Former Republican Rep. Allen West has nixed the idea of a 2014 rematch against Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Jupiter, who unseated him in November.

National Republicans would love state Sen. Joe Negron, R-Stuart, to challenge Murphy next year, but Negron is opting to remain on the Senate president track.

At least eight other Republicans have shown some interest in running for Murphy’s Palm Beach-Treasure Coast congressional District 18 seat. With Murphy already building a warchest of more than $600,000, candidates are under pressure to decide soon whether to enter the race and start raising money.

Read about it in this week’s Politics column….

With just days remaining until the race is decided, Republican Adam Hasner is hammering Democrat Lois Frankel with this ad. He calls out Frankel for taking Digital Domain contributions (without referencing Digital Domain by name), and continues to criticize Frankel for the $13,000 bathroom that was built for the West Palm Beach mayor’s office under Frankel’s watch.

The House Majority PAC, a Democratic SuperPAC, has released an anti-Adam Hasner ad slamming the Republican congressional candidate for not supporting embryonic stem cell research.

The ad features a woman saying that she will be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 20 years and won’t recognize her husband or family; a young man saying he will be the victim of a car accident during a camping trip and be paralyzed for the rest of life.

Then there’s the young girl who says, “Next week my mommy and daddy and are going to find out I have diabetes.”

The future victims hold up photos of Hasner asking questions: Is he a doctor? Is he a scientist? Why did Mr. Hasner bet my life that he knows best?

“Help me,” they all say.

The ads ends with the little girl asking, “How come he gets to decide who lives and who dies? Who’s he?”

The ad does not mention Lois Frankel, Hasner’s opponent in the District 22 congressional race. The PAC made identical ads against other Republican candidates.

The Florida Democratic Party has released “The Romney/Hasner tapes” which compares Congressional District 22 Republican candidate Adam Hasner to GOP nominee Mitt Romney.

It puts two videos side-by-side. The first video shows Hasner speaking to a group and saying, “And when you think about the fact that you have nearly 50 percent of Americans not paying taxes, you have nearly 50 million Americans on entitlement programs, on food stamps, you realize that we’re reaching that point.”

Then, it shows Romney at the now infamous Boca Raton fundraiser earlier this year saying, “There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it. That’s an entitlement.”

The Democratic Party then asks: “Does Adam Hasner think, like Mitt Romney, that our seniors, veterans, and young adults don’t pay taxes and view themselves as victims?

Hasner is facing Democrat Lois Frankel. Polls have shown Hasner anywhere from down 10 points to tied in the race.

Less than two weeks until Election Day, it’s Lois Frankel’s mayoral bathroom that’s making national headlines in the District 22 congressional race.

The Washington Post today previewed the race between Democrat Frankel and Republican Adam Hasner, highlighting Hasner’s strategy to run a TV ad with a woman on a toilet saying Frankel’s “gotta go.”

The bathroom in Frankel’s old West Palm Beach mayoral office first made headlines several years ago when the new city hall was under construction and a Palm Beach Post gossip columnist wrote that Frankel was installing a chic bathroom in her office.

So I took a tour of the bathroom on Tuesday which is now being occupied by Mayor Jeri Muoio.

Muoio, who was supported by Frankel in Muoio’s mayoral run last year, said it was the architect, and not Frankel, who decided to install the $13,000 shower and bathroom in the mayor’s office.

Hasner’s ad:

Democrat Lois Frankel released a new ad in the District 22 congressional this weekend saying Republican Adam Hasner wants to cut education to give tax breaks to millionaires. After positive ads in the beginning of the general election, both candidates have been attacking each other. Hasner’s most recent ad shows a woman on a toilet saying Frankel’s “gotta go.”

Recent polls have shown everything from a 10-point advantage for Frankel to a tie.

Adam Hasner is going after Lois Frankel in a very personal way — right in the bathroom.

Earlier in the District 22 congressional campaign, when the Young Guns Super PAC was running anti-Frankel ads, Hasner was able to stay away from negative ads against Frankel.

But with the Young Guns now shifting its resource to the West-Murphy race, Hasner is spotlighting the posh bathroom in Frankel’s West Palm mayoral office, pay raises and an expensive helicopter ride.

Lois Frankel leads Adam Hasner 47 percent to 44 percent in a poll released today by WPTV/FL Democracy 2012.

The poll of 500 likely voters has a 4 percent margin of error. This comes the same day the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee poll showed Frankel with a 10-point lead over Hasner.

WPTV’s poll showed that 34 percent of voters in District 22 have a favorable view of Frankel while 31 percent have an unfavorable view. Hasner had a 31 percent favorability rating with 27 percent unfavorable.

President Obama is leading Mitt Romney 51 percent to 44 percent in the Palm Beach/Broward district, which has a 9 point edge in registered Democrats.

Frankel leads women voters 54 percent to 38 percent while Hasner leads male voters 50 percent to 39 percent.

Frankel lead non-affiliated voters 47 percent to 41 percent.

Perhaps surprising is that Hasner leads Frankel 47 percent to 43 percent in Palm Beach County, while Frankel has a 50 percent to 41 percent advantage in Broward County.

While both candidates are from Palm Beach County, Frankel is from the heart of the county in West Palm Beach, while Hasner is from Boca Raton in far south county. However, 20 percent of the district is in Boca/Delray while only 5 percent is in West Palm Beach.

Lois Frankel and Adam Hasner squared off for the first time today at The Palm Beach Post District 22 congressional debate.

Before they talked about Medicare and the housing crisis, they immediately went after each other on more touchy issues — Digital Domain and Super PACs.

“(Former Digital Domain CEO) John Textor donated $20,000 to (Frankel’s) campaign,” Hasner said. “It goes along the lines of a long culture of corruption we’ve seen in West Palm Beach for far too long. … Why did John Textor get money from the city of West Palm Beach and was it in response to the $20,000 he gave to Frankel’s campaign?”

Digital Domain was the visual effects company that recently went bankrupt after receiving money and grants from the state, West Palm Beach and Port St. Lucie. Frankel was mayor of West Palm Beach when the city entered into an agreement with Digital Domain. West Palm Beach has already spent $2 million and is fighting in court to get $10 million in land back that it gave to Digital Domain. (more…)

An hour before Lois Frankel and Adam Hasner debate at The Palm Beach Post a new poll released by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee shows Frankel with a 49 percent to 39 percent lead over Adam Hasner. The poll sampled 450 likely voters over the phone by an automated survey.

The same poll showed President Obama defeating Mitt Romney in District 22 by a 53 percent to 43 percent margin.

District 22 gives a statistical advantage to both Frankel and Obama, with Democrats having a 40 percent to 31 percent edge in registered voters over Republicans. The remaining voters in the district are not affiliated with the party.

According to the DCCC’s poll, Frankel is known known by 63 percent of District 22 and has an overall favorability rating of 37 percent, while Hasner is known by 43 percent of the district and has a 30 percent favorabilty rating.

The third quarter filings were released today with Lois Frankel and Adam Hasner raising nearly the same amount of money in their congressional race and Hasner having more cash on hand.

Frankel raised more in the third quarter, which ran from July 26-Sept. 30.

The filing shows Hasner has raised a total of $2.86 million while Frankel had raised $2.83 million. Frankel outraised Hasner in the third quarter $566,875 to $422,456.

As of Sept. 30, Hasner still had $679,583 in his war chest while Frankel had $380,919. The filings also show that Frankel has yet to donate the $20,000 in contributions that she received from Digital Domain executives. Frankel said she would donate the money after The Palm Beach Post last month asked her about the donations.

“We still firmly believe we’ve got the best message and the best candidate and we have more cash on hand heading into the last three weeks of this campaign to effectively communicate our message,” said Brad Herold, Hasner’s campaign manager.

In an e-mail statement, Frankel spokesman Joshua Karp said, “We are excited about the grassroots support our campaign has received. This is a hard fought campaign. It takes the support of a lot of people to be able to communicate your message to voters in both Palm Beach and Broward counties during the last three weeks of the election. We are excited to bring our message of middle class values to the the entire district.”

Frankel

Hasner

Democrat Lois Frankel and Republican Adam Hasner, who are vying for the Palm Beach-Broward congressional District 22 seat, will debate at The Palm Beach Post on Wednesday, Oct. 17 at 10:30 a.m.

The 60-minute debate is not open to the public, but will stream live at www.palmbeachpost.com and at www.wptv.com. WPTV Channel 5 will also show a tape of the debate on Sunday, Oct. 21 at 12 noon.

Hasner and Frankel will answer questions posed by journalists from The Palm Beach Post and WPTV.

Members of the public can also submit questions for consideration. If you’d like to pose a question, send it to george_bennett@pbpost.com. For your question to be considered, include your full name and the city where you live.

Whether you enjoyed or despised the “Flush Frankel” ad, you might have seen it for the last time.

After spending more than $200,000 to reserve air time on Palm Beach County market TV stations for anti-Lois Frankel ads, the Young Guns Super PAC is shifting its focus to Republican Allen West’s opponent, Democrat Patrick Murphy. The anti-Frankel ads have run for a couple of weeks.

“The plan from the start was always to split a portion of that for Colonel West,” Brad Dayspring, spokesman for the Super PAC, said in an e-mail. “Congressman West is a 2010 Young Gun, has dedicated his life to service, and is a problem solving, straight talking leader.”

The Super PAC’s strategy would seem to contradict the StPetePolls.org poll released yesterday that shows Democrat Frankel and Republican Adam Hasner in a tight race and West with a 12-point lead over Murphy.

Instead of disputing Monday’s StPetePolls.org poll that showed Lois Frankel and Adam Hasner in a dead heat at 44 percent each (with 12 percent undecided) in the District 22 congressional race, Frankel’s campaign is spreading the word about the razor-thin poll and asking supporters for donations.

“The first 24 hours after a poll like this is released are the most critical. All eyes will be on our response,” Frankel’s campaign manager Jon Bray wrote in an e-mail to supporters. “Please contribute now to have your gift matched. For this email only, a generous donor has agreed to match all gifts made in the next 24 hours.”

With Democrats having a 9-point registration advantage over Republican in redrawn District 22, and Allen West opting to leave the district, Frankel entered the race as a large favorite. But the poll, taken largely after Wednesday’s presidential debate, shows Hasner hanging with Frankel. Hasner’s campaign reported raising $650,000 in the most recent quarter.

Despite Monday’s poll, other outlets are still convinced Frankel will win the race. The Cook Political Report and Roll Call have the race as “Likely Democrat” while Rothenberg calls it “Democrat Favored” and Sabato’s Crystal Ball says the race “Leans Democratic.”

While Democrat Lois Frankel has a big statistical advantage in District 22 based on party registration, a new poll released today by StPetePolls.org shows Frankel in a dead heat with Republican Adam Hasner.

The poll, conducted Wednesday through Friday (much of it after the presidential debate) shows Hasner at 44.6 percent and Frankel at 44.3 percent with 11.2 percent undecided. The poll has a 4.9 percent margin of error. This comes after Hasner’s campaign reported raising $650,000 in the most recent quarter.

Seven other congressional races were polled across the state with incumbent Republican Allen West holding a 52.6 percent to 40.6 percent lead over Democrat Patrick Murphy in District 18 with 6.8 percent undecided and a margin of error of 3.3 percent. That poll included double the amount of the normal sample size “because of how close the CD18 race had been reported,” according to a spokesman for StPetePolls.org.

All eight of the congressional polls surveyed only residents who had voted in the last four years and said they were planning to vote on Nov. 6.

The poll break down showed that while only 9.5 percent of 147 registered Republicans said they planned to vote for Frankel, 15.9 percent of the 176 Democrats polled said they would vote for Hasner. Frankel was leading Hasner 44.8 percent to 31.3 percent of 67 independent voters with 23.9 percent undecided.

The West-Murphy poll also had more Democrats supporting the Republican than Republicans supporting the Democrat. Of 350 Democrats polled, 15.1 percent said they would vote for West. Of 406 Republicans polled, 7.9 percent said they would vote for Murphy. West led Murphy 50.4 percent to 43.4 percent among 113 independent voters surveyed, with 6.2 percent undecided.

The Police Benevolent Association, a nemesis of Lois Frankel during her second term as West Palm Beach mayor, endorsed Adam Hasner today and had some harsh words for Frankel.

“Lois Frankel has a 25-year record of more spending and rambling priorities, and her time as mayor was marked with arrogance, marble bathrooms in city hall, and a police helicopter being commandeered by Frankel to attend a party,” John Kazanjian, president of the PBA, said in a statement. “West Palm Beach couldn’t afford Lois Frankel then, and we certainly can’t afford to send Lois to Washington now.”

Frankel and the PBA publicly feuded in 2010 after West Palm Beach halted police step raises. The union accused the city of gross mismanagement, and refused to work SunFest. Union members protested for days outside SunFest and Frankel’s adult son was arrested after grabbing an anti-Frankel protest sign away from a protester. The charges were later dropped.

Frankel’s campaign declined comment.

In the release, Kazanjian said, “When it comes to having an open mind, listening to both sides, and taking a responsible, results-oriented approach to keeping our community safe, there is only one choice in the race for Congress in Florida’s 22nd district — Adam Hasner.”

“I appreciate that the PBA understands my proven record of standing up to gangs and my work to provide law enforcement with the tools needed to make our neighborhoods safer here in South Florida,” Hasner said in a statement.

Hasner has also been endorsed by the Nonpartisan Voter’s Coalition, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, National Federation of Independent Business and Associated Builders and Contractors.

Frankel has been endorsed by the Human Rights Campaign, League of Conservation Voters Action Fund, Service Employees International Union and Florida Alliance of Retired Americans.

Hank Aaron and Sandra Fluke are two names that don’t normally come up in the same sentence.

He’s baseball’s non-steroid-enhanced home run king. She’s the advocate for contraceptive coverage who became a Rush Limbaugh target and political celebrity. They’re both helping Democrat Lois Frankel raise money next week for her congressional race against Republican Adam Hasner.

Fluke, who will headline a Sunday fundraiser for Frankel in Boca Raton, gained national attention this year when House Republicans wouldn’t let her offer committee testimony on her argument that Georgetown University, a Catholic school where she was a law student, should be required to cover contraceptives in its health insurance plan. Palm Beach resident Limbaugh called her a “slut,” drew massive condemnation, and later apologized.

Baseball Hall of Famer Aaron, who’ll appear with Frankel at a fundraiser next Thursday, has a home on the same block as Frankel in West Palm Beach and contributed $1,000 to her campaign last year. Aaron retired in 1976 as baseball’s all-time home run king with 755 round trippers. Barry Bonds broke Aaron’s mark in 2007, but the record is tainted by Bonds’ use of performance-enhancing drugs, though Bonds claimed he didn’t knowingly use them.

After WPTV-Channel 5 briefly pulled an anti-Lois Frankel ad from the airwaves, the Super PAC financing the ad says it made a minor tweak to please the NBC affiliate.

The ad was pulled after Frankel’s campaign disputed a line that said “Frankel went on a spending spree resulting in a budget deficit.” Frankel’s campaign argued that cities are required, by state law, to balance their budget each year. While West Palm Beach faced a large budget shortfall in Frankel’s final year as mayor, the city ultimately balanced the budget.

Brad Dayspring, a senior adviser for the conservative Super PAC Young Guns Action Fund, said the PAC has tweaked the ad to say “She went on a spending spree with our money. You? Higher taxes to pay for it.” (more…)

WPTV-Channel 5 pulled this controversial anti-Lois Frankel TV ad from the air this evening after complaints from Frankel’s campaign. The helicopter ride and marble bathroom weren’t in dispute. Instead, Frankel got the ad yanked over the claim that her spending spree caused a budget deficit.

Cities are required, by state law, to balance their budget each year. While West Palm Beach faced a large deficit in Frankel’s final year in office, the city made the necessary (and required) cuts to balance the budget. By the same measure, Frankel has touted balancing the budget as one of her accomplishments. Again, balancing the budget is required by law.

WPTV station manager Lloyd Bucher said Monday that the ad is being pulled “until there are changes made to the commercial.”

“There was a claim that there was a budget deficit, and that was never corroborated,” Bucher said.

The ad was purchased by The Young Guns Action fund, a conservative Super PAC. Young Guns is paying WPTV $173,750 to run ads through the election.

Bucher said it’s common for campaigns to complain about ads, but rare for an ad to actually be pulled.

“The stations have a duty to look into supporting corroboration,” Bucher said.

Joshua Karp, a spokesman for Frankel, said in a statement, “stations have an obligation to protect the public from false, misleading and deceptive advertising, and the station here recognized that the advertisement in question was all three.”

Bucher said he expects Young Guns to release a new version of the ad.

“I’m sure they’re going to fix it and adjust it,” Bucher said.

As of now, the ad is still running on other networks and on cable.

Frankel is facing Adam Hasner in the District 22 congressional race.

Mitt Romney and Republicans today accused President Obama of downgrading the U.S. relationship with Israel and minimizing the killing of the U.S. ambassador and three others in Libya during a 60 Minutes interview that aired Sunday night.

White House spokesman Jay Carney restated the administration’s support for Israel during a briefing today and accused Obama’s critics of a “desperate attempt to grasp at words and phrases here to find political advantage.”

The sharp exchange has particular significance in South Florida, where Republicans have tried to cut into traditionally strong Jewish support for Democrats by characterizing Obama as a weak ally of Israel.

Adam Hasner, a congressional candidate and former state House majority leader from Boca Raton who is a key emissary for Romney to Jewish voters, ripped Obama for not meeting with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York this week.

And Hasner blasted Obama for calling Israel “one of our closest allies in the region” and using the word “noise” when answering a question about whether the U.S. felt pressured by Netanyahu to specificy conditions for military action against Iran.

(more…)