Obama's Secret Weapon in Florida: Rick Scott

Politico has a story on the way in which incumbent Florida Governor Rick Scott - a certifiable loon in my view - may well be a key for Obama carrying Florida in 2012. Scott seems to be doing all he can to alienate everyone other than the most extreme Kool-Aid drinkers and so far has racked up huge negatives. Indeed, he's probably the most unpopular governor in the nation. Once again, his election was a result of the Tea Party/Christianist Frankenstein monster of the GOP's own creation. As readers know, I am hardly a huge Obama fan. On the other hand, I worry about what kind of nutcase the GOP may nominate to challenge Obama in 2012. Hence, the entertainment factor in seeing a darling of the ultra far right poisoning the political waters. Here are some highlights from Politico's story:
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Six months ago, in the wake of the wipe-out midterm elections, moderate Florida Sen. Bill Nelson privately vented that President Barack Obama, weighed down by his health reform effort and muddled messaging, was “toxic” for Democrats back home.
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What’s changed? The killing of Osama bin Laden, slow but demonstrable improvements to the foreclosure-ravaged economy, a cooling of tea party passions and the toxic nature of House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s Medicare overhaul in a state with one of the largest populations over the age of 55 in the nation — all are factors in Obama’s turnaround.
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But Obama’s biggest asset in a critical swing state . . . . might be Rick Scott, the wildly unpopular Republican governor Democrats are casting as Lex Luthor to Obama’s Clark Kent.

Democrats say Scott, a stern, angular, unvarnished former health insurance executive, is an easily caricatured embodiment of conservative excess and tea party overreach. And he will likely be Obama’s prime target in Florida, no matter who the Republican presidential nominee is, . . .
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A Quinnipiac University poll last week showed his approval rating at 29 percent and his disapproval rating at 57 percent — by far the lowest approval rating of any governor in the country. “The double whammy for any Republican running in Florida is Rick Scott and Medicare,” said Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the south Florida congresswoman who was chosen for her new job, in part, to be Obama’s most visible surrogate in the nation’s biggest swing state.
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Almost single-handedly, he’s managed to energize a Democratic base demoralized by last year’s midterms. The party’s surprising victories in the Tampa and Jacksonville mayor’s races this spring were fueled by anti-Scott fervor, Democratic strategists say. Scott has picked fights with almost everybody: reporters, liberals, Republicans, but especially with the Obama administration, rejecting $2.4 billion for a high-speed rail link between Tampa and Orlando and $1 billion to implement the health reform law — all while positioning himself at the vanguard of the state-level anti-Obama movement.
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But their [Obama's] biggest long-term task is wooing Hispanics, especially if Rubio enters the race. At the moment, Democrats can take consolation in two facts: Rubio has said he’s not interested in being anybody’s No. 2 and Hispanic support for Obama in the state in 2008 — about 57 percent — was nearly identical to Rubio’s performance among Latinos in 2010. “Marco’s a threat, no doubt,” said veteran Florida pollster Dave Beattie. “But Obama does about as well among Hispanics [as] Rubio does.”