Florida Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink has decided to seek a second term instead of challenging Senator Mel Martinez (R-FL) in his bid for reelection. The decision is a blow to Democrats who viewed Sink, who has widespread popularity among both Democrats and Republicans, as the best candidate to unseat Martinez. Many Florida political insiders believed that Sink would have raised ten million dollars by the end of 2009 and she would then have been in a position to overwhelm Martinez financially in the expensive Florida media markets.
Other names that are being mentioned as possible challengers to Martinez are Congressman Ron Klein who is a prolific fundraiser, Congressman Robert Wexler who was an early supporter of President-elect Obama’s, Congressman Kendrick Meek and Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz. It is reasonable to expect that some of these names will quickly vanish from this list as the two most powerful Democrats in the state, chair of the Florida Democratic Party Karen Thurman and Senator Bill Nelson, meet with the contenders.
