that he would be "capable of effectively representing his constituents from the start." Campbell ended up defeating Virella in a landslide, winning 68% of the vote to Virella's 32%. Campbell was re-elected without opposition in 2000. In 2002, following redistricting, Campbell ran for re-election in the 32nd District, which contained most of the territory that he had previously represented in Broward County, including Coral Springs, Margate, Parkland, Sunrise, and Tamarac. He was re-elected to his third and final term unopposed. 2006 Attorney General campaign Campbell, who was unable to seek another term in the Senate in 2006 due to term limits, announced in 2005 that he would run for Attorney General of Florida. He cited his experience as a private practice attorney and pledged to prosecute gas companies for price-gouging in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. He was opposed in the Democratic primary by Merrilee Ehrlich, a trial attorney, who announced her campaign on the premise of providing Democratic primary voters "an option and a viable one." Campbell suggested that Ehrlich joined the race "in a misguided, but benevolent, attempt to give him statewide exposure by forcing the primary," though he denied that he was behind the effort. Campbell was endorsed by the Sarasota Herald-Tribune and The Ledger in the Democratic primary; the Herald-Tribune praised his "skills and experience" to handle the job, while the Ledger called him "a worthy contender" for his experience in the legislature. Campbell ended up defeating Ehrlich handily, winning 65% of the vote to her 35%. In the general election, Campbell faced former United States Congressman Bill McCollum, the Republican nominee. During the election, Campbell campaigned as a moderate Democrat, citing his experience in the Republican-dominated State Senate as an example. Both Campbell and McCollum agreed on the need to toughen laws against sexual predators and to push for additional protections against identity theft. Campbell advocated for a reduction of backlogs in the state's court system by hiring more prosecutors and public defenders and creating rehabilitation and pre-trial diversion programs, while McCollum argued for a limitation on lawsuits. The Terri Schiavo case was a major issue during the campaign, with McCollum attacking Campbell for changing his position on state intervention in the Schiavo case. Campbell said that, as a Catholic and as a moderate Democrat, he was "desperate to find a way" to intervene in the case, but could not find a constitutional way to