Reno to Take First Step Toward Entering Fla. Governor’s Race

Former U.S. Atty. Gen. Janet Reno is expected to take the first step today toward launching a bid to become the Democratic candidate for governor in Florida, it was reported Monday, setting the stage for a matchup that promises to be the main event of the 2002 elections.

Reno, 63, is considered a shoo-in as her party’s candidate to face Republican Gov. Jeb Bush, 48, the president’s younger brother, should she choose to become a candidate.

At a Labor Day picnic near her Kendall home outside Miami, Reno told journalists she would make an announcement today. “I think you should stay tuned,” she said.

Her face shaded from the afternoon sun by a broad-brimmed hat, Reno told reporters she wanted to make a few last-minute calls to her supporters and that she still was undecided.

Associated Press, quoting two Democratic Party sources, said Reno plans to open a campaign account today that will allow her to raise money for a gubernatorial bid.

Throughout the summer, the former Cabinet member under President Clinton crisscrossed the Sunshine State in her red pickup, meeting with voters and making speeches. The Floridians she talked to, she said, were especially concerned about education, the environment and how the 2000 presidential election was decided.

“People want somebody who will lead with independence, with strength, who will work hard for what is important,” she said.

If it comes to pass, a Bush-Reno race will be a closely watched contest.

Many Democrats suspect the Republican incumbent of having toiled behind the scenes to help hand his state’s critical and contested electoral votes to his brother in November.

Reno, meanwhile, is linked in the eyes of many voters to the scandals and controversies of the Clinton presidency, which she served for eight years as head of the Justice Department. Florida’s politically potent Cuban American community, for one, reviles her for last year reuniting 6-year-old shipwreck survivor Elian Gonzalez with his father, who returned to the Communist-ruled island with the boy.

Also, Reno’s role in ordering the deadly assault on the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas, in 1993 could become an issue. About 80 people in the compound died in the incident.

Opinion surveys have shown that Reno elicits such strong feelings among people that she might not be able to win a matchup against Bush, who is attempting to become this state’s first Republican governor to win reelection. One poll in late July found that, although Reno would win the Democratic primary by a landslide, she would lose the election decisively to Bush.

Her health also could become a talking point during the campaign. She was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease six years ago, but says her doctors have assured her that it would not prevent her from being an active governor during a four-year term in office.

Reno was elected as Miami-Dade County’s state attorney five times but has never campaigned for statewide office. If she does decide to enter the September 2002 Democratic primary, she will join an already crowded field. Former U.S. ambassador to Vietnam Douglas “Pete” Peterson, state Sen. Daryl Jones, state House Minority Leader Lois Frankel, lawyer Jim McBride and U.S. Rep. Jim Davis already have filed to run.

None of those candidates has anything near Reno’s star power or potential to raise money outside the state, but they also have nothing like her negative baggage with some voters.