Too Late for Daniel Webster?

Originally posted at the Orlando Political Press.

I thought I take a break from watching the compelling NBA playoffs to jot down some thoughts on Daniel Webster’s decision to enter the race.

Here’s my concern about Webster. I don’t want to rain on the party of all his supporters, but I’m concerned he entered the race too late. Todd Long has been at this a long time and seems to have tremendous Tea Party support. Bruce O’Donoghue seems to be raising a lot of money. Where does that leave Daniel Webster? Perhaps if he had entered earlier, more of the religious subset of the Tea Party movement would have held out before jumping behind Long, and more of the  establishment might have waited before backing O’Donoghue.

I could be wrong, but it seems a number of key individuals would love to support Webster, but because of his delay, have already lent support to other candidates.

Don’t get me wrong. Webster will be able to garner tremendous support, and will be a force to be reckoned with. In the end, I think this could break well for Todd Long. Because of how early he announced his campaign, and his Tea Party credibility, his campaign is not as dependent on the larger money sources. Webster could end up helping Long by depleting some donors who would have otherwise backed O’Donoghue. It will be fascinating to see how this plays out.

In the end, we have three good candidates. My hope is that these fine gentlemen will run a clean, positive primary campaign, so that there is no lack of support for the victor. The last thing we need is for mudslinging among friends to hurt our chances at accomplishing the ultimate goal: kicking Grayson out of office.