Gadsden County Times

Odham Urges All Florida To Unite Behind McCarty

Sanford, June 4.-Brailey Odham's post-election plea for all Floridians to join him in his quick offer of cooperation with Governor-Nominate Dan McCarty for a better Florida earned him the praise of scores of Florida's newspapers "as a man of real stature who did himself and the state much credit."

In a dramatic, typical "off-the-cuff" statement through radio and press election night, Odham declared:

"The future of our great state . . . the last new frontier for great industrial, agricultural, and tourist development in the nation ... means so much to us and to our children that it must not be held back by any personal bitterness- just as it must not be held back by official corruption or waste.

"I am not hurt. I am not bitter. There is no bitterness in my heart because I feel I have done my best."

That was good enough to gain him 100,000 votes between the first and second primaries, to a record-breaking runner-up total of about 335,000 votes, while McCarty's total rose about 10,000, newspapers' analyses of the returns showed.

"This is all the more remarkable," said a Tampa Times editorial, "since from the beginning of the first primary campaigning, Brailey Odham had virtually no professional political or office-holding support, and by the run-off, state, county, and municipal jobholders were lined up almost unanimously behind Dan McCarty."

Odham, through his unique question-and-answer radio programs which headline writers promptly named "talkathons," carried his campaign directly to independent citizens .. and in his post-election statement he declared, "I will never be able to express adequately my gratitude and humility for the support of hundreds of thousands of my fellow citizens.

"We did not win, but we did not lose either," Odham said, "because you can never lose when you are fighting for right and justice."

Newspaper editorials after the primary made it clear that many of the issues in Odham's legislative record and campaign platform will have a powerful effect on legislation and state administration for years to come.

The papers said these included Odham's proposals that candidates travel together, speak from the same platforms, and use other means to reduce the exorbitant cost of political campaigns; his pledge to file a public statement of his personal financial condition and his annual income tax returns... and require key appointees to do the same; his proposal that road contractors and others who do an enormous amount of business with the state be prohibited from contributing to political campaigns; his proposal for an independent state auditing system under legislative control; his proposal that the Legislature be empowered to call itself into session by petition of two-thirds of its members; and other steps which Odham said would "enable the people, instead of the professional politicians and special interests, to run our government."