I believe Scott and his people have been hunting for months. The problem was that they couldn’t seem to find anyone who really wanted the position. Presumably, Lopez-Cantera probably thought he had nothing to lose by agreeing to accept (assuming he’ll remain Scott’s running mate, that will be a mouthful of a name to put on campaign buttons — unless they just go with “Rick and Carlos”).
Lieutenant Governor hasn’t been a good launching pad for the top job (since the office was reactivated in 1969). None have ever won it in the modern era, and the only two that occupied it (Wayne Mixson and Buddy MacKay) only did so because the occupant either resigned early (Bob Graham to take his Senate seat) or died (Chiles).
As for Jolly, he may have been the preference of the widow Young and the establishment, but polling data indicated he was trailing Sink by a fair margin. It will be curious to see how much party resources are put into the race, since they did get their guy.
Looks like things have changed in the 13th since the OSAMACARE rollout.
St Pete Polls, which as I recall had Stink way out in front in December, now has David Jolly leading her 47-43! With 4% for a Libertarian spoiler.