UPDATED with Atwater campaign response. In the web video above and on the campaign trail, Democratic chief financial officer candidate Loranne Ausley is blasting her GOP rival, state Senate President Jeff Atwater of North Palm Beach, over his support for a teacher merit-pay bill that was approved by the legislature this year but vetoed by Gov. Charlie Crist.
Get used to seeing Ausley in Palm Beach County over the next two months. Although the area is Atwater’s back yard, it’s also a Democratic stronghold that Ausley believes is key to winning the statewide race.
Read the Atwater campaign’s response after the jump….
DELRAY BEACH — Democratic governor candidate Alex Sink, who visited a roofing business here to tout alternative energy, broke with President Obama and others in her party today by calling for an extension of all the 2001 and 2003 Republican tax cuts that are set to expire at the end of this year.
“I support the extension of the Bush tax cuts because to let them expire is going to hurt our ability to get people back to work,” Sink said. “We need to do everything we can to put people back to work. So that’s why I support the extension of the Bush tax cuts.”
The White House and many Democrats have called for extending most of the income tax cuts, but eliminating them for the wealthiest earners.
Sink said she favors extending all the tax cuts, including the lower rates on all levels of income, capital gains and inheritances.
Rick Scott’s TV campaign in the Republican gubernatorial primary focused heavily on making Bill McCollum appear indecisive on immigration issues.
But now Scott’s own running mate doesn’t seem to be up to speed on the topic. Asked whether she supports one of Scott’s top priorities — bringing an Arizona-style immigration law to Florida — Carroll said the two haven’t talked about the “nit-picky” details. It’s also unclear whether she knew what an “Arizona-style” law entails.
In his new Senate campaign ad, independent Gov. Charlie Crist comes out for “putting people ahead of politics” and takes a hard line against “all the finger-pointing” in Washington.
While Democrat Kendrick Meek released an ad today that touches on several specific issues — the Everglades, offshore drilling, Social Security privatization, abortion, middle-class tax cuts, the minimum wage, credit card fees and residual anti-Bush sentiment — Crist takes a more broad-brush approach.
Crist is for “fixing the economy, creating jobs, helping the middle class.” He doesn’t say how, but promises to “take the best ideas of Democrats and Republicans to get things done.”
Democratic Senate nominee Kendrick Meek’s first general election ad is a clear appeal to Democrats in a three-way race that will require a mere plurality rather than a majority to win.
General election candidates — particularly Democrats this year — often play down their party affiliation. Not Meek, who identifies himself at the beginning of the ad as “the Democrat for Senate, and with three of us running, you should know what makes me different.”
The ad doesn’t mention Republican Marco Rubio or independent Charlie Crist, but includes Meek saying he’s the only candidate “who took on George Bush.”
U.S. Rep. Ron Klein, D-Boca Raton, has released his second TV spot — another attack on Republican challenger Allen West’s handling of his personal finances.
Palm Beach County Commissioner and influential Democrat Burt Aaronson didn’t voice support for the party’s Senate nominee, Kendrick Meek, until an activist in the audience put him on the spot at a party “unity rally” last Thursday night in West Delray.
“I’m supporting Kendrick,” Aaronson replied.
But for how long?
Aaronson says Dems should consider indie Gov. Charlie Crist if Meek continues to be a distant third in the polls.
South Florida Republican congressional candidate Allen West was in Kansas on Saturday to speak at a rally for the “Leavenworth 10″ — soldiers and Marines whose families say they were unjustly convicted by military courts for killing Iraqis during the war there.
“We’ve got to get away from political correctness on the battlefield,” West said in an interview afterward (see video clip above).
Marco Rubio with his father in April signing candidate papers. Getty Images photo.
Mario Rubio, 83, the father of Republican Senate candidate Marco Rubio, died late Saturday at Baptist Hospital in Miami after suffering from emphysema and lung cancer, the Rubio campaign said.
Mario Rubio’s deteriorating health had led Marco Rubio on Friday to cancel a debate scheduled for this morning with Democrat Kendrick Meek on NBC’s Meet The Press. Rubio’s campaign said Marco Rubio, his mother, three siblings and extended family were with Mario Rubio when he died.
Rubio’s Senate campaign will be “on temporary hold,” according to an announcement late Saturday.
Marco Rubio, who in his speeches often speaks of his father’s hard-working example, issued this statement:
Florida Crystals executive José “Pepe” Fanjul and his wife, Emilia, will host the event at their Palm Beach home on Sept. 14. For a $10,000 check made payable to the Republican Party of Florida, you can get into the VIP reception.
Now referring to the political establishment as “statesmen,” Scott held a fundraiser at the Associated Industries of Florida office in Tallahassee this morning with some of the state’s top lobbyists. He has another money event this afternoon at the Johnson Blanton firm, which lobbies for Bank of America, Florida Power & Light, Florida Crystals and a host of health care companies.
The Associated Press says Sunday’s NBC Meet The Press debate between Republican Senate candidate Marco Rubio and Democratic nominee Kendrick Meek has been canceled.
Rubio pulled out because his 83-year-old father’s health has “significantly deteriorated” and he plans to stay with his family, the Rubio campaign said.
The third major Senate candidate, independent Gov. Charlie Crist, had already declined to participate in the debate.
Republican Rick Scott has cut a new TV spot that attempts to paint Demcrat Alex Sink as a tool of President Obama. Of course, both parties are desperate to win the governor’s office, which will play an important role in the 2012 presidential race.
But Scott’s newest ad is the latest indication that he sees a benefit in nationalizing the state race. He did much of the same thing in the Republican primary by making illegal immigration a central theme in that campaign.
Today, in addition to news of the ad, Scott released a statement blaming Sink and “the Obamacrats” for the increasing number of out-of-work Floridians.
U.S. Rep. Ron Klein, D-Boca Raton, ripped Republican challenger Allen West tonight and told a roomful of Democratic activists that the party needs to retain control of Congress to further President Obama’s agenda.
“I’m running against a person who is a right-wing nut,” Klein told the crowd of more than 100 at the Palm Beach County Democratic Executive Committee meeting west of Delray Beach. He read to the partisans from a recent West blog post in which West identified his mission as “destroying the liberal progressive socialist machine and its legislative agenda……Klein is just a stepping stone to that end.”
Said Klein: “What we want on election day is for America to continue to move forward with a progressive agenda…It’s all in our hands to give Barack Obama two more years of a Congress that will work with him to continue to build our country. It’s two more years of an opportunity to build on the good things that we’ve done.”
Snubbing U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, Senate Democratic Leader Al Lawson endorsed independent Gov. Charlie Crist in his bid for U.S. Senate.
Lawson, who is black, is backing Crist, whom Democrat Meek, a black former state lawmaker who served with Lawson in the Florida House, is targeting as his primary opponent in their race against former House Speaker Marco Rubio, the GOP nominee.
Lawson’s endorsement Thursday also comes after state Democrats rallied throughout the state touting party unity after Meek’s whopping victory over Democratic rival Jeff Greene, a Palm Beach County billionaire, in last week’s primary election.
“Florida desperately needs an independent Senator in Washington who will fight for good jobs and economic opportunity, a quality education for every child, and Social Security for all of our seniors regardless of what the political party bosses want,” Lawson said in a press release issued by Crist’s campaign. “Charlie Crist will be exactly that Senator, and I am proud to endorse his candidacy.”
Lawson lost his own stab at going to Washington in the primary election last week in an attempt to unseat incumbent U.S. Rep. Allen Boyd.
Independent Senate candidate Charlie Crist’s campaign released an internal poll that shows the race essentially tied between Gov. Crist (35 percent) and Republican Marco Rubio (34 percent) with Democratic nominee Kendrick Meek pulling 17 percent of the vote.
Says Crist campaign spokesman Danny Kanner: “The race for U.S. Senate is between two candidates: Charlie Crist–an independent leader who will go to Washington to fight for Florida by taking the best ideas from both parties to create jobs and rebuild our economy–and Marco Rubio, who would go to Washington to vote in lockstep with the political party bosses and special interests that got America into this mess in the first place.”
Read Crist pollster Keith Frederick’s polling memo after the jump….
Thursday, September 2nd, 2010 by Michael C. Bender
Media set up this morning near the Blue Angel parked in front of NAS Jax, where Republican Rick Scott will announce Jennifer Carroll as his running mate. Bender/Post
After winning the Republican nomination for governor, Rick Scott told confidantes that he wanted a female running mate with a strong law enforcement-type background.
He found her in state Rep. Jennifer Carroll, a Jacksonville-area Republican who is the former secretary of the Florida Veteran Affairs Department. According to her Florida House bio, she enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1979 and served for 20 years. (Scott is also a Navy veteran — he served on active duty aboard the USS Glover as a radar man.)
Carroll worked as a jet mechanic and retired as a Lieutenant Commander Aviation Maintenance Officer with the Meritorious Service Medal; two Navy Commendation Medals; two Navy Achievement Medals; National Defense Service Medal; Overseas Ribbon; two Coast Guard Special Operation Ribbons; and the Expert Pistol Medal.
Carroll, the second African-American woman picked as a Republican lieutenant governor nominee, helps balance the ticket for Scott. Scott is running against Democrat Alex Sink, who is trying to be the state’s first female governor.
Here’s the e-mail Scott sent supporters this morning about his pick…
Carroll, 51, served 20 years in the Navy and retired as a lieutenant commander aviation maintenance officer.
She was elected to the state House in 2003.
Jennifer Carroll
Her three children include Nolan Carroll II, a fifth-round draft pick by the Miami Dolphins this year. Post sports writer Ben Volin recently profiled Nolan Carroll, who overcame broken legs in high school and college to become an NFL draft pick.
“Bud” Chiles will officially drop out of the governor’s race tomorrow and is throwing his support behind the Democratic nominee, Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink.
Chiles – the son of Florida’s last Democrat governor, the late Lawton Chiles for whom he was named -could have been a spoiler in the governor’s race for Democrats who feared the independent candidate could be the Ralph Nader of Florida elections by pulling votes away from Sink. Many Democrats blamed Al Gore’s 2000 election loss to President George W. Bush on Green Party candidate Nader. Gore lost by 537 votes; Nader received 97,421.
Representatives from The Children’s Movement of Florida and the University of Miami announced today they will host a debate with Florida gubernatorial candidates Oct. 16 to discuss issues affecting children in Florida.
Organizers of the debate, which will be held at UM’s BankUnited Center and is open to the public, said Democratic candidate Alex Sink has confirmed her attendance.
The movement’s co-chairman, David Lawrence, said he had not heard if Republican candidate Rick Scott would attend, even though he and Scott met about six weeks ago to discuss children’s issues.
“Nothing is more fundamental than what is and will be the status of children. I can’t believe he wouldn’t accept,” said Lawrence during a conference call with media today, adding that he thinks this gubernatorial debate is the first nationwide that focuses solely on children’s issues. (more…)
BP oil spill claims czar Ken Feinberg, hired by the oil giant and President Barack Obama to hand out $20 billion to individuals and businesses impacted by the massive oil blowout in the Gulf of Mexico, overpromised and underdelivered, state officials and others said today.
Feinberg took over BP’s maligned claims process on Aug. 23, pledging he would “bend over backwards” to help claimants get emergency six-month payments to help them cope with the financial woes many have encountered since the April 20 disaster.
Feinberg last appeared before Gov. Charlie Crist’s Oil Spill Economic Recovery Task Force last month and left even skeptical members of the panel, including Department of Children and Families Secretary George Sheldon, with high hopes that the Boston lawyer would fix BP’s botched claims system.
But Feinberg’s new process, called the “Gulf Coast Claims Facility,” is leaving a lot to be desired, many of the panelists discovered Tuesday.
“I never thought I’d say this but part of me would like BP back,” said Sheldon, who was one of the oil company’s harshest critics before Feinberg took over. “What he articulated to all of us was something totally different than what’s in this protocol.”
The panel is demanding that Feinberg appear before them again and plans to confront him with a transcript of what he said he would do, like allow a priest to verify that information in a claim was accurate, and what they hear is taking place. (more…)
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