^Well, in all fairness, in response to the "you think you can run the city etc" comment, Lenny himself hasn't said anything about it one way or the other. We don't know what he is thinking but we do know he is being encouraged to run for the seat. Some local players both within the GOP and outside of it have had it with Brown and his inability to lead and are looking for a candidate they think can bring in the needed financial support to run. As an elected office holder outside of his GOP post we don't know how Curry might lead, but we do know that he has some very good experience when it comes to what will or will not make for a winning campaign and that like it or not is going to be an important factor in this race. My guess is that request has more to do with Curry being a person of profile in the GOP as opposed to much else at this stage.
Apparently he has a good deal of experience on the "will not make a winning campaign"
From the St. Petersblog, that stephendare quoted from earlier
Here’s Curry’s record:
As chair of the Duval County Republican Party, Curry saw a Democrat elected mayor of red-meat Jacksonville.
As chair of the Republican Party of Florida, Curry saw Democrat Barack Obama carry the state despite it being a must-win for Mitt Romney, who was leading in statewide polls until the very end.
As chair of the Republican Party of Florida, Curry saw Democrat Bill Nelson easily re-elected after he defeated Connie Mack IV, the last man standing out of a lackluster field of Republican challengers.
As chair of the Republican Party of Florida, Curry saw Democrat Amanda Murphy win the high-profile Special Election for House District 36.
As chair of the Republican Party of Florida, Curry saw Democrat Rick Kriseman unseat the Republican mayor of St. Petersburg, despite 7 in 10 residents polled saying that the city is on the right track.
To Curry’s credit, the Republicans still hold the Cabinet and wide majorities in the Florida Legislature, but that has more to do with Curry’s predecessors, such as Tom Slade and Al Cardenas, than it does Lenny Curry. In fact, Speaker Designate Steve Crisafulli just had to send out a memo to Florida House incumbents telling them to get their sh*t together because their fundraising is off pace from where it was during the last election cycle. So even the GOP’s strength in legislative races could soon be diminished.
http://www.saintpetersblog.com/lenny-currys-abysmal-record-as-chairman-of-the-florida-gop
And to spuwho's comment that leadership ability is more important than political philosophy, that only goes so far. For example, Scott has significant experience as a leader - masterminding the largest Medicaid fraud, took pretty good leadership skills - but his anti-environment, anti-worker positions are reason enough not to return him to office. Also, Clay Yarborough is a heck of councilman - responsive to his constituents and does his homework - but his political philosophy makes me glad he is term limited.
It seems naive to keep saying "Curry hasn't declared" - I really don't think someone of Rummel's acumen would put his stamp of approval on some random person who wasn't interested. I am sure there have been conversations. There are reasons Curry wouldn't announce yet - as State GOP Chair, he needs to focus on this fall's Governor, Legislative, and Congressional races; and publicly declaring would place all sorts of rules on fund-raising and such.
