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After months of shaking hands and exploring options, U.S. Rep. Jim Davis still hasn't answered the question: Will he run for governor?
By KATHRYN WEXLER
© St. Petersburg Times, published September 3, 2001
GAINESVILLE -- Plates of deviled crab balls were circulating at Mildred's Big City Food restaurant Thursday night and the chardonnay was flowing, but Dr. Jerry Modell was one guest who immediately dispensed with all niceties.
"Are you going to run?" Modell fired at U.S. Rep. Jim Davis, the guest of honor who had just arrived, hungry and late, with his 9-year-old son in tow.
Davis wouldn't reveal a thing. Not after months of public indecision while Democratic candidates for governor swarmed into the race, trying to lock up dollars and support.
And not this night, even as former Lt. Gov. Buddy MacKay took him by the arm to introduce him to 40 Gainesville doctors, lawyers and political types, including state Rep. Perry McGriff and E.T. York Jr., chancellor emeritus of the state university system.
"I'll know in a few days," Davis told Modell, repeating what is lately sounding like his mantra.
Davis, 43, a Tampa lawyer who is serving his third term in Congress, has said he'll announce his intentions shortly after Labor Day.
He has teased Floridians with the possibility of a gubernatorial run, pumping hands from Miami to Orlando and opening a campaign account.
But if Davis is running a campaign for governor, it's undercover.
He's not asking for money yet. And as he made the rounds last week -- to the Bayshore Presbyterian Apartments to talk up 70 senior residents and to Gaither High School to address a circle of teachers -- Davis spoke of considering a "career change." He never came out and said, as one senior citizen cheered, "Take the governor out!"
Davis hasn't hired a political consultant. People can't believe he doesn't have someone to answer his cell phone, he said. On Thursday, he was depending on a student volunteer to shuttle him around Gainesville.
He has no complaint with Capitol Hill. His two young sons are happy in public schools. Peggy, his wife, works part time in an upscale cooking wares shop and likes where they live in Chevy Chase, Md., just fine, he said.
Sure, he was disappointed he lost out on a spot on the Commerce Committee and instead wound up with the House Budget Committee, the House Administration Committee and the International Relations Committee.
But, "there's lot of ways to skin the cat in Congress. My political capital in Congress right now is as high as it's ever been," he said.
"I have the best job in America."
Among the Democratic gubernatorial candidates, Davis would have the most to lose by switching races in 2002. A fourth win in his predominantly Democratic, urban port district of Tampa is practically assured.
So why put his political career at risk for an already crowded runoff to face a popular incumbent?
"I'm angry," says Davis, winding up his spiel.
He's angry, he said, that his biggest political coup, an amendment he helped write that forbade drilling off the Florida coast, was undermined by Gov. Jeb Bush's compromise to permit oil rigs 100 miles off Pensacola.
He's angry that the FCAT test he helped pass while a state representative has been used by Bush to award money to high-testing schools.
He's angry that Bush is unwilling, as Davis puts it, to hear out dissenting voices.
That passion didn't resonate with some listeners in Gainesville, but even Davis' brother, Cody, has described him as, "a little boring."
"He seemed like a nice guy, but he didn't seem all that charismatic," said Adam Platt, an 18-year-old marketing student at UF, where Davis talked to 50 students.
At Mildred's restaurant, the group applauded politely after Davis complained about the dismantling of the Board of Regents.
"He's a lovely man," said Richard Scher, a political science professor at University of Florida who was introduced to Davis at the restaurant, "but that doesn't mean people think he's a winner."
At an Alachua County Democratic Party fundraiser Thursday at UF, Davis talked so long beyond his allotted five minutes, organizers turned off his microphone in mid sentence.
At the same event, he asked a guest, "Is there anyone I should meet?" Former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, by contrast, couldn't escape the star-struck Democrats thrusting their hands at her.
Davis will need to quickly set himself apart in a competition that already includes retired ambassador to Vietnam Douglas "Pete" Peterson, Tampa lawyer Bill McBride, House Minority Leader Lois Frankel of West Palm Beach, state Sen. Daryl Jones of Miami, and perhaps Reno.
In 1996, Davis notes, he was dead last of four when he started running for the congressional seat left open by Rep. Sam Gibbons' retirement. Davis finished second in the Democratic primary to former Tampa Mayor Sandy Freedman but won the runoff. "I think there may be a similar opportunity here," he said last week.
But the Republican-dominated state Legislature has done away with runoff elections. The leader of the pack, perhaps with less than one-third of the vote, gets the nomination.
"We're going to have too many candidates," Dorothy Truman, 77, said after Davis' speech at Bayshore Presbyterian Apartments. "I like you where you are," she had chided him earlier.
Davis comes from a Tampa family of note. Fowler Avenue is named for his great-grandmother Maude Fowler. His grandfather Cody Fowler was mayor of Temple Terrace and president of the American Bar Association. His late father, James, was once a judge.
Davis graduated from Jesuit High School, Washington & Lee University in Tennessee and the University of Florida's law school. He practiced corporate law in Tampa, and in 1996, despite relatively low name recognition, he was sent to Congress.
Supporters say Davis is taking his sweet time to decide because he's deliberate and thorough, good traits for a lawmaker.
Others say his indecision is costing him backers.
Davis says he's got everything under control.
"I raised $980,000 for Congress when I ran the first time," Davis said. "I know how to campaign."
Late last week, he said he was still trying to reach certain key players across the state before he makes his decision. He mentioned he has been talking with Reno, the other politician of note yet to commit as a candidate.
"I think it may work," Davis said last week, "but I'm not sure yet."
Even the organizer of the event at Mildred's restaurant seemed as much in the dark as anyone about Davis' intentions.
"When you make up your mind," longtime friend Jack Gearner told Davis after the gathering Thursday night, "let me know."
- Kathryn Wexler can be reached at (813) 226-3383.