Remember how Mike Haridopolos was Newsmax chief Christopher Ruddy’s favorite candidate for a Florida Senate seat until his campaign kinda imploded last month? Well, Florida Republicans have been trolling for another candidate to join the race despite the existence of at least four other declared candidates, and one possibility was … Ruddy.
from the Palm Beach Post:
Chris Ruddy, CEO of the influential West Palm Beach-based conservative publication NewsMax, has ruled out jumping into the 2012 GOP Senate race.
But the fact that Ruddy was encouraged to consider running by Republican pollster Tony Fabrizio (“flattering,” says Ruddy) is a sign of how unsettled the contest is for the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson.
Additional confirmation comes from last week’s Quinnipiac University poll that showed 53 percent of Republican voters undecided in the Senate primary and Plant City tree farmer and retired Army Reserve Col. Mike McCalister leading the current four-candidate field with a meager 15 percent.
Ruddy has come a long way in the past 15 years, hasn’t he? Then again, his Clinton-hating, muckraking past might not survive scrutiny today.