May 18, 2013
Tallahassee, FL - Governor Rick Scott is nearing the midpoint of his four year term. His approval rating hovers around 40 percent. Yet, despite low approval ratings, Scott says he will stay on the same path for the next two years.
The new year will mark two years since Rick Scott took office.
As he begins the second half of his term, guns promise to be one of the toughest issues he could face. Scott is a strong supporter of the second amendment.
"What do we do about mental illness? Are we funding it properly? All these things are hard to figure out the right answers, but we have to have these conversations".
On his desk is a sign promoting the one billion he put into education last year.
Reporter: "Critics will say that you put back a billion of the billion-three you took"
"Oh gosh, as we all know the federal government took that money away from it. The state even though we had a 3.7 billion dollars budgeted deficit, we kept it flat my first year".
"Rick Scott concedes he did a poor job of communicating early on and as a result his favorable ratings are hovering around 40%".
Outside the office door hangs the picture of Scott's likely challenger in 2014. Scott is quick to point out the contrasts without ever mentioning Charlie Crist's name.
"The three years before I became a governor the state had gone from 3.5% unemployment to 11.1. 825 thousand jobs had been lost".
And Scott is already thinking of life after politics.
"People say you know what the job market came back under this governor. The real estate market came back under this governor. My child is getting a better education because of this governor. I can afford to live here because of this governor. That would be my legacy".
And whether that life is two years or six years from now is mostly out of his hands.
Scott's "Let's Get to Work" campaign has already raised five million dollars.
