It isn’t just Republicans who are trying to capitalize on the tea party movement and Scott Brown’s surprise Massachusetts Senate win.

As the April 13 special election approaches to replace former Democratic Rep. Robert Wexler in Palm Beach-Broward congressional District 19, Democrat Ted Deutch’s campaign has sent a mailer to voters in the heavily Democratic district warning that “Republicans & The Tea Party Want To Capture YOUR Congressional Seat!”

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Lynch

But “fire-breathing liberal” Robert Wexler is.

So Lynch, running in an April 13 special election to replace Wexler, was warmly received by thousands of conservatives this afternoon.

“He is a candidate for the next House election that’s going to occur…It’s the seat vacated by that loudmouth Robert Wexler in Florida that you might remember from cable television,” said Wall Street Journal columnist John Fund in his introduction of Lynch.

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Lynch

During the primary, Budd and a third GOP candidate, Curt Price, criticized Lynch’s business dealings and said they wouldn’t support him if he won the primary. But Budd changed his tune at tonight’s Palm Beach County Republican Party meeting.

Budd

Democrat Ted Deutch and no-party candidate Jim McCormick are also on the ballot.

For whatever it’s worth, Budd didn’t use the word “endorse” or any of its variants in his announcement. When asked afterward if his announcement constituted an endorsement, Budd said “it was announcing support…I believe he’s the best candidate standing.”

The West Boca Chamber of Commerce breakfast at Boca Lago Country Club was the first joint appearance by Democrat Ted Deutch, Republican Ed Lynch and no-party candidate Jim McCormick. The three are running in an April 13 special election to replace Wexler, who stepped down last month to head a Middle East think tank.

Deutch said accused 9-11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed should not be tried in New York City, as originally proposed by the Obama administration. But Deutch said he supports trying some accused terrorists on American soil in American civilian courts and noted that several high profile terrorists were tried and convicted in federal court during the Bush administration.

Lynch and McCormick took a harder line.

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McCormick

But today McCormick has a place at the dais for the debate that’s set to begin soon. Chamber President Barry Epstein said the chamber changed its mind after McCormick sent an e-mail last night suggesting he might file a lawsuit if he wasn’t included.

McCormick, Lynch and Deutch are running in the April 13 special election for the District 19 congressional seat to replace Robert Wexler, who left office last month to head a Middle East think tank.

“We’re a chamber of inclusion, not exclusion,” said Epstein. On Monday, Epstein said McCormick wasn’t invited because he’s “not viable.”

Deutch and Lynch won their respective primaries last week in Palm Beach-Broward District 19. Wexler left his seat last month to head a Middle East think tank.

A third candidate, Jim McCormick, is on the April 13 ballot with no party affiliation. West Boca Chamber President Barry Epstein said McCormick wasn’t invited because he is “not viable.”

The 7:30 a.m. breakfast costs $25. To make a reservation, call 561-852-0000.

Lynch

“I was really surprised with how lousy the turnout was. I was expecting at least twice as many voters as that,” said Ed Fulop of the local Glenn Beck-inspired 9-12 group. Ed Lynch won a Republican primary that had only 7.4 percent turnout after all three GOP candidates aggressively courted the Tea Party/9-12 vote.

Read about it in this week’s Politics column.

GOP congressional candidates (from left) Ed Lynch, Curt Price and Joe Budd.

Lynch has taken heat for tax liens and court judgments, but says they just prove he’s not afraid to fight the federal government. Lynch and his supporters have also pushed back against Budd over his past business dealings.

Read about it here.

Lynch

Lynch’s statement says Solomon “left the campaign on his own accord under no pressure or direction from myself, I apologize if I have defamed his character in anyway, I wish him the best of luck to him in his future endeavors.”

Lynch said he issued the statement because “someone was saying that he got fired from the campaign.”

Solomon won a $5,000 judgment in Palm Beach County Circuit Court against Lynch last year for work he did on Lynch’s 2008 campaign against former U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Boca Raton.

Lynch said the judgment is “a situation that we’re dealing with and it will be dealt with pretty expeditiously.” He said he doesn’t “necessarily agree” with the amount of the judgment.

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Primaries — especially those for low-turnout special elections — are dominated by a party’s most partisan voters. So all three of the Republican candidates in next week’s special congressional District 19 primary have fielded questions about their past histories outside the GOP.

Lynch: accidental Dem?

After taking some heat during the primary for his Democratic past, Lynch’s campaign Web site this week posted a copy of a New Jersey record showing he was registered as a Republican in the Garden State from 1992 to 2000.

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Deutch: 10-to-1 money edge over Dem primary foe

Democratic state Sen. Ted Deutch has piled up nearly $1 million in campaign contributions for the race and spent $684,578 while his rival in the Feb. 2 Democratic primary, Ben Graber, says he has raised and spent around $100,000.

In the GOP primary, contractor Ed Lynch reports that he has raised $59,277, including $19,500 of his own money, and spent $50,175. But Lynch’s report says he has $84,455 in cash on hand because of money carried over from his losing 2008 campaign.

Republican candidate Joe Budd raised $23,142, including $10,000 of his own money. A third GOP candidate, Curt Price, raised $2,411 from contributors and kicked in $53,500 of his own money.

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GOP congressional hopeful Curt Price, one of three candidates in the Feb. 2 Republican primary for the congressional District 19 seat, will begin airing his first TV spot on cable Friday, his campaign says.

With Price, Joe Budd and Ed Lynch all running on conservative platforms, Price highlights his biography as “son of a shoe salesman,” former cop and small business owner who has “lived the American dream” and who pledges to vote against any bill that expands government.

Check out some of the other District 19 candidate ads here and here.

At tonight’s Republican Jewish Coalition forum with the three GOP candidates running in a special Feb. 2 congressional primary, the most interesting question was the last, and it was only three words:

Crist or Rubio?

Joe Budd, Ed Lynch and Curt Price all declined to state a preference in the Senate primary.

Budd mentioned he’s “intrigued” by another candidate in the primary, former New Hampshire Sen. Bob Smith. But both Budd and Lynch criticized Smith for briefly endorsing Democrat John Kerry in 2004 to spite George W. Bush.

The winner of next month’s Republican congressional primary will face the winner of the Ted Deutch-Ben Graber Democratic primary and no-party candidate Jim McCormick in an April 13 general election to replace Democrat Robert Wexler.

Lynch

Lynch says he’s been battling the federal bureaucracy since 2007 to receive about $5 million for remodeling work his DeLeon Industries did on a VA hospital in Miami. While waiting for the money, Lynch says he was unable to pay some subcontractors, who filed court claims against DeLeon Industries. That explanation was included in a column published today.

Later today, Lynch released a statement accusing the feds of delaying payments “because I refused to sit idly by and watch the V. A. Medical Center in Miami and its corrupt administration put our veterans’ health at risk while wasting taxpayer money.”

Read Lynch’s entire statement after the jump….

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Lynch

The liens are the result of a long-running dispute in which Lynch contested the IRS’ valuation of a business he sold, says Lynch, who says he has prevailed in the matter and won’t owe any back taxes.

“It looks like we settled it. I’m just waiting for them to send me the paperwork,” he said last week.

He blamed the court judgments on a separate dispute with the federal bureaucracy.

Read about in this week’s Politics column.

Republican congressional hopeful Joe Budd moved to Florida after a business failure left him $600,000 in debt. That information comes not from an opponent’s attack ad but from Budd himself in his first 30-second spot before the Feb. 2 special GOP primary.

Budd, who often brings up the the business setback on the campaign trail, says he does so to highlight character issues and to let voters know he understands tough economic times.

“Instead of filing bankruptcy, I worked hard and sacrificed to pay it off,” he says in the ad. “…I understand your fears and concerns, having lived through them myself.”

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Three candidates so far have produced 30-second ads in the special congressional election to replace retiring Democratic U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler.

Check ‘em out after the jump…..

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Seven candidates are running to replace U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Boca Raton, in an early-2010 special election. The field of candidates was set at noon today with three Republicans, two Democrats and one no-party candidate qualifying for ballot spots and frequent filer Josue Larose making a write-in bid.

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State Sen. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, praised President Obama’s Afghanistan strategy as “thoughtful” during a Voters Coalition debate Thursday while his rival in a special Democratic congressional primary, Ben Graber, declared himself “against the escalation in Afghanistan” and opposed to “militarism” in general.

It was the most significant policy difference between the Dems vying to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Boca Raton. Both voiced support for a government-run public option as part of health care reform.

Three Republicans running in the special election were supportive of Obama’s call for 30,000 more troops. GOP candidates Ed Lynch, Joe Budd and Curt Price also took similar positions against tax hikes, gun control and a public option.

It looks like only one of the three Republicans who want to replace Democratic U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler in a special election turned in enough valid signatures to qualify for the ballot without paying a $9,912 filing fee.

According to unofficial totals from the Palm Beach County elections office and official Broward County numbers, financial planner Joe Budd met the goal of 1,163 signatures from voters who live in Wexler’s congressional District 19 while retired police officer Curt Price and contractor Ed Lynch did not.

Both Price and Lynch said they plan to contact the elections offices to inquire about rejected petitions. They can still get on the ballot by paying the filing fee by noon Friday. Democrats Ted Deutch and Ben Graber plan to qualify by paying the fee. Nonpartisan candidates can qualify by paying a $6,608 fee.

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