For years, Florida Republicans have believed that the senate seat occupied by Democrat Bill Nelson should—and could—be theirs. And it’s often seemed easy enough: First elected to the Florida House in 1972, the moderate legislator has managed to spend 30 years cultivating an image that is nothing above mediocre. A recent poll found that just over a third of voters approve of him and 12 percent of voters still don’t recognize his name. As Democratic pollster Tom Eldon put it, no one hates him, but no one really loves him either: “There isn’t a large passion factor.”