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Does Romney Want Rick Scott to Pretend Florida's Economy Hasn't Improved?

The Romney campaign allegedly asked the governor to "downplay job gains."

By Joyce Jones

Posted: 06/21/2012 10:55 AM EDT

Filed Under Barack Obama 2012, Barack Obama, President Barack Obama, Rick Scott, Unemployment, Mitt Romney, President Obama, Economy, 2012 Election

In the category of "don't let a fact get in the way of an attack," Bloomberg News is reporting that Mitt Romney's campaign has asked Florida Gov. Rick Scott to "tone down his statements heralding improvements in the state's economy." Why you ask? Because they clash with the Republican nominee's mantra that President Obama and his policies have been bad for the nation's economy and stalled its recovery. Scott was asked to say that the state's jobless rate could improve faster under a Romney presidency, two sources who asked not to be named told the news wire.

"What's unfolding in Florida highlights a dilemma for the Romney campaign: how to allow Republican governors to take credit for economic improvements in their states while faulting Obama's stewardship of the national economy. Republican governors in Ohio, Virginia, Michigan and Wisconsin also have highlighted improving economies," Bloomberg reports.

But Scott, who has been in the national spotlight over the state's harsh new voting law and a recent purge of its polls to allegedly root out noncitizens who are illegally casting ballots, needs something positive to crow about. The state GOP ran an ad earlier this year hailing Scott for Florida's falling unemployment rate, which is currently at 8.6 percent, compared to 11.1 percent just before he took office last year. Brad Coker, managing director of Mason-Dixon Polling & Research, told Bloomberg that the first time he saw the ad he thought it was sponsored by Obama.

Florida is a key swing state and Obama, who carried it in 2008, currently leads his rival there by a slim four percentage points, according to the latest Quinnipiac University poll.

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