Bill McCollum, Rick Scott face off in debate

Down in the polls and running out of time and money, Bill McCollum desperately needed a game-changing moment in Monday's debate with his surging rival for governor, Rick Scott.

It never came, though McCollum delivered a more polished performance in the first of only two matchups between the leading Republican candidates before the Aug. 24 primary.

In the noon debate aired later in Spanish by Univisión stations in Miami, Orlando and Tampa, the two men sparred about a wide range of issues beyond the Hispanic community. From healthcare to the economy to education, they slammed each other's reputation again and again during the hourlong match.

Among McCollum's best moments came when he took Scott to task for his role as the embattled chief executive officer of Columbia/HCA. Referring to the hefty stock Scott received after being ousted as CEO amid a massive Medicare scandal, McCollum sneered, ```Rick let's get serious. You said you took responsibility, but the only thing you took was $300 million. You took it from seniors, you took it from veterans, you took it from the sick.''

It was a zinger -- not a knockout blow.

For his part, Scott awkwardly suggested that he had embraced the Hispanic community by learning to drink cortaditos and eat late dinners, but he did not commit any major gaffes. Not bad for a guy who had never participated in a debate before in his life, up against a sitting Florida Cabinet member who entered politics in the Reagan revolution.

McCollum served in Congress for two decades before he was elected state attorney general in 2006. He ran twice unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate.

``This is what a career politician does,'' Scott said, referring to McCollum's attacks. ``My opponent is desperate.''

McCollum tried to frame his political experience as an asset, saying, ``I know state government. I know how it runs. You don't.''

A debate Thursday hosted by the Fox affiliate in Tampa may be McCollum's last chance to try to upstage his opponent before early voting starts Monday.

With a double-digit lead in the polls, Scott balked at a chance for a live debate that would have aired statewide on Aug 11. The two sponsors -- Leadership Florida and the Florida Press Association -- say they will carry through with a one-man show featuring McCollum only.

Scott refused to commit because he wanted the debate held at a public venue in Jacksonville, and away from the Orlando area that is McCollum's home.

That means most voters' only exposure to Scott will be his carefully crafted 30-second ads.

Scott has poured about $28 million -- most of it his own money -- into a statewide media blitz, while McCollum and anti-Scott political committees have responded with only about $9 million worth of ads.

A federal appeals court dealt the financially strapped McCollum a potentially life-threatening blow last week by ruling that he is not entitled to more public matching funds to offset Scott's free-wheeling spending in the homestretch. Scott has argued that the public campaign finance system limits his free speech.

Over and over, McCollum sought to steer the conversation toward Scott's role in a company that paid a $1.7 billion fine for Medicaid fraud. He also repeatedly ticked off his endorsements from the Cuban-American members of Congress representing South Florida.

Scott kept a smile plastered on his face, even when McCollum was taking him to task. He gave clipped responses and ignored McCollum when he tried to goad him into explaining a recent remark about predominantly black schools having ``different issues.''

Scott also tried to minimize the time he spent defending his oversight of Columbia/HCA.

``People made mistakes. So when you're the CEO you accept responsibility,'' he said. He added that his company did a ``wonderful job'' lowering healthcare costs.

Both candidates professed their support for Arizona's new crackdown on illegal immigration.

``We have over 700,000 illegal immigrants in the state. They're costing us billions of dollars and they're taking legal residents' jobs,'' Scott said.

McCollum said he had always opposed ``amnesty,'' but as a member of Congress in 1986, McCollum voted for a bill signed by President Reagan into law that granted legal status to immigrants who had arrived before 1982.

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