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Wednesday, August 11, 2004 |
| As indicated by yesterday's St Petersburg Times article, the ad wars are heating up in the campaign for Florida's U.S. Senate seat. Yesterday the Castor and Deutsch campaigns released ads, and Penelas is expected to have one out imminently. Deutsch's ad is centered around stem cell research and unsurprisingly avoids the nuances of Bush's position, instead it just states that Bush has a ban on it. For a reasonable discussion of the issue, see this column by Ann Applebaum that was originally published in the Washington Post and was republished in today's Tampa Tribune: Stumping For Stem Cells . The ad started airing in Orlando and the other major media markets --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Penelas' ad has not been released yet, but it is expected to focus on his position of withdrawing all troops from Iraq by the end of 2005. Florida Senate Campaign, Politics comment []4:48:46 PM  trackback []
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| President Bush and Senator McCain were in the panhandle, the Republican Senate candidates had a televised debate, Representative Porter Goss was nominated to be Director of Central Intelligence and a tropical storm named Bonnie and a hurricane named Charley are setting aim on Florida. A busy day. The President's visit and the debate received equal amounts of coverage. No real surprises from the debate. Everyone seems to have said what would be expected from them. Here's a rough summary (drawn from the media, I won't see the tape until Monday, at the earliest). - Martinez reiterated his ties to the President and his support from Republican Senate leadership. - McCollum made much of his national security expertise - Gallagher was the most agressive questioner. He grilled Martinez on his trial lawyer background and asked McCollum why he had a shot of winning after losing in 2000. -Byrd touted his pro-life stance, pointing out how McCollum's and Gallagher's position on stem-cell research differ from his own and that of Martinez. The most cited quote came from Gallagher's questioning of Martinez :``Yes or no, Mel, will you join Mickey Mouse, Shamu, me and even the Lord Himself by finally endorsing a $250,000 cap on medical malpractice?'' The question is a reference to the Florida Medical Association's pledge for the candidates to sign saying that they would support such a cap once elected. Martinez is the only major candidate to not sign it. Astonishing tidbit from the coverage is from the Palm Beach Post: Before the debate, Martinez's staff members were telling reporters that
not only will their candidate win on election day but McCollum will
finish third. McCollum's campaign staff laughed at that, saying
Martinez has little chance of darting ahead.
Wow. Now remember the average of the polls is that McCollum leads
by six, Martinez is in second, and Gallagher is a few points behind in
third. To suggest that McCollum would finish third is to suggest
that Gallagher would finish second. To think this would happen
would be to put a heck of a lot of faith in his ties to the President
and Senate leadership pulling Martinez through. I was a bit disapointed with The Note. Recall that I e-mailed them last week after they failed to Note anything about the Democratic candidates debate. Well, they Noted last night's debate, sort of:
According to the clips, Doug Gallagher dominated last night's Florida Senate debate.
And that's all they said. No links. But have no fear readers, here are some links:Gallagher rips rivals during GOP debate (Palm Beach Post)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Four GOP Senate candidates meet for first debate (Associated Press) Republicans debate for Senate Seat (WESH, Orlando) Rival pans Martinez' history as trial lawyer (St Petersburg Times) Conservative issues rule GOP debate (Orlando Sentinel, registration required) Republicans exchange jibes, ideas in debate (Miami Herald, registration required) In other Senate campaign news... The pro-abortion PAC Emily's list has funneled more money to Betty Castor than any other candidate in its history. Castor has received $1.1 million, which is about a third of her total contributions. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Betty Castor drew some heat for not attending a forum in Orlando that focused on Hispanic issues. Both of her opponents were in attendance, but her campaign says she was unable to attend due to a scheduling conflict. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Johnnie Byrd, who is the outgoing Speaker of the State House, in addition to being a Republican candidate for Senate, gave each House employeee a bonus of $1,000. The matter came up in last night's debate, where Gallagher was critical of it. In this article, Gallagher's consultant, Richard Pinsky is quoted " the no good son of a b---- is planning to be a lobbyist.'" ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Tampa Tribune had a biographical article on Martinez yesterday, and has one on Byrd today. Florida Senate Campaign, Politics comment []4:11:15 PM trackback []
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© Copyright
2004
Charles Fenwick
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Last update: 8/31/2004; 8:03:35 AM .
Last update: 8/31/2004; 8:03:35 AM .
