Bud Chiles to primary Alex Sink in Florida. Son of former governor Lawton Chiles.

Chiles, who aborted a 2006 run for governor because of residency requirement in the state constitution, met with a consultant in Tallahassee Saturday to go over strategy to get in the race.

"It's my intention. I'm not playing around and I'm moving in that direction." Chiles told The Associated Press. "This is getting ready to announce."

Chiles, a businessman who has promoted education issues, would be getting in the race just three months before the Aug. 24 primary against an opponent who has raised more than $6 million and was thought to have a clear walk to the nomination.

"I've just been very surprised that she hasn't been more vocal. I'm at a point now where I'm convinced that she is not going to be the voice that I thought and hoped she'd be. That's a big part of it," Chiles said about his decision to run.

Sink, the state's chief financial officer, has trailed Republican front-runner Bill McCollum in the polls. Her campaign said that she still has support of the Democratic establishment.

Son of late Gov. Chiles plans to run for governor

The 1,003-mile walk

In 1970, Chiles decided to run for a seat in the United States Senate. At the time, despite his 12 years in the state legislature, he was largely unknown outside his Lakeland-based district. To generate some media coverage across the state, Chiles embarked upon a 1,003-mile, 91-day walk across Florida from Pensacola to Key West. The walk earned him the recognition he sought, as well as the nickname that would follow him throughout his political career– "Walkin' Lawton". In his journal Chiles wrote that sometimes he walked alone, while other times he met ordinary Floridians along the way. In later years, Chiles would recall the walk allowed him to see Florida's natural beauty, as well as the state's problems, with fresh eyes. After the walk, Chiles was elected easily.

The 1,003 mile walk

She cannot hem and haw her way into the job. She cannot duck questions, dodge issues, or run and hide inside her office whenever somebody asks her something tough, while her oh-so-loyal, oh-so-protective, oh-so-worshipful aides cry out, "No more questions! No more questions!"

Nope. If Alex Sink were going to run for governor, she would need to get out there and stick it to the Republicans.

Education Week surely didn't intend this, but its latest Quality Counts report - which put Florida's education system at No. 8 nationally - has hit a nerve. The group Worst to First, led by Bud Chiles, son of former Florida Gov. Lawton Chiles, trashed it late yesterday with the release of student videos mocking the report's conclusions.

Chiles couldn't be reached by The Gradebook when the report was being released three weeks ago. But he called yesterday to say that despite what it says, the truth is this: Florida schools are bad bad bad - and everybody knows it.

"I don't think Education Week would want their study characterized as the governor (Charlie Crist) says, that we're eighth in the quality of education compared to all 50 states," Chiles said. "All you have to do is walk into a public school in any community and nobody believes that."

"It doesn't add up," he continued. "You can't tell parents that. You can't tell school kids that. There is an overwhelming amount of statistics that we're at or near the bottom with these indicators and not near the top."