Alex Sink: White House to blame for loss to Rick Scott

Via Hot Air and Politico:

Florida Democratic gubernatorial nominee Alex Sink pointed an accusatory finger Friday at what she called a “tone-deaf” Obama White House to explain why she narrowly lost her campaign.

Hot Air's Ed Morrissey expressed amusement at Sink's complaint, given the extensive aid Sink's campaign received from Washington.

Morrissey tagged Sink with a big share of the blame for the cheating episode that took place during a televised debate:

Sink also neglects to mention that she had leads in polls in the final days of the election until she got caught cheating in a debate — and then lied about it.  That didn’t do anything for her relationship to Florida voters, either.

I remain unsure about the impact of the cheating incident.  The Miami Herald and St. Petersburg Times supported Sink's story that she did nothing wrong--that campaign staffer Brian May deserved the blame and was appropriately terminated as a result.

Every paper of note in the Sunshine State endorsed Sink.  Isn't it expected that the newspapers would soft pedal the story?

The Orlando Sentinel may have done the best job out of Florida's big three papers:

"The makeup artist held up her phone and said 'I just got this message. I don't know who it's from,'" Sink said on MSNBC Tuesday, adding she thought it might be a family emergency. "I glanced at it. I didn't really know what it was, and I ignored it."

However, CNN's John King, a moderator of the debate, questioned that on his show Tuesday night. "[W]e listened very closely to the audio, and the makeup artist, when she approached Alex Sink, said, 'I have a message from the staff,'" King said.

The Sentinel may have buried the above story (I don't know one way or the other), but at least the story came out as something other than a blog post under the Sentinel's masthead.

The Jacksonville-area Florida Times-Union buried the story.

The Tallahassee Democrat has a wall set up, so it's hard to tell.