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Bud Chiles Drops Out of Governors Race

September 2, 2010 -- Lawton "Bud" Chiles III confirmed Thursday he will drop his bid for Florida governor.

Chiles announced that he's throwing his support behind Democratic candidate and current state Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink.

Chiles was running as an independent against Sink and Republican Rick Scott. He is the son of the late Lawton Chiles, a former US Senator and popular, two-term Democratic Florida governor.

Chiles had previously said that he would pull out if he became a “spoiler” in the three-way race. Last week, a Quinnipiac University Poll had Chiles with 12 percent support in a match-up with Scott and Sink but other polls showed him in the single digits.

University of North Florida Political Science Professor Matt Corrigan says Chiles’ departure from the race can only help Alex Sink.

“The Democratic candidate here needs all the votes that she can get and Chiles, with a name coming from a former Democratic governor, would have taken votes from her,” says Corrigan. 

Other political analysts say that Chiles would have drawn votes away from both of the major candidates and that his withdrawal from the race will have little impact.

 

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