanation on Political Connections, which airs at 11 a.m. and 8 p.m.: "I didn't know Rick Scott. He shared his background. We have very, very similar backgrounds,'' Carroll said. "He shared his philosophy. Our philosophies are very, very similar, very much in line. … We clicked. We connected as if we were long-lost buddies.

Democrat for Crist

State Senate Minority Leader Al Lawson of Tallahassee, who narrowly lost a primary race against U.S. Rep. Allen Boyd, last week became the most high-profile Democrat to endorse Gov. Charlie Crist's independent bid for the Senate over Democratic U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek.

Crist vs. Rubio

An Aug. 28-31 internal poll for the Crist campaign (with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 points) points to a two-man race of Crist vs. Marco Rubio, showing them virtually tied at 35 percent to 34 percent. Meek remains an also-ran at 17 percent. Crist and Meek split the Democratic vote, 37 percent each, while Crist pulls 21 percent of the Republican vote, compared to 66 percent for Rubio. Crist gets 55 percent of independents.

GOP muscle shifts to Rubio

Narrowing Crist's financial advantage and putting pressure on Democrats to put up or shut up on Meek, the National Republican Senatorial Committee is pumping $2.5 million — the maximum allowed — into advertising to be coordinated with Rubio's Senate campaign. This is the same party committee that embraced Crist as its nominee the moment he announced in 2009. As of August, Crist had more than $8 million on hand compared to nearly $4.5 million for Rubio.

Lee Logan contributed. Adam C. Smith can be reached at asmith@sptimes.com and is on Twitter at AdamSmithTimes.