Democrat Franks Faces Optimistic Despite Challenging, Uphill Battle

Jun 18, 2007

By Bill Cotterell, Tallahassee Democrat
FLORIDA CAPITAL BUREAU POLITICAL EDITOR

INVERNESS - If New Hampshire had public kindergartens about 20 years ago, Suzan Franks might not be running now for the a seat in Florida's Senate.

"Basically, it started with three other moms and myself," the Democratic candidate recalled. "We collected signatures on a petition and we went to see the mayor, who said he'd forward it to the board of education. I went to the board and asked when we could expect the implementation of public kindergartens, and they looked at me like I had six heads or something."

More motivated than irritated, Franks formed the Nashua Public Kindergarten Coalition - a grassroots pressure group that she said sprung from four members to about 900 in a couple of years - and within a few years, her town had pre-schools for 5-year-olds. And Franks was on her way politically.

She ran for the school board and won, became an at-large alderman - a post she describes as "something like a county commissioner" - and was elected to the New Hampshire House four times. As a legislator, she worked on education improvements, including kindergarten programs, during her eight years in Concord.

She said her family frequently vacationed in the west-central Gulf Coast area. She and her husband, Ric, a quality-control analyst for the Department of Transportation, decided to relocate to the area, and Franks got involved in the unsuccessful congressional campaign of Democrat John Russell last year.

"We weren't fortunate to be born here," she tells crowds, "but my husband and I like to say we've found paradise."

By any measure of conventional political wisdom, she has everything going against her.

She's a Democrat in a district that votes Republican. She's only lived in Florida about three years, although she's quick to note that a lot of the retirees along Florida's Nature Coast are Yankee transplants. Her opponent, state Rep. Charlie Dean of Inverness, was sheriff in Citrus County - the population anchor of the district - for 16 years.

And campaign-finance records indicate Dean collected about $40 for every dollar Franks has raised through June 7.

About the only thing she and Dean have in common is that they both switched parties. But while he jumped to the GOP after leaving the sheriff's office, she went the other way because New Hampshire Republicans liked school-tuition vouchers and didn't support services for the elderly sufficiently.

"It's not about how long you've been here," Franks said during a luncheon stop. "I've always been an independent thinker. I would never vote for legislation if I was told by my leadership to do so, if I believed it would hurt my constituents."

She added that "I saw the Republican Party taking a sharp turn to the right. The party left me. My core values fit better with the Democratic Party."

Franks, 57, crisscrosses the state's largest legislative district in a Hyundai SUV with a campaign sign on each side. She is counting on volunteers in the 13 counties to get voters to the polls June 26, and turnout will be the key.

"She's honed her message and has a very consistent presentation," said Mark Ravenscraft, a Tallahassee party activist who lost to Franks in the June 5 Democratic primary. "I think she picks up steam as the campaign goes along."

State Sen. Al Lawson, D-Tallahassee, hosted a luncheon for her to meet Leon County officials and party leaders last week. He and Rick Minor, chairman of the county party, said Franks has a good shot if she can spur Democratic turnout in Citrus and Marion counties - her home region - and if state employees vote reasonably strongly in Leon, Jefferson and Taylor counties.

"If we can get 20-percent turnout in Leon County, we can win this race," said Lawson. But that would be more than double the primary turnout, he added.

Franks seems serenely optimistic about her chances.

"I've overcome disadvantages in other campaigns," she said. "What people are ready for now is change. The Republicans control the governor's office and the House and Senate. I don't represent the status quo."