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Campaign Crawlers
An Opportunity Wasted?
Incumbent Bill Nelson may have an easy time of it next year if Republicans don’t get over their lethargy in Florida’s U.S. Senate race.
(Page 2 of 2)
Most of these candidates have been campaigning for months. In center-right Florida, where voters self-identify themselves as conservative over liberal by two to one, there should be some interest in these folks. Not yet. Most polls show Nelson winning against all of them. Invariably “none of the above” is the most favorite candidate in polls of the Republican pack.
If one of these doesn’t separate himself from the field and make a solid case for himself, Florida may well be represented in the U.S. Senate for six more years by a mediocre politician well to the left of the state’s electorate. And the conservative cause will have failed where it should prosper.
In 2010 Marco Rubio electrified Republican voters. There’s a year left before the election, but so far this cycle there has been a power outage on the Republican side.
About the Author
Larry Thornberry is a writer in Tampa.
Chef Schnauzer| 11.4.11 @ 7:49AM
Thank you. I think I am going to suspend general election contributions (the party hacks have the mechanics of this operation and dirty money down to a science). Rubio's experience points out the critical importance of conservative contributions in are primary phase. Nelson stands for nothing but Nelson, has no values, no ruder but self: just another hack who betrays much of the republican party.
CT Russ| 11.4.11 @ 7:57AM
After shaking things up before the primary vote, let us just hope that the pulp rises to the top
Intelligent Design| 11.4.11 @ 8:05AM
George LeMieux will win the nomination and he will easily defeat Bill Nelson, who has the same credibility as Obama. Zero.
hardcard| 11.4.11 @ 9:22AM
nelson strikes out looking, Connie Mack is a Grandslam.
bill glass| 11.5.11 @ 12:10PM
good one.
crooked wren| 11.4.11 @ 9:31AM
Question: How did Rubio "happen" in Florida? How did he manage to get a foothold? What was the process that led to his running?
As far as Republicans going at each other instead of going at Nelson, well, that's par for the course.
Look at what the debates have degenerated into -- as the mainstream media smirks on over it.
(Cain may be able, but if he starts going after Perry, it's going to be messier than ever.
After Clinton, you'd think the Left could never bring up a charge of sexual harassment again. But no. The media blithely creates a narrative that is indiscriminately unfair, turning Willie Ray Clinton into a "statesman" (really? after Jennifer and Monica and how many others???), but going after Clarence Thomas and Herman Cain as if it were the old South all over again.)
Point is: Newt understands this. Someone in Florida needs to shake up the Republican establishment there -- at the State level.
Our federalist system is just about gone. We NEED FLORIDA .
kate| 11.4.11 @ 2:02PM
We need Rubio as VP.
He is a big picture guy, smart, charismatic and hispanic.
I hope he puts his country first and doesn't hold out for a presidential run in 4 years.
If he believes what he says about this country, he will run with Romney to stop all this nonsense and put us back on the right track.
Romney is more to the middle politically and a detail guy. However, he is very intelligent (google it) and has character.
It has to be Romney/Rubio.
I don't see any other way this country can survive.
kate| 11.4.11 @ 2:03PM
On topic.
It is a given that republicans will take the senate and keep the house.
prsmith| 11.4.11 @ 7:40PM
No, he won't, Kate. He's not eligible to be the POTUS (see my recent post).
Mike Hawk| 11.5.11 @ 9:06AM
You need to consult US Code Title 8 Section 1401 buddy. Marco Rubio is a natural born citizen by virtue of the fact his parents were legal residents and he was born in Miami Florida. Before you make stupid statements make sure you know what you are talking about. That point made, No. No Rubio for VP. He needs to be Senate Majority leader. We do not need to flush his career away by nimiating him for VP. VP is the end of the line, not the next step to the WH. (except when the Prsident dies.)
bill glass| 11.5.11 @ 12:11PM
No, Rubio's not natural born.
kate| 11.5.11 @ 12:38PM
His parents were here legally and he was born in Florida. Illegal immigrant's children are granted citizenship if they are born in this country. He is a natural born American, because his parents were here legally and he was born here.
We are a nation of immigrants (other than Native Americans).
The founders simply did not want new immigrants to come to America and govern, because, unless you were born and raised here, you really don't understand the country.
Might be the problem we are experiencing now.
The subject is mute and conservatives need to quit being silly about it.
Common sense must prevail.
Mike Hawk| 11.6.11 @ 7:50PM
The word is moot, not mute. Conservatives are not being silly, those who ask the qustion have a legitimate complaint. Personally it isn't so important to me as the latter part of the statement you made. Even if Obama was born in Hawaii, he was raised outside the US territory. He was not raised as an American boy. He has no real attachment to AMerican culture and custom as he has not been a part of it and was not raised in it.
Mike Hawk| 11.6.11 @ 7:41PM
OK bill glass, explain why.
Lady Gator| 11.4.11 @ 9:31AM
Connie Mack IV is a RINO.
I agree with Larry that there is not "a Marco Rubio in every election cycle." I disagree however, with his assessment of this FL Senate primary. And at this point in time in the Rubio V Crist primary, Marco was still down by double digits.
Adam Hasner, Speaker Rubio's majority leader in the House, has a conservative legislative record, he is articulate, intelligent, and a lawyer who has been repeatedly reelected as a State Rep in a solid Blue district in Palm Beach County.
Mike McCalister is not qualified and has completely embellished his record. (Google the utube: "The Colonel has to use the restroom") George LeMieux was the marionette for all of Charlie Crist's liberal policies as a candidate for governor, when governor and when Crist was a candidate for Senate, and threw much Gov. Jeb Bush's gains under the bus, advising Crist to appointed liberal judges to the bench, fire all the Bush appointees, hold global warming summits at tax payer expense etc.. When George LeMieux was appointed a U.S. Senator, he voted with Obama and the Democrats for a whopping 42 billion dollar " business stimulus" package. Le Mieux was one of only 2 Republicans in the country to do that, ( no Republican from Florida voted for this, hmmm... I wonder why?)
Connie Mack the IV has a completely undistinguished record politically in D.C. (not so in his personal life there). Mack IV's comments on Gov. Jan Brewer's signing of the illegal immigration law in Arizona were hardly, "snarky." Mack verbally excoriated law abiding conservatives who believe Americans should obey the laws of this country, Mack IV called the bill," gestapo-like and nazism." Take a look at California to see what unbridled illegal immigration to do to a state fiscally.
On a much more serious issue, upholding the sanctity of human life, Mack says he is pro-life on abortion, but Mack IV is not solid on the life issue. He sides with Democrats, and voted in 2007 for a morally indefensible bill which would have forced American taxpayers funding the slaughter of human embryos. This reveals a lot about Mack not doing his homework on the issue (a failed science, only Adult Stem Cells work) and also the value he places on the dignity of human life. Mack IV was also a grand marshal in the Crist parade for governor in 2006 and in the 2010 Senate primary against Marco Rubio. This endorsement Mack gave AFTER Crist embraced and campaigned for Obama's trillion dollar stimulus package in FL.
Though Marco "electrified the voters," most voters today are more concerned about Pres. Obama's defeat in this 2012 season. Nelson is not in fact the Cruella DeVil candidate that Charlie Crist was in FL. Again, at this point in time, Rubio was down by double digits.
Hasner just won the CPAC straw poll at P5 in September. Many respected conservatives, including Erik Erickson of Redstate, Mark Levin, Freedom Works, and several pro-life groups have endorsed Hasner. I believe not only is Adam Hasner the most qualified for this seat, he is the only one who can build a coalition of voters in the General election to defeat Nelson and he will out debate him as well.
Mac Jehoff| 11.4.11 @ 10:39AM
Is Adam Hasner one of those rare conservative Jews who is a registered Republican? If so he is also due for the media anal exam.
mysterian1729| 11.4.11 @ 5:02PM
Never forget that Nelson's shuttle flight, part of his "oversight activities," caused STS-51L, Challenger, to be launched on 28 Jan. 1986.
Nite| 11.4.11 @ 5:52PM
I still will not vote for Bill Nelson. He has voted for everything that Obama has thrown at us. He needs to retire.
prsmith| 11.4.11 @ 7:39PM
"that he has a real prospect of being at the top of a Republican ticket one day if that party decides to remain conservative."
--------------------
Can't happen as Rubio is NOT eligible to be the POTUS. Marco Rubio’s parents were NOT U.S. citizens therefore he is NOT eligible to be POTUS or VEEP. If he is a true patriot and supporter of the Constitution, he will immediately call a press conference and announce that he is not a ‘natural born citizen’ because his parents were not U.S. citizens and that he cannot accept any invitation to join a presidential ticket. For more eligibility info, see: http://naturalborncitizen.word.....-citizen/.
Help me make that happen. Go to http://rubio.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contact Tell Rubio that you expect him to do the right thing so that we can both fix the constitutional crisis we currently face and forever prevent another from occurring. This problem should have been resolved following Chester A. Arthur’s administration when it was discovered that his father was not a U.S. citizen when Chester was born – but it wasn’t. Let's finally put this question to rest.
If Rubio will stand tall and make that announcement, it would immediately shine a spotlight on Barry's ineligibility and force the SCOTUS/Congress to act. Help me make that happen! It will only take a couple minutes - please do it now!
Moe Blotz| 11.4.11 @ 9:19PM
Chester Arthur's birthplace was questioned as being in Canada, not in Vermont where the family lived at the time he was born. Were the following not qualified to be POTUS by your criteria?
James Buchanan was born in Mercersburg, PA his father was an Irish immigrant. Andrew Johnson was born in Raleigh, NC his father was an Englishman. Woodrow Wilson was born in Staunton, VA his mother was from Carlisle, England. Herbert Hoover was born in Iowa his mother was from Ontario, Canada. Barack Hussein Obama, mmm,mmmm,mmm, was born in Hawaii his father was a Kenyan national. Go pound sand up your arse.
Mike Hawk| 11.5.11 @ 9:04AM
Furthermore (assuming Barack Sr. is Barry Soetero's father. There is a question.) Obama Sr. was a British subject, making Barry S a British suject in the strictest sense. Obama still hasn't produced any genuine proof of who he is.
Niniane| 11.6.11 @ 1:43PM
Even his SS# is questionable as the number sequence belongs to Connecticut, where there is no evidence that any of his family ever visited. That alone bothers me, and I read somewhere that a woman ran the number through the EVerify system and it came back as invalid. And there are also mumbles on the net that he has used multiple SS#s.
Not a birther by any stretch, but I get uneasy if a man who may have defrauded the government is leading that government.
Mike Hawk| 11.5.11 @ 9:00AM
You need to consult US Code Title 8 Section 1401 buddy. Marco Rubio is a natural born citizen by virtue of the fact his parents were legal residents and he was born in Miami Florida. Before you make stupid statements make sure you know what you are talking about. That point made, No. No Rubio for VP. He needs to be Senate Majority leader. We do not need to flush his career away by nimiating him for VP. VP is the end of the line, not the next step to the WH. (except when the Prsident dies.)
Niniane| 11.6.11 @ 1:53PM
True! Rubio needs to be Majority Leader and Reid needs to go home to his pomegranate trees.
And the SCOTUS case of U.S. v. Wong Kim Ark determined that though his parents were legal residents from China, Wong was indeed a citizen since he was born in San Francisco. The 1898 decision did not address the problem of illegal aliens birthing their children on U.S. soil.
JimH| 11.5.11 @ 2:04PM
Part of the problem is that the Republican party in Florida is perceived as a bunch of crooked clowns. Rubio's success came from being able to appear as running against the GOP insiders. Having lived in Tampa Bay for 10 years now, I know that the Republican party in Florida, particularly those in the statehouse are not real conservatives. Yeah they wrap themselves in the flag and make pious noises regarding school prayer, but they are a bunch of insider dealin, crony capitalist crooks whose number one priority is to keep their phoney baloney jobs.
fmm| 11.6.11 @ 10:49AM
To this end the Senate Conservatives Fund designated Rubio as their candidate in Florida and monetarily supported his run for office with ads and made a big difference. The SCF has yet to endorse any of the republicans in the current race per their web site.
D Roamer | 11.5.11 @ 8:34PM
I would be nice to take the senate, but we need a super majority to do anything. If we have the Rino senators from the northeast states; what I am saying is, we need to do more than just take over the senate, make it secure to knock down Democrats pulling senate rules with their minority shenanigans.
Patricia Touchton| 11.5.11 @ 10:15PM
It would be my pleasure to help dethrone this man. He continually harms Florida in every way possible. I write to him occasionally to tell him this.
Pat Touchton
2nd Generation Fkoridian