With his campaign grasping for traction as the Nov. 7 election nears, Democrat Jim Davis is saddling his gubernatorial aspirations to the single biggest issue moving voters this year: sky-high property-insurance hikes.

Davis, the Tampa congressman, issued an election-year pledge Tuesday to create a new Hurricane Premium Protection Fund that he said could help lower insurance rates as soon as next year.

Davis said the fund would lower rates by providing cheap capital to insurance companies and holding them accountable for passing on those savings to policyholders.

''If we'd had this fund in place last year - if Charlie Crist had stood up for us last year - all these exorbitant premiums we've been paying would be sitting in the bank drawing interest for next year,'' Davis said at a press conference in a Boca Raton condominium.

It's the second major policy proposal the Davis campaign has unveiled in as many weeks, and it comes amid fresh signs that voters still haven't taken notice of his race even though they side with his issues.

A Quinnipiac University poll released Tuesday indicated that six in 10 Floridians ranked homeowners insurance rates a more important issue in the governor's race than the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test or property taxes.

Yet the same poll showed the cash-strapped Davis trailing Republican Attorney General Crist by 10 points, with nearly 60 percent of those polled saying they still didn't know enough about Davis.

Quinnipiac pollster Peter Brown said undecided voters were siding with Crist, an indication that Davis hasn't yet convinced voters he can solve their problems.

''They apparently don't see Jim Davis as a champion of property insurance at this point,'' Brown said.

Democrats had been telling Davis that for weeks, urging him to roll out a more specific insurance plan much earlier in the campaign to avoid letting Crist take advantage of the issue.

''One of the things Charlie did so well in the primary was to get out in front on these issues and portray them before Tom Gallagher could,'' said state Rep. Jack Seiler, a Broward County Democrat

''I hope it's not too late (for Davis). I don't think it is. The issue hasn't been resolved while he was waiting to release his plan.''

Crist released a less-ambitious plan in August that, among other points, called for forcing insurers that sell other lines like auto insurance to offer homeowners policies as well.

Democratic lawmakers plan to present a mirror image of Davis' plan to a panel that Gov. Jeb Bush formed to look at property insurance reform when it meets Thursday in Largo.

Insurance industry officials pointed out that Davis' plan doesn't mention how long it would take for the Premium Protection Fund to build up its $20 billion in capital, or what percentage of premiums would go into it.

''You just need to make sure you have the money there to pay claims,'' said Sam Miller, executive vice president of the Florida Insurance Council, an industry lobbying group.

''If this is a magic plan, and it's really going to finance the losses in a more economical way, it will be looked at.''

Davis said his plan would immediately reduce premiums because he would ask lawmakers to force insurers to lower their rates by the amount they would save in re-insurance costs.

Mirrored after Florida's Hurricane Catastrophe Fund, Davis' plan would require insurers to devote a portion of premiums they collect to the fund, which would be allowed to build up to $20 billion in capital that could be used to pay claims.

After a storm hit, the fund would pay for up to 90 percent of individual claims on policies of up to $500,000, theoretically reducing insurers' need to buy as much costly re-insurance.

Additionally, the plan would require insurers to get state approval before raising rates, instead of allowing the option of getting approval after rates are raised; force company chief executives to sign oaths pledging their rate hikes are not inflated; and barring so-called ''take out'' companies from taking over policies from the state-run Citizens Property Insurance Corp., and then charging higher rates.

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By Aaron Deslatte
FLORIDA CAPITAL BUREAU

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