By LLOYD DUNKELBERGER
THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA
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BARTOW, May 10, 2017……… Standing in front of a huge Florida flag covering the stately pillars of a century-old county courthouse with orange crates on the steps, Republican Adam Putnam on Wednesday used a combination of small-town nostalgia, conservative politics and a deep knowledge of his home state to launch his gubernatorial campaign.
“I can’t imagine a better place to announce I’m running for governor of the state of Florida,” Putnam said, with his former high-school principal and the Bartow High School “Yellow Jacket” band nearby and surrounded by family members and friends who grew up with him in the Polk County town of less than 20,000 people.
“We have to put Florida first so that we are more than a prize for a life well-lived someplace else,” Putnam said. “We can make Florida the launch pad for the American dream.”
