Monday, August 30, 2004

St Petersburg Times withdraws endorsement of Mel Martinez Something that I missed in the daily news roundup: As a result of Martinez' attacks on Bill McCollum, the St Petersburg Times has pulled its endorsement of Martinez and is now endorsing Bill McCollum.  A sampling of today's editorial: No matter what else Martinez may accomplish in public life, his reputation will be forever tainted by his campaign's nasty and ludicrous slurs of McCollum in the final days of this race. The slurs culminated with Martinez campaign advertisements that label McCollum - one of the most conservative moralists in Washington during his 20 years as a U.S. representative - "the new darling of the homosexual extremists" because he once favored a hate crime law that had bipartisan support. A few days earlier, the Martinez campaign arranged a conference call with reporters in which a group of right-wing Martinez supporters labeled McCollum "antifamily." Why? Because McCollum supports expanded stem cell research to find cures for deadly diseases - a position that is identical to those of Nancy Reagan, Connie Mack and many other prominent Republicans. McCollum for GOP  (St Petersburg Times) Florida Senate Campaign, Politics comment []6:11:57 PM   trackback []

Senate Campaign News 20040830 A quiet news day as the candidates make their final rounds in search of votes. The latest Insider Advantage poll, taken on Friday and Saturday, shows Mel Martinez leading by one point over Bill McCollum with 20% of voters undecided.  Weekend poll shows Martinez surging; Race a 32 percent Martinez to 31 percent McCollum free-for-all. (Florida Insider) Most articles on the race look at how the candidates spent their day on Sunday. Pew time prevails in campaign stretch (St Petersburg Times) GOP Senate hopefuls ratchet up campaigns (Palm Beach Post) Democrats with eyes on Senate hit streets (Palm Beach Post) Senate races down to wire (Orlando Sentinel) McCollum, Martinez locked in tight Senate primary (Associated Press) Deutsch rallies S. Florida backers (Sun-Sentinel) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Tampa Tribune looks at the McCollum-Martinez feud Top GOP Senate Hopefuls 'Similar' ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Gainesville Sun frets about negative campaigning Contentious Senate ads carry risks Florida Senate Campaign, Politics comment []9:32:38 AM   trackback []