When pressed for details, such as how his plan would affect schools and whether it would usurp local control of cities and towns, McCollum promised that he would spell it all out the next day.
He did not. Instead his campaign put out a vague press release that left as many questions as answers about a plan that, if enacted this year, would force local governments and schools to reduce spending by $3 billion.
Since then, McCollum has talked little about the tax rate freeze.
It seemed like a political mistake, pitching a far-reaching plan without having the consensus and details to sell it. The irony is that McCollum is anything but a newcomer, having held elected office for most of the last 30 years, from Congress to his current job as Florida attorney general. Indeed, McCollum's campaign has tried to portray his GOP opponent, Rick Scott, a health care executive who has never been elected to office, as someone that voters cannot rely on during such challenging times.
"They don't need a rookie up here running this place who doesn't know what Tallahassee is and what state government is all about," McCollum said earlier this month, referring to Scott.
Yet it is McCollum's campaign that seems to have struggled to show the strength of the candidate's experience.
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