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STEPHEN HEGARTYPatrick Bergy is running against stiff competition, Pasco Elections Supervisor and media darling Kurt Browning.
Patrick Bergy points his television remote at the set in his living room, fast-forwarding through a recent C-SPAN program. As the VCR tape speeds along, the talking heads comically move their mouths and bob their heads in fast motion.
Bergy slows the tape. There is his opponent, Pasco Elections Supervisor Kurt Browning, on television again talking about elections in Florida.
"I called to ask about equal time," Bergy said.
He's been through this more than once. On Friday, he staged a one-man protest in front of WTVT-TV studios in Tampa, demanding equal time on the Kathy Fountain show.
In a political universe where incumbents always have advantages, Bergy, 38, faces a particularly tough battle. He is campaigning against a home-grown, six-term incumbent who gets free exposure - local, national, even international - just by doing his job.
In the fallout of the messy 2000 presidential election, Browning, 46, has become the go-to guy for local and national media who want to talk about voting in Florida. And with another presidential election coming up, everybody wants to talk about Florida.
Browning has been in all the Florida newspapers, as well as the New York Times , the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times . He has been on National Public Radio, Fox News and on C-SPAN. Just last week, Browning turned down an interview request from 60 Minutes but welcomed a reporter from the Kyodo News service in Japan.
How did the elections supervisor from a mid-size Florida county get on the national media's speed dial?
For one thing, Browning avoided the embarrassments that plagued his colleagues in 2000. Also, he has a reputation for the cleanest, fastest elections returns in the state. It doesn't hurt that he looks good on TV, sounds smart in front of a microphone and cheerfully honors interview requests.
"Years ago I would have been pumped at the chance to be on C-SPAN," Browning said. "Now, I don't mind it, but it's not like I'm seeking the attention."
Nevertheless, the attention keeps coming. It can only help his re-election campaign.
The result is that Bergy's platform - based on the same hot-button elections issues being debated by prominent national figures - is getting little traction in this local race. Bergy is left to wage a poorly funded, low-wattage campaign against a guy who has become the face you see right after the words, "And now to talk about elections in Florida ..."
* * *
One of Bergy's first acts upon getting into the race was the political equivalent of shooting one's self in the foot. He decided to run without party affiliation.
Bergy didn't want anyone even considering that the would-be elections supervisor might favor one party over another. He wanted to seize the moral high ground because he intended to slam Browning for his very public switch to the Republican Party in 2002.
In the eyes of many political observers, Bergy's decision was both commendable and politically suicidal. He effectively shut the door on any hope of organized support.
"Before he declared his candidacy, I spoke to him, and asked him to register as a Democrat," said LaVaunne Miller, who chairs of Pasco's Democratic Party. "Then the Democratic Party would be able to work for him. He decided against it, and I respect his decision."
Will the Democratic Party work to unseat Browning, the Republican incumbent? Miller responded: "We're going to support our own candidates." That is, Democrats.
Bergy figures that decision cost him thousands of dollars in contributions. It certainly hasn't helped. Recent campaign reports show that Browning has a nearly 8-to-1 edge in fundraising. Browning's $23,230 in contributions comes from a who's who of Pasco leadership from both parties. Bergy reported $3,040, the majority of it in the form of loans from himself and checks from family members.
"If I have to spend money to get people to trust me and believe in me, I'm not the right candidate," Bergy said. "But I have more faith in our society than that."
Before Bergy can hope to win voters' trust, he has to get voters to recognize his existence.
He has given a few speeches. He has appeared on the local community radio station WMNF. His Web site is loaded with campaign fodder. He won the endorsement of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. Bergy said that when he does have an audience, people generally are receptive.
"I just can't get the message out," he said.
Bergy supporter Jan Lentz - chair of the West Pasco Democratic Club's voting machines task force - said political challengers generally are being "kept out of the limelight." But it particularly galls her in Bergy's race because, she said, the issues that are being overlooked locally are so important.
Bergy's issues could be summed up pretty neatly.
* Issue No. 1: Bergy doesn't trust Pasco's new touch-screen voting machines. As a man who makes his living working with computers, Bergy said the machines are nowhere near as safe and reliable as Browning insists. The lack of a paper trail troubles him.
* Issue No. 2: He thinks the supervisor should be completely free of partisan concerns. Bergy thinks Browning is not. He points to Browning's very public party switch from Democrat to Republican in 2002.
Both issues tap into voters' fears in the wake of the 2000 election. And both are being debated elsewhere in Florida, even nationally. Former President Jimmy Carter recently dropped a bombshell when he alleged that Florida's top elections official was acting in a partisan manner, and when he raised questions about the reliability and integrity of touch-screen voting. Carter said he was troubled by the lack of a paper ballot printout.
Bergy makes many of the same points. But, like the proverbial tree falling in the forest, a political issue doesn't resonate if no one's paying attention.
"With those issues, he'll probably get some votes. But first, he needs to get his message out," said Susan MacManus, political science professor at the University of South Florida. "The name of the game is communication, and you have to have money to communicate."
MacManus, who is in great demand from national media seeking an expert on politics in Florida, has been partially responsible for Browning's high profile. Both are Pasco residents, and sometimes MacManus recommends Browning to out-of-state reporters and television producers.
"I recommend Kurt," MacManus said, "because he knows the law, and he can speak the English language."
* * *Despite all his advantages and the likelihood that the race won't even be close, Browning admits that Bergy's challenge is getting under his skin.
"I feel like he's questioning my integrity," said Browning, who has faced opposition in only two of his six previous campaigns.
Bergy's two main issues amount to questions about trust - whether voters can trust the machines that count the votes and the man in charge of the counting. Browning dismisses Bergy as a man with no expertise trying to pass himself off as an expert.
The machines, Browning said, will do the job. As he explained to a Japanese reporter last week, the touch-screen machines are infinitely better than the old punch-card voting that resulted in the infamous hanging chads of the 2000 election. Whatever problems have arisen with the touch-screen machines - particularly in other counties - have been due to human error, not flaws in the machines.
On Monday afternoon, Pasco's machines will be put to a public test. It's a mundane routine that happens before every election. The canvassing board observes as a sampling of voting machines are checked out. It usually generates zero interest.
This year, Florida elections being what they are, the test is drawing a crowd.
Florida Secretary of State Glenda Hood is expected to attend. Nightline is expected to send a crew, as is CNN. The political parties are expected to send representatives. Once again, Pasco and Elections Supervisor Kurt Browning will be in the spotlight.
Bergy expects to miss it.
After taking off from work on Friday for his one-man protest in Tampa, he said he can't miss too many more work days.
"I'd love to be there," Bergy said. "But I can't really afford to miss work. I'll need to take some time off right before the election. It's not easy.'