The primary is over and the self-proclaimed “outsider” won the election. Rick Scott won by a slim margin over Bill McCollum after months of hard-fought campaigning. It came to a point where voters were starting to not give a damn about either one. Both claimed to run a positive campaign, but any casual observer knows that wasn’t the case. This article is not an attempt to cast blame over who got negative first or which was worse because as of August 25th, 2010 that is no longer important.

What is important is for the Republican Party to regain control of the Governor’s Mansion. I say “regain” because Charlie Crist is not a Republican and quite frankly an argument could be made that he never really was in the first place.

I believe in GOP unity. The Republican Party is a vehicle for conservative values. It’s never perfect and sometimes not even acceptable, but when a car breaks down, you try to fix it before you abandon it all together. If we abandon the vehicle now, then we risk allowing a much more serious problem to worsen in our state. We risk allowing a complete liberal who supports the Barack Obama agenda to help shape and determine our future. If there is anything we know for sure about Obama liberals, it’s that they wish to have more of a hand in shaping our future than we wish to allow.

Republicans who supported Bill McCollum are undoubtedly disappointed in the results of the Republican primary. Believe me when I tell you that I can completely understand how you feel. I felt it when John McCain defeated Mitt Romney in the2008 Florida Presidential primary. I was extremely upset about the outcome and threatened to sit out the election.

I thank God that I have good friends who corrected my way of thinking and helped me to understand that no matter how much I disagreed with John McCain, he was an infinitely better candidate for our nation than the alternative. Some might say that I should try a third party option and maybe in the future that will be viable, but for 2008 at least, McCain was the only one with a chance to beat Obama.

I think applying that logic to the 2010 race for Florida Governor is vitally important for our state. I understand that many McCollum supporters hate Rick Scott right now and that’s fine. I am not writing this to convince you to like Rick Scott. I am writing this to remind McCollum supporters that the cause is greater than us all and we have a clear choice this November.

If you’re upset about the Scott win, you can choose to sit out this election and allow a liberal democrat that is in line with the total Obama agenda to become the next Governor or our state. But if you’re tired off that agenda and what it’s doing to our state and our country as well then the choice is clear. It’s vitally important to find your way to the polls in November to give your vote to Rick Scott. At the very least despite what you may think of him if you supported McCollum in the primary, Rick, like McCollum, is a man that has vocally devoted his platform to the ideals and values that all Republicans hold dear to their hearts. If you overlook that and allow a liberal to win one of the most important offices in our state then you are helping the Obama agenda. I know in your heart of hearts that is not your intention, but it is the end result of sitting this election out because of anger.

I hope that everyone spreads this message to other Florida Republicans who are upset about the election outcome. If not this note, write a note, blog, or article yourself and let’s promote conservative Republican unity this election. If we can’t come together and we allow Charlie Crist, Alex Sink, Dan Gelber, and Alan Grayson to win then we haven’t learned a thing through all of this talk of taking America back. In fact, because of our desire to find our “perfect” candidate, we may have taken a few steps backwards should we allow the democrats to win.