Editing Jack Eckerd (section)

==Political campaigns==

In [[1970 Florida gubernatorial election|1970]], Eckerd entered the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] gubernatorial primary to challenge incumbent [[governor of Florida|Governor]] [[Claude R. Kirk, Jr.]] A third candidate, [[Florida Senate|State Senator]] [[Louis A. Bafalis|L. A. "Skip" Bafalis]] of [[Palm Beach, Florida|Palm Beach]], later a [[U.S. representative]], also entered the primary. Eckerd warned that the renomination of Kirk would produce a Republican fiasco in the fall campaign. In a primary endorsement, the ''Miami Herald'' depicted Eckerd as "an efficient campaigner with the ability to bring people together constructively. ... [Eckerd has] a common touch, dedication to high principle, and organizing genius."<ref name="Hathorn1">{{cite journal |author=Hathorn, Billy B. |journal=Florida Historical Quarterly |volume=68 |issue=4 |year=1989 |page=414 |title=Cramer v. Kirk: The Florida Republican Schism of 1970 |url=https://stars.library.ucf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3900&context=fhq |access-date=7 November 2022}}</ref>

[[William C. Cramer]], the Republican nominee for the [[U.S. Senate]] in 1970, was also at odds with Kirk but was attempting to preserve party unity at the same time. Though he voted in the primary for Eckerd, Cramer took no public position. Kirk received 172,888 primary ballots, but Bafalis's 48,378 votes<ref name="Hathorn2">{{cite journal |author=Hathorn, Billy B. |journal=Florida Historical Quarterly |volume=68 |issue=4 |year=1989 |page=415 |title=Cramer v. Kirk: The Florida Republican Schism of 1970 |url=https://stars.library.ucf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3900&context=fhq |access-date=7 November 2022}}</ref> were sufficient to require a [[runoff election|runoff]] with Eckerd, who received 137,731. Kirk then prevailed in the runoff, 199,943 to Eckerd's 152,327, after he obtained Bafalis's reluctant endorsement.<ref name="Hathorn2"/>
 
Distraught that Kirk's antics had led to a fratricidal primary, Cramer said that he "customarily" avoided involvement in primaries outside of his own race. Kirk claimed that Cramer assisted Eckerd, whom Kirk assailed as "notorious for his ability to change the scope of the truth. He has an ego problem."<ref name="Hathorn3">{{cite journal |author=Hathorn, Billy B. |journal=Florida Historical Quarterly |volume=68 |issue=4 |year=1989 |pages=414–415 |title=Cramer v. Kirk: The Florida Republican Schism of 1970 |url=https://stars.library.ucf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3900&context=fhq |access-date=7 November 2022}}</ref> In the campaign rhetoric, Kirk denounced Eckerd for having previously contributed to Democratic candidates, for allegedly running down a [[Cuba]]n fisherman in a yacht race, and for spending lavishly from his personal fortune in the 1970 primary campaign.<ref name="Hathorn2"/> Though he defeated Eckerd, Kirk was then unseated, 57-43 percent, by the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]] [[Reubin Askew]], a state senator from [[Pensacola, Florida|Pensacola]].

Eckerd said that though he had supported Kirk in 1966, he became disappointed and embarrassed with the governor: "I was offended by his public behavior and chagrined that he was a Republican."<ref name="Hathorn4">{{cite journal |author=Hathorn, Billy B. |journal=Florida Historical Quarterly |volume=68 |issue=4 |year=1989 |page=416 |title=Cramer v. Kirk: The Florida Republican Schism of 1970 |url=https://stars.library.ucf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3900&context=fhq |access-date=7 November 2022}}</ref> Despite Kirk's tactics, Eckerd said "time heals all wounds, and now I chuckle about it." He added that his primary [[runoff election|runoff]] defeat in 1970 probably prolonged his life."<ref>Jack M. Eckerd and Charles P. Conn, ''Eckerd: Finding the Right Prescription'' ([[Old Tappan, New Jersey|Old Tappan]], [[New Jersey]], 1987), pp. 113-119</ref>
 
In 1974, Eckerd was the unsuccessful Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate against the Democrat [[Richard Stone (politician)|Richard Stone]].<ref name=Silva&Kennedy/> The [[Conservative (politics)|conservative]] vote was divided that year with Dr. John Grady, nominee of [[George C. Wallace]]'s former [[American Independent Party]] siphoning votes from Eckerd. Grady ran again in 1976 as the Republican nominee but lost to the Democratic incumbent [[Lawton Chiles]] of [[Lakeland, Florida|Lakeland]], who had defeated Cramer in 1970.

In 1978, Eckerd defeated U.S. Representative [[Louis Frey, Jr.]], of [[Winter Park, Florida|Winter Park]] to win the Republican gubernatorial nomination, but he lost in the fall to the Democrat [[Bob Graham]] of [[Miami, Florida|Miami]], later a U.S. senator. Kirk ran unsuccessfully for governor again that year, too, but as a Democrat after he failed to qualify as an [[Independent (politics)|Independent]].<ref name="Hathorn5">{{cite journal |author=Hathorn, Billy B. |journal=Florida Historical Quarterly |volume=68 |issue=4 |year=1989 |page=424 |title=Cramer v. Kirk: The Florida Republican Schism of 1970 |url=https://stars.library.ucf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3900&context=fhq |access-date=7 November 2022}}</ref>