The November elections on both the statewide and national levels were, as many expected, a Red Sea of Republican victories.

Here at home, Rick Scott eventually claimed victory in the closest governor's race in 134 years. Scott, who barely met the resident requirement to run (he moved here in 2003; one must be a resident for seven years to run for governor), spent some $75 million of his own money for the right to move from his multi-million home in Naples to the governor's house in Tallahassee.

In his campaign, Scott's slogan was "Let's get to work!" and he repeatedly promised to foster a business climate that will "create 700,000 jobs over the next seven years." To accomplish the task, he is assembling what Susan MacManus, a political scientist at the University of South Florida, calls a "hall of fame of conservative economists." Donna Arduin, who served as director for the Florida Office of Policy and Budget under then-Gov. Jeb Bush, will lead Scott's economic advisory council. Arduin held similar posts with governors Arnold Schwarzenegger in California and George Pataki in New York. Other members of the financial brain trust include Arthur Laffer, known as "the father of supply-side economics," who served as an economic adviser to President Ronald Reagan; Tad DeHaven of the libertarian Cato Institute think tank; Talmadge Heflin, director of the Texas Public Policy Foundation's Center for Fiscal Policy; Randall Holcombe, a Florida State University professor and senior fellow at the James Madison Institute in Tallahassee; and Robert McClure, president and CEO of the James Madison Institute.