Minutes after she announced her candidacy for governor, Florida Democratic Party leader Karen Thurman and former governor and U.S. Sen. Bob Graham endorsed Alex Sink.

Sink, with U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson one of only two Democrats elected to statewide office, ended speculation about her run the day after Gov. Charlie Crist announced he would not seek reelection but would run to replace retiring GOP U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez.

“In just a short period of time, Alex has already cut wasteful spending, cracked down on financial fraud and scams, reformed government contracting and provided our state with a fresh approach to solving problems and restoring Florida’s economy,” Graham said in a statement.

“Floridians are cheering today now that Alex Sink has announced her candidacy for governor. As a businesswoman who delivers real results for the people of Florida, CFO Alex Sink is not only the Democrats’ strongest candidate but she’s the very best candidate for the job,” Thurman’s release said.

Although Sink has been mum about her plans, her attention from national Democrats has not gone unnoticed.

Recently, one of Boca Raton U.S. Rep. Ron Klein’s aides, Stephanie Grutman, came to work for Sink. Sink hired spokeswoman Kyra Jennings, a veteran of several Democratic congressional campaigns, about three months ago.

Tags: Alex Sink, elections, Mel Martinez, Ron Klein, state agencies, U.S. Senate

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 13th, 2009 at 2:19 pm and is filed under 2010 campaigns, Democrats, Florida Democratic Party, Mel Martinez, Ron Klein, U.S. Senate, elections, state agencies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.