Senator Smith hails from the small town of Alachua, just outside Gainesville. He doesn’t have the name recognition of the other contenders and trails in the polls and fundraising. But he has seen increases in both in recent weeks. Smith will square off against (Democratic) Tampa Congressman Jim Davis in the September primary. Speaking from his motorcade as he barnstorms the state, Smith says his campaign has got momentum.

“The fundraising’s going very well. The polls are showing that we’ve been constantly moving. We’ve closed the gap on Congressman Davis. He started off, of course, with an enormous advantage...been in politics a lot longer. So we knew we were spotting him a few points to start with but that’s all getting less and less relative now.”

On the Republican side, state Attorney General Charlie Crist and Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher will vie for the G-O-P nomination. Crist leads in the polls, partly because of his fundraising and early television commercials