Shortly after Rick Scott jumped into the race for governor this past spring, Republican Party Chairman John Thrasher met with the Naples businessman.

Thrasher vowed to stay neutral in the GOP primary for governor and even offered Scott the same deal that the party offered Attorney General Bill McCollum: You can have the party pay some of your campaign expenses if you raise money for the party.

Scott said no.

Since that cordial first meeting, a lot has changed.

The race between Scott and McCollum has turned into a bitter slugfest with the two candidates going at each other over Scott’s history as the head of Columbia/HCA as well as emotionally-charged issues such as abortion and immigration. Scott has poured tens of millions into the race and surged ahead of McCollum by saying it's time for a businessman and not a "career politician."

Scott also sued to try to cut off public funds to McCollum, forcing the two Republicans to wage part of the campaign battle in federal courts.

Along the way Scott triggered a public dressing down from Thrasher after Scott questioned McCollum’s involvement in the ongoing scandal surrounding former chairman Jim Greer. And the two incoming GOP leaders of the Florida Legislature have poured money into efforts to help elect McCollum.

It is becoming clear that with less than a month to go before Election Day that a Scott victory could do more than shake up the governor’s race. It could bring substantial upheaval for Republicans hoping to take advantage of voter anger at Democrats and the White House.

If Scott wins, it would be the second time in less than a year that the de facto leader of the party had either left or got pushed aside.  Republicans would now have to turn to a largely self-funded candidate to help raise money for the party during the crucial fall elections. Plus, Scott has his own team of people who have little reason for allegiance to the existing party leaders.

Scott insisted during a campaign swing through Northwest Florida on Monday that there’s no reason for Republican leaders to fear him winning the primary.

“I am not going to make my decisions based on emotion,’’ said Scott.

Scott said people can “trust” him because he works hard and makes decisions based on data.

“They can trust that I’m going to do what I say what I am going to do,’’ said Scott. “I am comfortable that things will work out well.’’

There are some signs that Republican leaders are reaching out to Scott in the days ahead of the Aug. 24 primary. He met with Rep. Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel and a future House speaker, when his campaign swung through the Tampa Bay area last week.

And Sen. Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island and the next Senate president, said that he would endorse Scott if he wins the primary.

Haridopolos said “I will be supportive of the nominee” and conceded that Scott had run an “effective” if “not a very positive” campaign. He added that he still believes McCollum “will be the better nominee.”

Still there are lingering resentments over how Scott has waged his campaign especially after his campaign raised questions about how much McCollum knew about Greer’s activities and whether he acted quickly enough when he learned about them.

McCollum has insisted that he immediately turned over information to law-enforcement authorities after an audit showed that Greer owned a stake in a company getting party money. Greer was arrested in June.

But Greer has insisted that he is innocent and that the case stems from the party’s refusal to abide by a severance agreement that he reached with top leaders. After Greer’s attorney vowed to question McCollum, Scott put out a statement that said the “Jim Greer scandal will continue to harm our party until we have complete transparency, all the facts are out in the open and we have cleaned house in Tallahassee.”

Scott’s attack prompted Thrasher to publicly chide him, saying he should focus on a “positive message” on why he is running “instead of continuing to release false statements regarding fellow Republicans.”

Haridopolos insists that he and Rep. Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, have been “exonerated” because they helped push Greer out of the job as party chairman last winter.

“We were the ones leading the fight to clean up the party,’’ said Haridopolos.

Katie Gordon Betta, a spokeswoman for Thrasher, contends that the chairman is still neutral. She said that Thrasher and executive director Ronnie Whitaker even had lunch with Scott and his campaign manager back in June when Republicans were in Tampa for their quarterly meeting.

Betta also said that the party has helped Scott by giving access to their voter list as well as the names and contact information for Republican Party officials from across the state.

That’s not true, insisted Jennifer Baker, a spokeswoman for Scott’s campaign. She said the contact information for Republican Party officials was already available online. Baker also said that their campaign purchased voting lists from vendors working with the campaign.

Scott’s refusal to use the party for campaign expenses is also another sign of wariness. 

Florida law allows certain campaign expenses – and polling – to be paid by political parties. And these expenses don’t count to the $24.9 million spending cap in the race for governor. Scott could have kept down his overall expenses if he had chosen to run money through the party.

Scott on Monday, however, said he thought letting the party pay for expenses was “wrong” and that McCollum should pay back the $2.84 million that the party so far has spent on polling, staff expenses and even rent.

When asked why he didn’t take advantage of the same arrangement, Scott said: “Just because they offer it doesn’t mean you want to do things.”