Florida picks governor candidates on the edges, for voters in the middle

This time the polls got it surprisingly right and shockingly wrong.

The polls accurately predicted Florida Republicans would reject their party’s establishment favorite and rally behind Jacksonville congressman Ron DeSantis to replace Gov. Rick Scott, who’s term-limited and challenging Bill Nelson for the U.S. Senate.

But they failed to predict Florida Democrats would reject their party’s favorite and choose Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum as their best bet to reclaim the governor’s office after a long 20 years. It was a stunning win for a candidate who had polled in the single digits through most of the campaign.

The question now is: which candidate can claim the middle?

For after sitting on the sidelines during Florida’s closed-party primaries — unable to vote on anything other than school board and judicial races, plus local referendums — all eyes now turn to the 27 percent of Florida voters aligned with neither party.

If they’re like most Florida voters, polls show independents want something done about the economy, education and the environment. And getting something done can mean meeting people in the middle.

Yet DeSantis and Gillum reside on the far-right and far-left planks of their parties’ platforms. They represent a stark choice for voters in November.

Gillum supports abolishing ICE in its current form, Medicare for all, legalizing the adult-use of marijuana and repealing Stand Your Ground. He’s unabashedly progressive and quite charismatic. He speaks in depth about the challenges facing Florida, having dealt with them first-hand as the mayor of Florida’s capital city.

We can’t say we know much about DeSantis’ views on the challenges facing Florida because throughout the campaign, he ducked media interviews and refused to answer questionnaires. Instead, he spent a good deal of time in Washington — a regular guest on Fox News — attacking Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

DeSantis is a member of the congressional Freedom Caucus, which wanted to shut down the federal government rather than compromise on an omnibus spending package. He’s promised to vote against a carbon tax, which many believe could be used as an inducement to curb global warming. And he blames the sugar industry for polluting Lake Okeechobee and causing the algae blooms in rivers running east and west, doubtful that leaky septics tanks north of the lake play a role. He’s wrong about that.

His Fox News appearances helped him overcome the financial advantage of Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, who at the end of July had raised nearly $37 million compared to DeSantis’ $15 million, according to Florida Politics.

In truth, look for the general election to be all about politics, not policy. And look for the focus to be on President Trump. For Trump energizes his base. He energizes the opposition. And as the surprisingly high turnout in the primary showed, he gets people out to the polls, a turnout both candidates will need in big ways to win.

This election cemented Florida as Trump Country for Republicans. Remember that in the primary two years ago, the president won 66 of the state’s 67 counties, losing only Miami-Dade to Marco Rubio.

Trump’s endorsement meant everything to DeSantis, 39, who was largely unknown in the state before the president first tweeted his support in December.

We’ve since learned that DeSantis is a Harvard law graduate and Navy JAG officer who’s served in Iraq and at Guantanamo. He ran for the U.S. Senate two years ago, but dropped out after Rubio changed his mind and ran for re-election.

Throughout the primary, he attacked Putnam for having initially supported Jeb Bush for president and for having called Trump “vile.” Putnam made the comment after then-candidate Trump was caught on an Access Hollywood tape saying women would let him “grab them by the p - - - - .” DeSantis has not said whether he found the president’s comment objectionable.

There will be much to say in the coming days and weeks about the choices we face in November.

But let us end by offering a tip of the hat to all those candidates who didn’t secure a win in this election. We know it takes a lot to run for office, to put yourself out there, to knock on doors and ask people for money. Politics is a tough sport, but as they say in baseball, there’s always next year.