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.
Sally Bradshaw, Justin Sayfie and Screven Watson handicap the race for U.S. Senate in Florida as a mirror of the national race on The Pundits, on Capitaldatelineonline.com
With all the reports of questionable projects getting funded by the stimulus bill pushed by Democrats in 2009, it’s no real surprise that some of them are popping up in ads against incumbents like U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida. And U.S. Rep. Connie Mack, the front-runner for the Republican nod to take on Nelson, has chosen to go with primates to make his point. Oh, and cocaine.
Mack’s campaign said the ad will start airing tomorrow (three days before the fateful day of April 15) and will hit cable and broadcast channels. But it didn’t provide details on the size of the buy or where it would be running. (It is already asking supporters to contribute so it can keep the ad on the air.)
It still marks an escalation of the race and could highlight how much Mack is worried about his GOP rivals, former U.S. Sen. George LeMieux and tea-party candidate Mike McCalister. From the looks of things: Not very much.
UPDATE: Florida Democratic Party spokeswoman Brannon Jordan responds:
This ad is as childish as Congressman Connie Mack’s campaign. The people of Florida don’t care about this monkey business. Florida voters want to talk about real issues like growing jobs and strengthening the economy. If this is the best they’ve got, they are in real trouble.
As the campaign-finance reporting deadline approaches, candidates are beginning to dribble out their fund-raising numbers. According to a memo released to the media Thursday by the U.S. Senate campaign of Republican Congressman Connie Mack, the front-runner for the GOP nomination raised “just over $1 million” in the quarter that ended March 31.
That gives them $1.3 million on hand, the campaign said. Mack faces former U.S. Sen. George LeMieux and tea-party candidate Mike McCalister in the Republican primary; the winner will face incumbent Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson.
Spokesmen for both LeMieux, Mack’s main challenger for the nomination, and Nelson said they weren’t ready to release their figures yet. But it’s probably worth noting that even before the current quarter began, LeMieux had banked $1.1 million for the race. (McCalister had more than $42,000 on hand.) And Nelson led them all by far with $8.4 million at his disposal and the ability to wait while his GOP opponents knock each other around.
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.
U.S. Rep. Connie Mack has a strong lead on his competitors for the GOP nomination to take on Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, according to a new poll by TelOpinion Research, first reported by the News Service.
The survey of 780 Republican voters, conducted from Dec. 15-19, shows Mack — the son of a former senator and grandson of a famous baseball manager — carrying 39 percent of the vote, far outpacing the rest of the field.
Former U.S. Sen. George LeMieux, tea-party favorite Mike McCalister and former state House Majority Leader Adam Hasner all trailed in single-digits. Former steakhouse executive Craig Miller, who was not included in the poll, has long been stuck in single-digits in other polls.
“Mack owns this at the moment, and it is his to lose,” said Bill Lee, a Republican pollster who co-founded TelOpinion and polled contested primary states for U.S. Sen. John McCain’s presidential bid in 2008. Lee’s firm is not working for any of the candidates or so-called Super PACs this cycle.
There are reports this morning that U.S. Rep. Connie Mack has changed his mind and will jump into the U.S. Senate race seeking to challenge Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson. Mack, a Republican from southwest Florida and the son of former U.S. Sen. Connie Mack of Florida, had initially declined to run. But Politico and the St. Petersburg Times both reported that Mack sent signals out late Wednesday that he plans to get in the race. An advisor to Mack, David James, told Politico that the congressman is definitely entering the race. Mack initially was a supporter of Senate President Mike Haridopolos, but Haridopolos dropped out of the Republican primary earlier this year. The remaining Republicans in the race are George LeMieux, Adam Hasner, Craig Miller and Mike McCallister.
Carole Jean Jordan is backing Adam Hasner in the Senate race: Sun-Sentinel
For legislative watchers, the Sun-Sentinel-Orlando Sentinel has a good story today about the developing legislative agenda of Gov. Rick Scott (by News Service of Florida alum Kathleen Haughney.
Five lawmakers have thrown their support behind the U.S. Senate campaign of former U.S. George LeMieux, who’s locked in a GOP primary with former state House Majority Leader Adam Hasner, tea party-backed candidate Mike McCalister and former steakhouse executive Craig Miller. Senate Education Chairman Steve Wise, R-Jacksonville, is the highest-ranking of the bunch, though the son of a future state Senate president is also on the list.
“These legislators spend their time in Tallahassee fighting for conservative values and fiscal responsibility and they know I will represent their priorities in Washington,” LeMieux said in a press release announcing the endorsements.
Wise: “George LeMieux is the only proven candidate in the race. He has already shown Florida he will stand up against Washington’s wasteful spending and job-killing policies. He is a true conservative and has a voting record to prove it.”
Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Ft. Walton Beach and son of Sen. Don Gaetz: “George LeMieux’s laser-focus on the national debt sets him apart in the US Senate race. He is a conservative of conviction, not convenience. When George LeMieux defeats Bill Nelson, Florida will have sent Marco Rubio the backup he desperately needs in Washington.”
Also endorsing LeMieux were Rep. Jason Brodeur, R-Sanford; Rep. George Moraitis, R-Fort Lauderdale; and Rep. John Tobia, R-Melbourne.
Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island and late of the GOP primary for U.S. Senate, hasn’t been going out of his way to send love letters to his former opponents. Haridopolos said last month that “I will not be supporting Adam Hasner,” and now he’s come up with a way to slap down all four of his onetime foes — including Hasner, the former state House Majority leader; former U.S. Sen. George LeMieux; tea-party backed candidate Mike McCalister, who’s strong in the polls; and former steakhouse executive Craig Miller.
According to The Ledger in Lakeland, Haridopolos still wants former Gov. Jeb Bush or U.S. Rep. Allen West to run. Why?
“The people in the field right now can’t win. I think (Democratic Sen. Bill) Nelson can be defeated, but it is going to take a Jeb Bush or an Allen West,” Haridopolos said.
Haridopolos has left open the possibility that he would run for office in 2014 or beyond. There are at least four endorsements he probably won’t be waiting by the phone for if he does make a bid.
