Orlando attorney John Morgan continued his flirtation with running for governor during a stop Wednesday in St. Petersburg. There, he didn't hide his opinions.
Morgan is one of the most-recognized faces in Florida, thanks to his ubiquitous legal ads adorning everything from billboards to buses. Now, as he embarks on a dalliance with the governor's post, he compared the quest to dating - he wants to know the answer he'll get before asking for a date.
"So I will tell you what I think. I will talk to you bluntly. And at the end, I'm going to figure out if you'd say yes, if I asked," he said before the Suncoast Tiger Bay Club. "So that's part of what I'm doing here today."
Morgan is not afraid to air his opinions - of which he has many.
"What I'm doing is I'm on a talking tour. I'm going to tell you everything I think. I may two or three things a day, and that disqualifies me. And that's OK," he said. "Unlike every single person running for governor, or thinking about running for governor, I'm the only one who has a day job. If they all lose, they've got nowhere to go. I've got plenty to do."
Morgan says he would be the only candidate to give the Democrats a chance to win the governor's post, which they've haven't occupied since Lawton Chiles was elected in the 1990's.
"I am a fighter. I am an unvarnished, charming rogue," he said. "And what you see is what you get - for better, for worse."
During his speech, Morgan blasted for-profit prisons and charter schools, saying there were tailor-made to make people rich. He also pledged to stop putting drug addicts in prison.
In July, Morgan, who spearheaded the amendment to allow access to medical marijuana, sued the state over lawmakers' refusal to allow it to be smoked.
The first thing he'd do in office - if he chooses to run, Morgan said - is press the legislature to pass a "living wage," raising the state's minimum wage.
