When Rick Scott first elbowed his way into the Florida governor's race seven months ago, the former health care executive was dismissed by some as a fringe character who had more money than sense. Mostly, though, he was just ignored.
The vast majority of Floridians had never heard of the lanky, bald Scott in the spring when he started introducing himself in ubiquitous TV commercials.
Now he's going be their governor.
Running for office for the first time, Scott beat Democrat Alex Sink - the state's chief financial officer - by just over 50,000 votes Tuesday in one of the closest gubernatorial races in state history.