The walk to Vernon G. Buchanan's office is through a narrow, fluorescent-lit hallway above Sarasota Ford, just off busy U.S. 41. As executive wings go, it's more fitting, perhaps, for a car dealer than for a wealthy CEO who runs a host of companies-from an automobile dealer group to real estate firms and an aviation and charter yacht business. Nonetheless, the cramped hallway bespeaks power and more than a little bit of ego. Covering both walls are photographs of a smiling Buchanan with his arms around some of the most powerful people in the country. There he is wearing a cowboy hat, standing with President George W. Bush. Clad in a tux, he's beaming beside Gov. Jeb Bush at a Republican National Committee function. In others, he's side-by-side with such major powers as George H.W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, Karl Rove and Rudy Giuliani.

That Buchanan, 54, CEO of Buchanan Enterprises, which includes the Buchanan Automotive Group-one of the largest independent dealers in the country-is more interested in politics than cars at the moment is no secret. He's been gearing up for years to run for national office and finally found an opening when U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris announced she would run for U.S. Senate.

Buchanan won't be the only Republican on the slate. Affable Sarasota banker Tramm Hudson, former chair of the Sarasota County Republican Party and the district's only Bush Pioneer (meaning he raised at least $100,000 for the President's re-election), has coveted a House seat for years, and such heavyweight local Republicans as developer Pat Neal and former U.S. Rep. Dan Miller have endorsed him. Also running is well-regarded State Rep. Nancy Detert, whose eight-year term limit will be up in 2006. State Rep. Donna Clarke and Manatee County Republican chairman Mark Flanagan are also considering the race.

On the Democratic side, former banker Christine Jennings and attorney Jan Schneider are both running again, joined by first-time candidate Manatee County AIDS activist and deacon Michael LaFevers. But in Florida's heavily Republican 13th District (which includes all of Manatee, Sarasota, DeSoto and Hardee, and a tiny portion of Charlotte County), the toughest competition often comes in the primary.

Many politicos say that out of all the candidates only Buchanan and Hudson will be able to raise the $1.5 million that's probably necessary to win the primary on Sept. 5, 2006. Buchanan's company revenues are projected to be close to $800 million again this year and he owns a glamorous Gulf-front Longboat Key mansion, private jet and 110-foot yacht. He's hired pricey national political consultants, including leading RNC strategist Tommy Hopper as campaign manager, and national Republican media expert Adam Goodman, whose current and past client list includes Harris, Giuliani and Trent Lott.

Still, Buchanan is not a shoo-in. The consummate salesman will have to sell himself to voters, winning their affection and convincing them that he understands and can act on the issues that matter to them.

And he may even have to overcome the "rich-guy syndrome," as Detert describes it, the skepticism people often have toward the rich and powerful. When asked what differentiates him from Buchanan, candidate Hudson quips, "He's much taller than me and his boat is bigger," quickly adding that he owns only a 20-foot outboard speedboat. Detert retorts that both Buchanan and Hudson are millionaires. The difference? "Vern wears his money and Tramm banks his," she says.

And then there's another unexpected hurdle. A messy business failure from Buchanan's past has resurfaced just as he revs up his campaign.

Buchanan is a self-made man, a point he loves to make in conversation and public appearances. "His narrative is appealing," admits New College of Florida political scientist and Sarasota County Democratic Party vice chair Keith Fitzgerald. "He is the working-class guy who worked hard. A rugged individualist who made it on his own."

In person, he's courteous and earnest-almost too earnest, as though he only has a short time to convince people of his way of thinking. He rarely seems relaxed and his foot wiggles when he get impatient or uncomfortable. In contrast to Hudson, who often challenges visitors to a game of ping-pong on the terrace outside his office, loves to joke and can establish an easygoing rapport with almost anyone, Buchanan seems scripted in interviews, without any self-deprecating humor-or any sense of humor at all. In July, only weeks after he announced his candidacy, he was just starting to hone his political persona and fuzzy about his positions on national issues (see "Still Looking," below).

But Buchanan's employees and acquaintances describe a generous, high-energy visionary who does deals on napkins, eschews ponderous documents in favor of face-to-face negotiations and respects his employees but is ruthless when it comes to results. "I tell everybody, I love them all, but you've got to perform. If you don't, then you can't hang out with the group," Buchanan says. He likes to point out that in both the quick-printing industry, where he made his first fortune, and in car sales, he started out without a shred of experience. "I never worked a day in either business before I started," he says.