TALLAHASSEE -- In one corner is the Republican challenger, former Dade Circuit Judge Henry Ferro, who grew so frustrated with Florida's ineffective criminal justice system that he pledged to shake it up.
In the other is Democratic incumbent Bob Butterworth, the state's twice-elected attorney general whose popularity so scared well-known Republicans that they took a pass at trying to topple him this year.
With the hot-button topic of crime at center stage, the fight for the Cabinet post that handles the state's lawsuits, prosecutes criminals and polices fraudulent businesses has all the props for a steamy political drama.
But with the Nov. 8 general election just a few days away, the candidates for attorney general have appeared to generate about as much excitement as a case of the stomach flu.
Butterworth claims that not even a face-to-face sparring match would wake up interest.
"No one would even pay the price of admission," Butterworth said of a debate proposal. " ;It would end up being Henry and myself sitting there drinking a cup of coffee and talking about things...When it comes down to it, our race is just not the sexy one this year."
By some indications, Butterworth is right. Ferro has collected less than $100,000 -- not nearly enough to unleash an advertising blitz. Butterworth has about four times as much, but he waited until October to prepare any television advertisements. And little news coverage has been given to either candidate.
But Ferro -- whose campaign is built on his anger that criminals released early from overcrowded prisons are victimizing Floridians again and again -- claims Butterworth is running silent out of fear of showcasing his record. After all, Ferro notes, Butterworth has a lot at stake.
Only five incumbent Cabinet members have been defeated since 1900. Favored to win again, Butterworth is positioning himself in the political limelight for a potential run for governor four yea rs from now. Any slip now, Ferro points out, could be devastating for Butterworth later.
Butterworth insists he isn't taking the campaign lightly and suggests Ferro has the record that is difficult to defend.
"I've been the one out there advocating to keep the violent people in prison. He's the one who seems to be the poster child of the let-em-go judge and not the tough judge he claims to be," Butterworth said, referring to a newspaper investigation of the Dade County courts in which Ferro was mentioned for giving light sentences to drug offenders.
Butterworth also points to the unusual path Ferro took to get in the race. Ferro left the bench last year in the midst of a judicial probe stemming from allegations that he'd been abusive to people in his courtroom, charges that Ferro contends are politically suspect and "much ado about nothing."
In each instance, Ferro said he was attempting to maintain discipline in his courtroom and is being criticized for properly handling "rude and disrespectful" people.
But by resigning from the bench, Ferro was spared the trouble of having to respond formally to allegations of inappropriate behavior. The Judicial Qualifications Commission reportedly was looking into several incidents. Among them was an allegation that Ferro pointed a BB gun at a woman in his courtroom, causing her to burst into tears. Ferro said later it was to make a dramatic point to the woman's son, who was about to be sentenced for armed robbery.
"Judges get complaints like this on a routine basis. The telling response to all of this is that in light of everything, I wouldn't change one thing I did as a judge," Ferro said. "I'd do things exactly the same way."
But Ferro has fueled even more turmoil. After leaving the bench, he announced that he'd be running for Florida's secretary of state, another Cabinet post but one that has little to do with crime and prisons. While running for the job, Ferro bought advertisements complaining about early releases and said the post would have given him more say on issues facing the state's parole commission.
Then, Ferro began his against-the-odds campaign against Butterworth, pledging to get legislative approval to use military bases to house youthful drug offenders and to push through the Legislature more reforms to give judges the tools to set harsher sentences.
Republican Party leaders say publicly that they are placing their trust in Ferro. Privately, they acknowledge that he's got little chance of winning. State GOP head Tom Slade also reportedly asked Ferro to step out of the way to make room for one of the Republican gubernatorial candidates to run.
Ferro contends he's staying the course and aims to remind voters about the darker side of Butterworth's record. With high-octane rhetoric, he hopes to tap into voter angst about incumbent politicians and worries of violent crime.
Ferro also says Butterworth -- a former prosecutor, judge, sheriff and mayor -- should have done better at using the attorney general's office as a bully pulpit to get anti-crime legislation passed.
But Butterworth says Ferro must not have been paying attention because he has been out front on crime issues and that the problem of early releases was rooted in the Republican administration of former Gov. Bob Martinez when most inmates were serving about one-third of their sentences.
Both Butterworth and Ferro paint themselves as hard-nose crimefighters. But Butterworth says he's done more than just talk. His scorecard includes a series of high-profile successes.
Among them is having uncovered a bid-rigging conspiracy by milk processors in their sales to public schools. He also claims to have cracked down on travel-related fraud, having launched more than 200 investigations looking at problems such as odometer tampering and unnecessary auto repairs. He also took on telephone and cable companies on their billing procedures.
Butterworth also takes pride in having trimmed the amount of money state agencies spend on outside legal help and for helping feed the state's coffers with over $200 million recovered during eight years of winning anti-trust cases and economic crimes cases.
Yet if Butterworth is so concerned about money, Ferro says Butterworth "ought to focus on his own office's budget." Ferro notes that over the last eight years, the cost of running the attorney general's office has gone from $13 million a year to $66 million.
Carlos McDonald, Butterworth's campaign manager, defended the spending increases, saying it's owed to inflation and new programs handed to the office to fight domestic violence and to protect consumers.
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