Crowley Political Report

Bloomberg's Tallahassee reporter Mike Bender takes a look at Gov. Rick Scott and finds that some Republicans believe Scott is hurting Mitt Romney in Florida.

If they are right, it is bad news for Romney who needs a win in Florida to get the keys to the White House. One amusing comment comes from former Florida chairman Tom Slade who gives Scott "an A for strangeness."

Slade proves once again that he is one of the Sunshine State's most quoteable characters.

An excert from Bender's story:

Florida Governor Rick Scott keeps alienating the people he’s trying to befriend.

The Republican’s effort to win support from Cuban-Americans resulted in threats of a lawsuit. At a lunch to charm black lawmakers, he offended them. He turned a goodwill mission into comedy-show fodder when he greeted Spain’s king by asking about the monarch’s politically sensitive elephant hunt.

The governor’s gaffes, along with an approval rating that hasn’t gone above 41 percent in Quinnipiac University polls, may hurt his party’s presidential contender, Mitt Romney. Florida is one of the most competitive electoral battlegrounds, with the past three presidential races decided by 5 percentage points or less. Romney hasn’t campaigned with Scott.

“Rick Scott doesn’t seem to have any political skills at all,” said Tom Slade, the former co-chairman of Scott’s campaign and ex-chairman of theRepublican Party of Florida. “I’d give him a B for governing. I’d give him an A for strangeness.”

Read the rest of Bender's story here.