The chatter in Tallahassee this morning as Gov.-elect Rick Scott‘s inaugural celebrations go into full swing is less about the jobs, jobs, jobs the first-time office holder campaigned on and more about something North Floridians in the know never take for granted – the weather.

At a breakfast honoring Pam Bondi, the state’s first woman elected as attorney general, and Lt. Gov.-elect Jennifer Carroll, the first black official elected statewide, FOX News host Greta Van Susteren chided the new governor about the capital city’s chilly environs.

“Do something about the weather,” Van Susteren instructed Scott. The Wisconsin native then went on to complain that even her down coat wasn’t enough to warm her up.

Morning temperatures in Tallahassee hovered around 35 degrees F. That gave the crowd entering the FSU event something to talk about.

“It’s not as cold as it was for Jeb Bush‘s first inaugural,” horse-track lobbyist Wilbur Brewton recalled. “My feet were frozen at that.”

Former Gov. Bob Martinez said his 1987 inaugural still was chillier.

“It’s cold,” said Justin Sayfie, who served as Bush’s press secretary and, like some of the other shivering attendees at a later event honoring Rick Scott’s wife Ann, lives in South Florida.

Sayfie was reminded of an observation at Gov. Bob Graham‘s inauguration in 1978 by a grouse who declared that it would be a cold day in you-know-where before another Miamiian was elected governor.

The temperature in Tallahassee was 14 degrees when Bush, from Miami, was sworn in on Jan. 5, 1999.

The temperature is expected to climb to near 60 degrees today, and on inauguration day tomorrow promises to be sunny and up to 63 degrees.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 3rd, 2011 at 11:47 am and is filed under Dara Kam, Rick Scott. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.