He also won't have to worry about the biggest penalty for blowing through the $25 million cap. He successfully got a federal court to enjoin the Department of State in 2010 from providing a dollar-for-dollar match to McCollum after Scott blew through the limit. Now that portion of the law is unenforceable.



However, Democrats expect that Scott's team could still carefully manage the campaign spending – steering most expenses through other accounts – to avoid going too far over that cap.



For instance, almost all of Scott's $18 million in television commercials thus far has come courtesy of his Let's Get to Work political fund.



If Scott goes over the cap, Crist would be allowed to do the same while still drawing matching dollars.



That's what happened to Jeb Bush in 1994. Bush blew through the cap and helped pad a general-election cash infusion of nearly $2.2 million for incumbent Democratic Gov. Lawton Chiles, who barely won that election.