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Political novice Rick Scott has narrowly defeated Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum—and the state's GOP establishment—to win the Republican nomination for governor. Scott, a former health care executive, poured $50 million of his own money into a bitterly fought campaign in which he painted his rival as a "desparate career politician" and a "Tallahassee insider," the Miami Herald reports.

Scott relentlessly attacked McCollum from the right, stressing his support for Arizona's immigration law. "In Tallahassee tonight, the deal-makers are crying in their cocktails," Scott crowed in his victory speech. "They like my Democratic opponent; she plays by their rules," he said, referring to Alex Sink, the state's chief financial officer, who easily defeated a little-known challenger to capture the Democratic nomination.
(Read more Bill McCollum stories.)