Serial presidential adviser and CNN political analyst David Gergen kicked off the lecture series at former Sen. George Lemieux‘s new Center for Public Policy at Palm Beach Atlantic University on Thursday night, speaking to a crowd of about 400.
Gergen — who advised Republican Presidents Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford and Democratic President Bill Clinton — revealed that he voted for Democrat Barack Obama in 2008, but not in 2012. But Gergen said he didn’t vote for Republican Mitt Romney last year.
“I didn’t vote Republican this last time around,” Gergen said during a question-and-answer session with LeMieux as both sat on leather chairs in the school’s DeSantis Family Chapel. “I voted for Mayor (Michael) Bloomberg, a write-in, because he’s my kind of leader. He’s very socially liberal but he’s very tough-minded on the fiscal side and I think he’s been a great leader.”
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie — potential 2016 GOP presidential rivals — will be in Palm Beach next week for separate fundraisers before heading to Coral Gables for a weekend with top Republican National Committee donors.
Christie, who’s up for re-election this year in the Garden State, will attend a $3,800-a-head cocktail reception on March 7 at the home of Jana and John Scarpa.
Rubio is slated to raise money the following night for his Rubio Victory Committee with a $1,000 cocktail reception at the home of Jim and Dot Patterson and a $10,000-a-person dinner at the home of Pepe Fanjul, according to the esteemed Michele Dargan in The Palm Beach Daily News.
On March 9 and 10, Rubio and Christie will be at The Biltmore in Coral Gables for an RNC event that also features former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Texas Sen. and tea party superstar Ted Cruz.
CNN political analyst and former presidential adviser David Gergen will give a speech at the LeMieux Center for Public Policy at Palm Beach Atlantic University on March 21.
Gergen, who worked for Presidents Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Clinton, will deliver the inaugural speech at the joint venture between West Palm Beach private university and former U.S. Sen. George LeMieux. LeMieux, a Republican, served 19 months in the Senate after then-Gov. Charlie Crist appointed him to fill a vacancy created by U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez, who retired.
Here’s the release from the LeMieux center on Gergen’s appearance:
Former U.S. Senator George LeMieux today announced the inaugural speaker for the LeMieux Center for Public Policy at Palm Beach Atlantic University. Presidential advisor, national political analyst and Harvard School of Government Professor David Gergen will speak to students and special guests at the University on Thursday, March 21 at 7pm ET.
In addition to his work at Harvard, Gergen is a senior political analyst for CNN who served during the administrations of four U.S. presidents. He is a professor of public service at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and the director of its Center for Public Leadership. In 2000, he published the best-selling book, Eyewitness to Power: The Essence of Leadership, Nixon to Clinton.
“I am very excited and pleased to welcome David Gergen as the LeMieux Center’s inaugural speaker. As a journalist, an analyst, and a senior advisor to four U.S. presidents, David brings an unparalleled depth of insight into national politics and first-hand accounts of America’s leading political figures,” said Senator LeMieux. “One of the reasons the LeMieux Center was founded at Palm Beach Atlantic was to give students opportunities for conversations about public policy and leadership. There are a series of substantial and ongoing issues facing Florida and America, and a need for thoughtful consideration in how to address these challenges. I look forward to David presenting his insights at the University.”
Palm Beach Atlantic University and former Sen. George LeMieux will make a “major announcement” this morning at 11 a.m. in the Warren Library. No further information has been made public.
LeMieux, the former Chief of Staff to Gov. Charlie Crist, was appointed to the Senate by Crist in 2009 when Sen. Mel Martinez retired. LeMieux served 16 months in the Senate and agreed not to run for the seat in 2010 so Crist could have a clear path to the Senate. But LeMieux ended up backing Marco Rubio when Crist left the GOP for an independent candidacy.
LeMieux attempted a return to the Senate earlier this year, but dropped out of the race in June and endorsed Connie Mack IV, who lost to Bill Nelson.
Shortly before leaving office in 2010, LeMieux donated his papers from his time in office to Palm Beach Atlantic. Although he didn’t attend the university, LeMieux said at the time he selected Palm Beach Atlantic because “I like the fact that it’s here in South Florida, where I’m from, and I also like the fact that it’s a Christian school that’s trying to teach the whole student.”
LeMieux currently serves as the Chairman of the Board of the Gunster law firm.
Longtime Palm Beach County Republican Party Chairman Sid Dinerstein said today that he will step aside in December after 10 years.
Dinerstein has been elected to five consecutive two-year terms as head of the county GOP. His current term ends in December.
“It’s been 10 years and it’s a volunteer job and my wife and I have given up a lot of things so that I could do this. This is a discussion that went on over many months and it has absolutely nothing to with the outcome of the election,” Dinerstein said.
In a county where Democrats hold a registration advantage over Republicans of about 16 percentage points, Dinerstein has played the role of happy warrior, championing Republican positions and long-shot candidates.
But Dinerstein had an uncharacteristically pessimistic take on President Barack Obama’s reelection Tuesday. (more…)
With independent voters shifting to his side, President Obama has regained the lead in Florida over presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, while in the Florida Senate race, Democrat Bill Nelson would edge Republican Connie Mack, a poll Thursday shows.
The Quinnipiac University survey showed Obama with a 46-42 percent lead over Romney, reversing its own May poll that showed the Republican with the advantage in the nation’s biggest toss-up state.
Independent voters, which a month ago were siding more with Romney, have shifted toward Obama, who now holds a 46-37 percent advantage in those not allied with either party.
“At this point, Romney is not well-defined in the minds of many voters, especially those in the middle,” said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac poll. “This movement reflects that uncertainty among voters who are up for grabs.”
Florida’s U.S. Senate race also appears up-for-grabs. The survey’s release coincided with the departure of Republican GeorgeLeMieux from the race, whose dropping out appears to clear the nomination path for Mack, already the clear frontrunner.
Mack was supported by 41 percent of Republican voters in the survey, with neither remaining rivals, former Army Col. MikeMcCalister or former U.S. Rep. Dave Weldon cracking double digits.
Nelson, seeking a third term in the Senate, still tops Mack by 43-39 percent, Quinnipiac found. Mack and Nelson were tied in the school’s May survey.
Brown said the “projected November election between U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson and Mack looks like it could go down to the wire.”
“Sen. Nelson gets modest reviews from voters who give him a 47 – 32 percent job approval rating,” Brown said. “By 46 – 33 percent they say he deserves another term. He gets a 44 – 26 percent favorability rating. By comparison, Mack has a 34 – 22 percent favorability rating, with 42 percent who don’t know enough about him to form an opinion.”
The telephone survey was conducted June 12-18 and included 1,697 registered voters. It has a margin-of-error of plus-or-minus 2.4 percentage points.
Former appointed Sen. George LeMieux has ended his Republican primary bid for U.S. Senate, all but handing the nomination to his bitter rival, Rep. Connie Mack.
“To continue would only hurt our chances in the fall, and that is not something that I will risk. Connie Mack will be our nominee. He has my support,” LeMieux said this morning in a statement released by his campaign.
LeMieux has trailed badly in polls and has watched Mack score major endorsements, including from former Gov. Jeb Bush and presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney. Mack announced last week that he saw no reason to engage LeMieux and other candidates in GOP primary debates, saying those events would only help Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson.
“The establishment has thrown their support behind my competitor, Connie Mack. Ahead of us in the polls, the Mack name enjoys widespread recognition that can only be matched with substantial advertising or the opportunity to debate on statewide television. Advertising, which our finances cannot support, and debates, which my competitor won’t agree to,” LeMieux said.
“It is not my nature to step aside, but there is a reality to running a statewide race in Florida. Without the resources or the opportunity to debate, our message simply cannot be heard,” LeMieux said.
With former Gov. Jeb Bush and other big-name Republicans backing Rep. Connie Mack‘s Senate bid and polls showing him with a sizeable lead over his GOP rivals, the Mack campaign says a debate of Republican candidates would only help Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson.
So Mack has turned down invitations from The Orlando Sentinel and The Tampa Bay Times to participate in debates with GOP rivals George LeMieux, Mike McCalister and David Weldon. And Mack has effectively said no to an invitation from Leadership Florida to participate in a July 24 Republican primary debate in Tallahassee.
“We are prepared and willing to debate Sen. Nelson and feel that at this point any such Republican primary debate exercise would only serve to benefit Sen. Nelson, which no Republican wants to see,” Mack spokesman David James said today.
Former Gov. Jeb Bush has endorsed Rep. Connie Mack in the Republican U.S. Senate primary, Mack’s campaign announced this afternoon.
Along with Sen. Marco Rubio, who has not endorsed in the primary, Bush is the most sought-after endorsement in Florida Republican politics.
Here’s Bush’s statement, released by the Mack campaign: “Connie Mack is the principled conservative that the people of Florida deserve representing them in the U.S. Senate. Connie has the courage, conservative values, experience and determination to confront the tough issues facing our nation. We must return conservatives to the majority in the U.S. Senate. Connie is the person Floridians need in Washington working with Senator Marco Rubio to reduce our national debt and limit out-of-control spending.”
Mack has been locked in a bitter Republican primary against former appointed Sen. George LeMieux, who has repeatedly attacked Mack’s character. Former Rep. Dave Weldon and businessman Mike McCalister are also pursuing the GOP nomination to challenge Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson.
Sustained character attacks from Republican primary rival George LeMieux and fretting by some GOP activists about his campaign don’t appear to have damaged U.S. Rep. Connie Mack‘s Senate bid, according to new polls from Quinnipiac University and NBC News-Marist.
The Quinnipiac poll shows a virtual tie between Mack and Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson, with Mack up by a 42-to-41 percent margin that’s within the poll’s 2.4 percent margin of error. In the GOP primary, Quinnipiac has Mack clobbering LeMieux by a 40-to-7 percent margin.
The NBC-Marist poll gives Nelson a 46-to-42 percent lead over Mack. That poll has a 3 percent margin of error.
Both new polls suggest the race has tightened since last month, when a Rasmussen poll gave Nelson an 11-point lead and a poll by the Democratic firm Public Policy Polling showed Nelson up by 10 points. Quinnipiac’s last poll on the race in late March had Nelson up by 8 points.
Less than three months before the Aug. 14 GOP primary, former Space Coast Republican Rep. Dave Weldon has entered the Republican race for U.S. Senate, joining frontrunners Connie Mack and George LeMieux.
Weldon’s announcement doesn’t mention Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson, but criticizes President Obama and mentions “tough choices that will determine our national direction for the next 4 years,” even though Senate terms are six years. The Weldon campaign also released an Obama-slamming video that doesn’t mention Nelson.
Weldon, a physician, was elected to Congress in the Republican wave of 1994. He opted not to seek reelection in 2008. In the House, he had a reputation as a friend of Israel and foe of abortion who had a lifetime 92.5 percent rating from the American Conservative Union.
Nelson was once considered a top GOP target. But a shifting GOP field (Adam Hasner, Mike Haridopolos and Craig Miller have dropped out; Mack declared himself out in early 2011 before jumping in later in the year) and an increasingly nasty fight between Mack and LeMieux have soured Republican hopes.
Democrats responded gleefully to the Weldon news.
“The fact that there’s still so much turmoil in the Republican field less than six months from Election Day speaks volumes about their party’s challenges in Florida,” said Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee press secretary Shripal Shah.
Read Weldon’s announcement statement after the jump.
Former appointed Sen. George LeMieux defended and reiterated his character attacks against his main GOP Senate primary rival, Rep. Connie Mack, during an appearance this morning on MSNBC.
“If Connie Mack is the nominee, I don’t think he can beat Bill Nelson. It’ll be a race about character. Connie Mack can’t win a character contest with Bill Nelson,” LeMieux told host Chuck Todd.
LeMieux has called Mack, son of a popular former Florida Senator with the same name, a “Half Mack” and repeatedly criticized the younger Mack’s past fistfights, financial woes and residency questions. Todd asked LeMieux if he regretted the personal nature of his attacks on Mack and if he thought they would hurt the GOP if Mack becomes the nominee.
“He’s trying to run a campaign where people will mistake him for his father. And we can’t make that mistake,” LeMieux said. “If he is the nominee we will lose.”
Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney has endorsed Rep. Connie Mack in Florida’s contentious GOP Senate primary.
Mack, who has been facing a barrage of character attacks from GOP primary rival George LeMieux, was a key surrogate for Romney before Florida’s Jan. 31 presidential primary.
At a rally in Dunedin the day before the primary, Romney referred to Mack as the “next U.S. Senator from Florida.”
Romney made it official today, issuing this statement: “Connie Mack is a friend, a strong conservative and the type of principled leader we need in Washington to restore fiscal responsibility. By electing Connie Mack, the people of Florida will be sending a clear message to Senator Nelson and President Obama that their failed policies have not worked to change the borrow and spend ways of Washington.”
Nearly 58,000 pieces of mail touting a key component of Rep. Connie Mack‘s Senate campaign were sent to voters around Florida at taxpayer expense this month, a violation of congressional rules that Mack blamed on a vendor error but GOP primary rival George LeMieux called “a coordinated campaign effort.”
Mack and other members of Congress are allowed to send “franked” mail to their constituents at taxpayer expense. But about two-thirds of a recent 90,000-piece mailer from Mack’s office touting his “Penny Plan” to reduce the federal deficit went to addresses outside his Fort Myers-area district.
Mack campaign spokesman David James said a New Jersey-based subcontractor who also does work for Mack’s campaign mixed up mailing lists and sent the congressional mailer to a list that included voters outside Mack’s district.
U.S. Rep. Connie Mack‘s campaign is pouncing on GOP Senate primary rival George LeMieux for saying he would have voted for the RESTORE Act, which requires that 80 percent of fines collected from BP for the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill go to Florida and other Gulf states.
Florida Sen. and tea party icon Marco Rubio was the only Gulf State Senator to oppose the measure in March. Rubio said he “proudly supported” the legislation originally, but the final Senate product had become “a raw deal that increases taxes, creates a new environmental bureaucracy, and could steer money to places like the Great Lakes and West Coast that had nothing to with the oil spill.”
LeMieux, who was in the Senate as an appointee when the 2010 spill occurred, said “Those dollars need to come to the Gulf Coast. You remember I was in Pensacola and all throughout Northwest Florida half a dozen or so times in the aftermath of the Gulf oil spill….In general it’s a good bill and I would have supported it.”
Mack’s campaign released a statement from U.S. Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Pensacola, criticizing LeMieux.
“I am extremely disappointed that George Lemieux indicated he would have voted for the Senate Democrats’ version of the Transportation Bill,” said Miller. “Although the RESTORE Act is a critical provision for those areas affected by the Deepwater Horizon disaster, the Senate version of this bill contains a massive tax increase and redirects $1.4 billion to the Land and Water Conservation Fund, creating a huge federal power grab. The House version of the transportation bill that Representative Mack and I supported did not contain the tax hikes or land grabs of the Senate bill, yet still supports the affected areas of the Florida coast. Floridians need to be careful that we don’t replace a Big Government Democrat in the Senate with a Big Government Republican. Connie Mack is the conservative we need in the Senate.”
State Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, a former executive director of the Christian Coalition of Florida and the original sponsor of Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law, is endorsing George LeMieux in the Florida GOP Senate primary.
Baxley rips the GOP frontrunner, U.S. Rep. Connie Mack, as “not ready to serve” and says Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson “will tear Mack apart if he is the Republican nominee.”
Here’s Baxley’s statement, released by the LeMieux campaign:
“Today I am proud to join Herman Cain and 31 other State Legislators and endorse George LeMieux for US Senate. George is a faithful husband and father, and has a solid pro-life, pro-family, pro-free enterprise, pro-Second Amendment voting record. He is the most competent candidate we have to beat Bill Nelson. Connie Mack IV is not his father. Mack has an abysmal personal financial legacy, attacked Arizona for addressing its illegal immigration problems, and supports embryonic stem cell research. I served with Connie in the Florida House and love him dearly, but he has performed poorly and is not ready to lead. Nelson will tear Mack apart if he is the Republican nominee. George LeMieux is the only candidate who can defeat Nelson and we must stand with George to take back the Senate in November.”
Minnesota Rep. and former Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann is endorsing U.S. Rep. Connie Mack in Florida’s Republican Senate primary, likening Mack to Senate tea party faves Marco Rubio and Rand Paul.
Bachmann is the second former GOP candidate with a tea party following to weigh in on the Senate race recently. Herman Cain came out for George LeMieux over the weekend.
Says Bachmann: “Connie has been a steadfast fighter for freedom, less government and a fiscal hawk together with me in the United States Congress. For every good proposal passed out of the House, the liberal Senate under Harry Reid and Bill Nelson have stopped it, including Connie’s recent proposal to build the Keystone XL Pipeline without Presidential approval. Senators like Marco Rubio and Rand Paul need other like-minded conservatives in the Senate to stop the liberals from tearing down our nation. America needs Connie Mack in the U.S. Senate.”
Former appointed Sen. George LeMieux, whose reputation as former Gov. Charlie Crist‘s “maestro” once made him the embodiment of the Florida GOP establishment, has been endorsed by Herman Cain, who hailed LeMieux’s anti-establishment credentials at a Hernando County GOP dinner over the weekend.
“Tonight was the first time I ever heard Sen. LeMieux. And I’m sitting there thinking to myself: He’s saying everything I would say,” businessman and former GOP presidential candidate Cain said.
“This is the type of person that we need in Washington, D.C. — people who are not afraid to challenge the establishment,” said Cain, who said he didn’t tell LeMieux or his own staff in advance before making the endorsement.
LeMieux and Rep. Connie Mack are the leading Republican contenders for the nomination to take on Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson.
U.S. Rep. Connie Mack, R-Cape Coral, isn’t merely looking beyond GOP Senate primary rivals George LeMieux and Mike McCalister in his paid media campaign. Mack is also skipping traditional introductory bio spots aimed at general election voters and proceeding straight to specific attacks on Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson.
Mack’s first TV ad, released earlier this month, blasts stimulus supporter Nelson for a $144,541 provision in the $787 billion legislation to study the effects of cocaine on monkeys.
Obama and Nelson
Mack’s first radio ad, released today, takes aim at Nelson and President Obama for opposing a Senate measure last month to approve the Keystone XL pipeline. While voting against the measure, Nelson did vote for a failed Democratic version that would approve the pipeline on the condition that none of the Canadian crude oil be exported.
Read the transcript of Mack’s radio ad after the jump…
FORT LAUDERDALE — U.S. Rep. Connie Mack faced some tough questions tonight when he ventured onto GOP Senate primary rival George LeMieux‘s home turf and appeared before the Broward County Republican Executive Committee that LeMieux once chaired.
The crowd of more than 200 was polite but not particularly fired up as Mack, the frontrunner in GOP polls, contended that he’s the best candidate to challenge Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson in November.
LeMieux
“Obviously I know where I am tonight,” Mack said to LeMieux’s hometown crowd. “But I know that we have the same goal in mind. We want to beat Sen. Nelson…..I’ve got a very strong campaign.”
Fielding written questions from the audience, Mack was asked to differentiate himself from LeMieux and businessman Mike McCalister.
Mack didn’t mention his rivals, but touted his record of supporting limited government. Then, he added, “This is about Sen. Nelson. This race is about who is best able to beat Sen. Nelson and kick Harry Reid out of the Majority office. And I am in the best position to do that.”
Mack, who is married to California Rep. Mary Bono Mack, was asked how much time he spends in California and whether he’d release travel logs.
