Lights flashing, bass pumping, Democratic candidate Scott Maddox pumped up the party from the deejay's perch behind the dance floor.

``I want to see everyone on the dance floor because I got a feeling!'' he urged party activists who came to his reception at the Florida Democratic Party's recent conference in Orlando. Supporters line-danced to the Cupid Shuffle and shimmied to The Bee Gees' Stayin Alive.''

Ah ah ah ah, stayin' alive, stayin' alive. Ah ah ah ah, stayin' aliiiive.

Who knew a campaign to be Florida's agriculture commissioner could be so much fun?

It's been four years since voters last saw Maddox, who was born in Hialeah and grew up in the Redland. He was a dropout candidate for governor, dogged by questions about sloppy bookkeeping while state party chairman and accused of using his post as a springboard to public office. He had narrowly lost a primary for state attorney general four years earlier. It seemed the former boy-wonder mayor of Tallahassee and rising Democratic star had reached his outer limit.

But now here comes the 41-year-old lawyer/lobbyist across the dance floor, making his third bid for statewide office. One of the Florida Democratic Party's most charismatic candidates in the past decade is running for one of the least glamorous jobs in Tallahassee. The agriculture commissioner is responsible for boosting Florida's farmers, protecting consumers and -- no joke -- fighting wildfires.

Nevertheless, the agriculture commissioner is a powerful perch, a member of the Florida Cabinet and one of only six statewide elected officials. (The two U.S. senators, governor, chief financial officer, and attorney general are the other five.) To hear Maddox's lofty rhetoric and partisan zingers at the recent Democratic conference, the job he's running for is anything but pedestrian.

In a spirited speech the day after his dance party, Maddox nailed all the bullet points in the Democratic party's agenda. He promised to fight offshore oil drilling and stand up for affordable healthcare and higher teacher salaries.

``We set the stage to turn Florida and America blue with Barack Obama. Now's the time to take back state government!'' Maddox declared.

Maddox has been the leading Democratic contender in the agricultural race since environmental lobbyist Eric Draper dropped out in August. That leaves Maddox facing two major Republican candidates: Carey Baker, a state senator from Eustis who raised $458,000 as of Sept. 30, and front runner Adam Putnam, a congressman from Bartow with nearly $1 million.

Maddox didn't start fundraising until mid-September and has received about $170,000 in donations so far. Catching up and keeping pace with a sitting member of Congress will be a challenge at a time when candidates for governor and U.S. Senate are sucking up a lot of campaign donations. And he's going to have to keep explaining the party's failure to pay payroll taxes and other bookkeeping errors on his watch.

``I took responsibility for the mistakes made by my controller,'' Maddox said in a recent interview. ``The people that I've talked to understand that.''

As a two-time loser for statewide office, Maddox has the whiff of a political hack who will run for anything. But several people who came to his dance party said they don't hold any grudges over the party's past problems.

``It's more important to focus on the future than the past,'' said Democratic activist Jack Shifrel , as ABBA's Dancing Queen, circa 1976, played in the background.

Beth Reinhard is the political writer at The Miami Herald.

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