News Service Florida Political Blog

Here’s something you don’t see every day: A party’s presumptive presidential nominee wading into a primary fight in a swing state. But former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has done just that with a short statement today backing U.S. Rep. Connie Mack in the GOP primary for U.S. Senate over former U.S. Sen. George LeMieux and tea-party favorite Mike McCalister. Romney’s statement:

“Connie Mack is a friend, a strong conservative and the type of principled leader we need in Washington to restore fiscal responsibility. By electing Connie Mack, the people of Florida will be sending a clear message to Senator Nelson and President Obama that their failed policies have not worked to change the borrow and spend ways of Washington.”

In a way, Romney is simply returning the favor for when Mack endorsed the front-runner in the Florida primary. Romney got a badly needed win that solidified his standing when former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich was surging.

But it also highlights that some of the Republican establishment thinks Mack is the best bet to beat Democratic incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson, who is a close second on the list of GOP priorities in Florida this year. It might also be an effort to quiet repeated musings from some Florida Republicans who have mulled or are mulling getting into the race.

The general election might be almost six months away, but so-called Super PACs are already starting the air wars in Florida over whether President Barack Obama should be re-elected. Perhaps predictably, the ads are more about slamming the other guy than touting each group’s choice.

Obama’s Super PAC, Priorities USA Action, was the first to hit the air with an ad that the group says is going up in Florida and several other swing states. The commercial tells the story of the same steel plant that the Obama campaign focused on in a two-minute ad about former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s business record. (That ad, near as anyone can tell, ran for a day.)

Crossroads GPS, a Super PAC that backs Republicans, responded in a way with an ad that will also run in Florida and several other swing states, according to the group. This one focuses on Obama’s record — failing, in Crossroads GPS’s telling, to deliver on his major promises.

The group says it’s spending $1.5 million on Florida over the next two weeks. That’s a good deal more than what some observers say the Obama Super PAC has spent so far.

After breaking the rules to hold its primary in late January — fourth in the nation — Florida will have its delegates assigned to the Innisbrook Resort for the Republican National Convention, according to accommodations announced Monday. The site is around 30 miles from the Tampa Bay Times Forum, where the main events will be held — give or take a few miles. (For the curious, the Mapquest is here — though charter buses will probably take care of most of the delegation.)

In a bit of irony, Florida will share the hotel with South Carolina — which, of course, also broke party rules by moving its vote to stay ahead of Florida’s primary. (Which caused New Hampshire to break the rules to stay ahead of S.C., causing Iowa to break the rules to stay ahead of N.H.)

But no worries — organizers say that it doesn’t matter what rooms anyone gets.

“From Harbour Island to Clearwater and St. Petersburg, and all the beautiful beaches, the Tampa Bay area is one of America’s premiere vacation and business destinations,” said William Harris, the convention’s CEO, in a press release. “So wherever you’re staying, you’re going to have a great experience.”

President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign is set to hit the airwaves in Florida and a handful of other swing states, taking on the energy issues that Republicans are hoping to turn against the president and the man likely to lead the attack.

The new ad — which will also air in Colorado, Iowa, Nevada, Ohio and Virginia — highlights an increase in domestic oil production under Obama as well as his efforts to boost fuel mileage for cars and renewable energy. And it links together two characters the Obama campaign hopes to make the villains of the story: “Big Oil,” the money behind an ad against Obama’s energy policies, and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, the likely GOP nominee.

In all these fights, Mitt Romney’s stood with Big Oil— for their tax breaks, attacking higher mileage standards and renewables. So when you see this ad, remember who paid for it.  And what they want.

Here’s a look at the ad itself:

After the jump, the Obama campaign’s breakdown of the ad and the research behind it.

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The Florida Republican primary will still allocate all of its delegates to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. Maybe. Probably.

As long as the Republican National Committee doesn’t accept a pending challenge to the winner-take-all rule for Florida’s primary by the campaign of former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who lost Tuesday’s primary to Romney by double digits. Fox News reported Thursday that Gingrich campaign officials were going to launch a challenge to the new delegate allocation rules.

The Gingrich campaign says Florida’s decision to award all of its delegates to the winner of the race violated RNC rules. The RNC said it doesn’t think it can now tell Florida how to divvy up its delegates. Even a Gingrich campaign memo given to Fox News suggests that the matter is “unclear.”

Speaking on Fox, Gingrich backer and former Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum conceded that the Gingrich campaign wouldn’t have complained had it won Florida and been awarded all 50 delegates.

“But Romney would be,” he said. “You’ve got to realize that whoever was going to lose is going to make this challenge.”

The RNC and the Republican Party of Florida have said repeatedly that Florida will be a winner-take-all state, and RPOF Chairman Lenny Curry reiterated that stance in a statement issued Thursday.

“Florida was winner take all before Election Day, we were winner take all on Election Day, we will remain winner take all. … It is a shame when the loser of a contest agrees to the rules before, then cries foul after losing,” Curry said.

Day-of voting in the GOP presidential primary had only been underway for about two-and-a-half hours Tuesday when Secretary of State Kurt Browning took to the podium at a Tallahassee press conference, but Browning said everything was going well. The only hiccup reported early was a polling location in Orlando that had to open in the parking lot because a supervisor of elections was late, but voters were allowed to cast their ballots.

As for turnout: 656,000 Floridians had already made their choice known through absentee ballots or early voting — including 392,000 absentee ballots and 294,000 early votes, despite the shortened time frame in 62 counties. Still, Browning wasn’t giving out any predictions. “But certainly I think when you look at the numbers that we’ve seen in absentee and early voting, it’s probably a good indication that we’ll have a good day today and a healthy day.”

Those banked ballots, by the way, are expected to heavily favor former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, whose organization is seen as superior to former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum; Texas Congressman Ron Paul has largely bypassed Florida.

Whatever the final result, Browning expects the state to find out relatively quickly. As part of the sweeping and controversial new elections law approved by the Legislature last year, counties have to report their early and absentee ballot counts within 30 minutes of the polls closing. Rolling vote totals have to be sent into the state every 45 minutes.

“I do expects our results will be more timely than we’ve seen in the past,” Browning said.

That could mean a big splash as soon as polls close in the Central time zone — with a ton of Eastern time zone votes already having been submitted to Browning’s office before official reports start going up around 8 p.m. ET. Results can be viewed at the department’s official returns website. (You’ll get a countdown to 8 p.m. ET until then.)

Browning, who is heading out the door soon, also briefly reminisced about his time as secretary of state. (His incoming successor, Kenneth Detzner, was on hand for the press conference and will be at the department throughout the day.)

“It’s fun to see everything come together at the end of the day and come together very well,” Browning said. “Am I going to miss it? You bet ya, I’m going to miss it.

“But it’s time. I’ve been away from my home for five years, and I’ve enjoyed serving under two governors, but half-an-hour phone calls at night with your wife just doesn’t cut it.”

Amid all the talk that Newt Gingrich took a beating in Thursday night’s Republican debate, his campaign fired back at one of Gingrich’s main protagonists: Mitt Romney. Gingrich uses a TV ad set to air in Florida to castigate Romney’s truthfulness during the debate on everything from his portfolio to his voting habits. The campaign hasn’t released a YouTube version of the ad (at least that your humble correspondent could find), but the transcript is pretty self-explanatory.

Governor Huckabee: “If a man’s dishonest to get a job, he’ll be dishonest on the job.”

Narrator: What kind of man would mislead, distort, and deceive just to win an election?

This man would be Mitt Romney. Romney said he has always voted Republican when he had the opportunity.

But in the 1992 Presidential Primary Romney had the chance to vote for George H.W. Bush or Pat Buchanan but he voted for a liberal Democrat instead.

Romney said his investments in Fannie and Freddie were in a blind trust.

But as reported in the National Journal, Romney earned tens of thousands of dollars from investments NOT in a blind trust.

Romney denied seeing a false ad his campaign used to attack Newt Gingrich.  But Romney’s own campaign paid for the ad…Romney’s own voice is on the ad approving the content.

If we can’t trust Romney in a debate, how can we trust him in the White House?

A little context, at least on the 1992 voting claim: Romney voted for then-U.S. Sen. Paul Tsongas in the Massachusetts Democratic primary instead of casting a ballot in the GOP contest that year. (Romney has explained, alternately, that the vote was for the home-state candidate and meant to find the weakest opponent for then-President George H.W. Bush.)

He’s focused on his own race for U.S. Senate, but former steakhouse executive Craig Miller took a moment Thursday morning to issue a statement endorsing former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich in the Florida GOP presidential primary. Specifically, Miller praised Gingrich’s record as a Ronald Reagan Republican at the same time that former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has assailed Gingrich as inadequately loyal to the Republican icon.

He was a warrior in the Reagan Revolution and applied those concepts as one of the most successful Speakers of the House in our Nation’s history.  Newt is a visionary who’s Contract with America provided the blueprint for cutting taxes, balancing the budget, reforming welfare, and strengthening our National Defense.

Whether Miller’s own political calculus entered into the equation — the businessman has struggled to break out of a field dominated by Congressman Connie Mack, former U.S. Sen. George LeMieux and former state House Majority Leader Adam Hasner, not to mention the tea-party candidacy of Mike McCalister –  is an open question.

Follow the jump to read Miller’s full statement.

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It’s not exactly news to ponder whether Gov. Rick Scott would play a role in the GOP presidential primary. While he declined to take sides in the race even when his political idol — Texas Gov. Rick Perry — was in the contest, Scott is an unpopular governor in a swing state during a presidential election year. And Democrats have made it clear that they intend to tie him to the eventual Republican nominee.

That effort by one Democratic ally — public-sector union AFSCME, or American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees — will begin the primary with one-time front-runner Mitt Romney. The former Massachusetts governor, coming off a bruising loss to former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich in South Carolina, has been greeted in the Sunshine State with an ad using the old face-morphing trick.

The ad could be meant to hurt Romney’s chances in the GOP primary — some Democrats feel Gingrich would be an easier out for President Barack Obama in the fall — or it could be an attempt to soften him up for the Obama campaign. Either way, it’s further proof that Scott is likely to be one of the issues in the fall battle over Florida.

Saying he was sick of the attacks that other candidates were aiming at Republican presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney, Senate President Mike Haridopolos today endorsed the former Massachusetts governor less than two weeks before Florida’s Jan. 31 primary.

Haridopolos’ endorsement came as Romney was looking for something approaching a knockout blow in the race for the GOP nomination by winning South Carolina and, if other candidates press on after that, Florida. If he wins both of those contests, Romney will have swept the four earliest nominating votes and won in the biggest swing state in the nation.

“Rather than talking about how President Obama has weakened the American economy or debating limited government solutions for turning our country around, Mitt Romney’s opponents are spending too much time on misleading and counter-productive attacks,” Haridopolos said in a statement issued through his political email address. “Those attacks on a fellow Republican won’t help our party secure victory in November and may, in fact, help President Obama get re-elected.”

The full statement is after the jump.

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