Laura Benson vs. Keith Fitzgerald

New College of Florida political science professor Keith Fitzgerald holds the microphone close and announces, "I am never at a loss for words."

The crowd of voters at the Sarasota-Manatee Jewish Federation -- mostly elderly, mostly liberal -- explodes in laughter. Fitzgerald is not the most succinct of candidates.

On the stump, he strikes an imaginary gavel with his right hand, his thumb held down in the style of Bill Clinton. Chubby-faced and cherubic, he speaks in winding paragraphs, his voice soft and precise. His left eyebrow arcs into a circumflex when he makes a point, his eyeball bulging slightly.

When Fitzgerald gets going, it's tough for him to stop -- whether the subject is school vouchers (against), reproductive rights (for), or the proposed amendment raising the standard to change the Florida constitution (against), all of which he addresses at the Federation.

Later that same day during a debate on SNN News 6, Fitzgerald's opponent in the race favors a more chatty style. Sarasota County school board member Laura Benson smiles into the camera. Her blond hair shines. Listeners have heard her crack jokes about her teenaged sons, begging voters to send her to Tallahassee to get her away from them. She refers to a Riverview High School senior staying with her family as a "stray." And she's just as personable over the phone, dubbing this newspaper Couch Potato.

The differences between Fitzgerald and Benson are telling. Fitzgerald, a college professor, is a policy wonk's policy wonk, with a strong command of Florida issues that he ties into national and historic trends. Benson, unlike Fitzgerald, has actually run for and won public office, and speaks the vague language of the elected.

I'm naturally more in line with Fitzgerald's liberalism anyway, but a transcript of remarks posted on the candidate's blog clarified what's at stake.

Fitzgerald had been invited to address the monthly meeting of the Christian Coalition, an event at which Congressional candidate Vern Buchanan spoke as well. In his remarks, Buchanan dismissed the Mark Foley scandal, but Fitzgerald departed from his stump speech to attack:

"Now look, we've got some real problems in this country. The moral core of this country is eroding, and part of the reason it's eroding is not just folks out in Hollywood who give us movies and records we don't like, part of the reason we've got a moral problem in this country is not because there's gays and lesbians out there or people who are different from some of the rest of us, part of the reason we have a moral problem in this county [is] not just because there are people from different traditions and different backgrounds, part of it is us -- who don't call from our better selves. You should have room in your hearts to be outraged for what happened up there."

Does that paragraph possess a single wrong word?

My choice: Fitzgerald, duh.

Table of Contents

Elections 2006

• This time It's Personal
• Governor: Charlie Crist vs. Jim Davis
• State CFO: Tom Lee vs. Alex Sink
• U.S. House, D-13: Vern Buchanan vs. Christine Jennings
• Fla. House, D-70: David Shapiro vs. Doug Holder
• Fla. House, D-69: Laura Benson vs. Keith Fitzgerald