Adrian Wyllie stood at the back of a mid-day political rally in a white dress shirt and yellow striped tie, sweating in the Florida heat, his sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He was clearly a politician. But in the past, he\u2019d done this without many people recognizing exactly which one.<\/p>\n
That is slowly changing. At least it seemed that way Saturday in DeLand.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not used to going places where people know who I am when I walk up, so thank you for that,\u201d Wyllie, Florida\u2019s rising third-party candidate for governor, said when he took the stage at a \u201cPatriots United\u201d rally held by the conservative, grassroots Liberty Belles of Florida.<\/p>\n
A few days after Quinnipiac University\u2019s latest polling put Wyllie at about 9 percent in the governor\u2019s race, the relatively unknown Dunedin Libertarian was projecting confidence.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know there\u2019s some Republicans in the crowd here today, and there\u2019s probably a few people who were thinking about voting for Rick Scott,\u201d Wyllie said. \u201cThey\u2019re probably thinking: Hey, (Wyllie) sounds pretty good, but does he have a chance to win? Folks, I do have a chance to win\u2026 This race is a three-way race.\u201d<\/p>\n
The stump speech that followed was equally scathing toward Gov. Scott (who polled at 37 percent in that Quinnipiac poll) and his Democratic challenger Charlie Crist (who led with 39). Without Wyllie in the race, the poll showed Crist leading 45 to 40.<\/p>\n