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One of the firsts of this Gubernatorial race is that the two top candidates have each held the job for four years and each man has given an inaugural address outlining what they wanted to achieve. Mike Vasilinda has a unique look at what Rick Scott and Charlie Crist said in their premier speeches and how they followed through.

It was January 2007 when Charlie Crist stood on the steps of the State Capitol, took the oath of Governor, and promised that the best days of Florida were still ahead. Fast forward four years and two days, Rick Scott Stood on the same steps, said he was going to get Florida back to work, and then read a laundry list of things that were wrong with Florida that he was going to change.

It’s never happened before

Two men, running against each other, who have each taken the oath of office to be Governor. On his first day on the job in 2007, Crist made just two promises. “Item one on that agenda must be to reduce the burden on our people from the spiraling cost of property insurance and property taxes.”

Two weeks later a special session of the legislature froze Citizens Insurance rates.

Crist’s second promise: “And the time has come to expand Florida’s homestead exemption, as a shield against burdensome taxes.”

Later that first year, lawmakers approved a constitutional amendment doubling the homestead exemption. 2 out of three voters said yes.

Fast forward to 2011 and Rick Scott is gving his inaugural address.  “Under my plan we’ll eliminate the business tax and reduce the property tax.

Rick Scott has cut corporate taxes dramatically, ended sales taxes on manufacturing equipment…but property taxes have not gone down.  400 million in growth this year is being used to fund schools.

Rick Scott also made a promise during his inaugural address on school choice. “We will have an education system that allows the maximum amount of choice.”

The number of students in private schools using scholarships has gone from 40 to 68 thousand under Rick Scott.

But Rock Scott’s biggest mandate has been his mantra: “The people of Florida elected me to get this state back to work.”

And under Scott, the workforce has grown by 392 thousand workers, unemployment has almost been cut in half, doing lightly better than the national average.

And the only certainty in Tuesday’s outcome is that one of two men who has stood on these steps and taken the oath of Governor, will do it again, come January.”