Reno undaunted by tussle among core Democrats.(Chicago Tribune)

PENSACOLA, Fla._From her seat in the front pew of the Greater Union Baptist Church, a smile spreads across Janet Reno's face when a young man begins singing a gospel tune that seems to speak to her philosophy as she enters a critical stretch in the biggest political race of her life.

"Why should I be discouraged?" the hymn begins. Reno is listening intently and she is the first person in the sanctuary to rise, leading a standing ovation that echoes throughout the church filled with congregants gathered to hear her political message in the waning days of Florida's Democratic gubernatorial primary.

The former U.S. attorney general insists she's not discouraged, but the daunting challenge to unseat Gov. Jeb Bush is no longer her biggest worry. It's the Sept. 10 primary, a curious tussle among core Democrats that has taken an alarming turn for her campaign.

For the first time since Reno entered the race one year ago on the porch of her childhood home in the Everglades, two polls published Sunday indicate she is losing ground to a man making his first bid for public office. Only months ago her leading challenger's face was as unknown as his name.

But Bill McBride, a Tampa lawyer, former football standout and Vietnam veteran whose political biography is fit for a storybook, is gaining so much momentum that he is neck and neck with Reno. And the Bush campaign has taken the unusual step of weighing into the Democratic primary by launching a series of negative television commercials aimed squarely at McBride, fearing he could be a tougher foe than Reno in the general election campaign.

"It doesn't look good for Janet Reno," said Jim Kane, the editor of the Florida Voter Poll, an independent non-partisan political survey that found Reno and McBride in a statistical tie. "This is shaping up to be the biggest political upset in Florida history."

Still, the folksy, homespun Reno-for-governor campaign continued Sunday as she rumbled through central Florida in the red pickup truck that has become her trademark since leaving Washington at the end of the Clinton administration. She once talked longingly about driving cross-country, camping out along the way, before stunning the political establishment by announcing her intent to run for governor.