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TAMPA - Onetime Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean has thrown his weight into... the Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections race?
That's right.
On Thursday, the former Vermont governor announced the Dean Dozen, a group of 12 candidates across the country who are running for various federal, state and local public offices. None currently are incumbents.
Only one candidate from Florida made Thursday's list: Democrat Rob MacKenna, a Carrollwood computer programmer running for the supervisor of elections post.
MacKenna served as county chairman for Dean's campaign before Dean bowed out of the presidential race in February. On Thursday, the roles switched - MacKenna is the candidate; Dean, the supporter.
"This is obviously big potatoes for what normally is a small race," MacKenna said Thursday. "I was kind of hoping for (former gubernatorial candidate) Bill McBride. That was the biggest endorsement I was hoping to get. This is beyond what I could hope for."
Dean spokesman Walker Waugh on Thursday said the former governor had received about 600 requests for support from candidates across the country.
Campaign workers settled on MacKenna as one of the first 12 to endorse primarily because of his desire to create a paper trail for votes on the new electronic voting systems.
"That's a huge issue in this election cycle," Waugh said. "Obviously, in Florida, it will especially be a highlight. We wanted to bring that issue to light on a national level."
Waugh said Tuesday that Dean hasn't decided exactly where he will make campaign stops during the election season, and much of his time will be spent stumping for Sen. John Kerry's presidential bid and other national campaigns.
But he said the former governor will do what he can to help MacKenna.
MacKenna, who met Dean briefly in December in Orlando, said he welcomes any support from the former presidential candidate. He said his campaign received about $1,500 in contributions Thursday from people who had heard about the endorsement.
That's significant, considering that in his last campaign finance report filed April 12, MacKenna raised only $3,585 during the first quarter of the year.
MacKenna's fellow Democratic challenger, Steve Henley, raised $1,020 during the same period, while Republican Buddy Johnson raised $12,700 in the first quarter of 2004.
Johnson holds the post now. He was appointed supervisor of elections by Gov. Jeb Bush after Pam Iorio was elected mayor of Tampa.
A chart on the Florida Division of Elections' Web site offers some perspective on voter turnout. It's located at: http://election.dos.state.fl.us/online/voterpercent.shtml The numbers clearly illustrate the impact of the relatively new, heavily front-loaded presidential primary system, which has made Florida's vote largely symbolic. In 1972, when Democrats were sorting out who to challenge Richard Nixon, Florida's primary turnout was 58 percent. In 2000, the Bush-Gore year, the turnout was a sleepy 19 percent.