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Saturday, September 25, 2004 |
| A good pre-game tailgate party and a good game overall. Us College Republicans had quite a thing going as swarms of people came up asking for 'Noles for Bush and Bush-Cheny '04 stickers at our tailgate party. Our starting quarterback Chris Rix(who is quite unpopular) got knocked out of the game and the backup Wyatt Sexton played well to the delight of the students who gave him a hero's welcome as he walked off the field after the end of the game. Florida Senate Campaign comment []7:25:27 PM  trackback []
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Tuesday, August 31, 2004 |
| Miami-Dade results show that Martinez won there by 70,000 votes. Florida Senate Campaign, Politics comment []9:56:28 PM trackback []
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| A total thrashing of Peter Deutsch so far... Florida Senate Campaign, Politics comment []9:19:42 PM trackback []
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| Just cast my optically-scanned ballot. I'm in a Democratic precinct in a Democratic county, so my ballot was fairly short. The voting room was as sleepy as one would expect. I've posted an article to Red State about the final days of the Republican primary: Heel of the Hunt: The final days of Florida's GOP Senate Primary. All for now... keep your eye on Frances!!! Florida Senate Campaign, Jackpotzrebie, Politics comment []10:35:54 AM trackback []
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| On primary day, the top story is the St Petersburg Times' withdrawal of its endorsement of Mel Martinez. The funny thing is that yesterday afternoon the Martinez campaign sent an e-mail with the subject "Martinez sweeps newspaper endorsements". With the reversal of the Times' endorsement and the endorsement of the Tampa Tribune and Florida Times-Union, Bill McCollum received the endorsements from three of the five largest newspapers in the state. Hard to see how that constitutes a sweep for Martinez. In twist, Martinez endorsement pulled (Tampa Tribune)
Other articles make mention of the endorsement without making it the central focus.Martinez loses papers support (South Florida Sun-Sentinel) Swipes begin to sting for Martinez and McCollum (Florida Times-Union)
U.S. Senate race ends with a snarl (St Petersburg Times) To win votes, candidates down to the wire (Miami Herald) Front-runners up last-minute attacks despite GOP's pleas (Palm Beach Post) Ex-cabinent member struggles in Florida state primary (New York Times) Senate race, voting issues grab attention in primary (Associated Press) Florida Senate Campaign, Politics comment []7:54:55 AM trackback []
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Monday, August 30, 2004 |
| Something that I missed in the daily news roundup: As a result of Martinez' attacks on Bill McCollum, the St Petersburg Times has pulled its endorsement of Martinez and is now endorsing Bill McCollum. A sampling of today's editorial: No matter what else Martinez may accomplish in public life, his
reputation will be forever tainted by his campaign's nasty and
ludicrous slurs of McCollum in the final days of this race. The slurs
culminated with Martinez campaign advertisements that label McCollum -
one of the most conservative moralists in Washington during his 20
years as a U.S. representative - "the new darling of the homosexual
extremists" because he once favored a hate crime law that had
bipartisan support. A few days earlier, the Martinez campaign arranged
a conference call with reporters in which a group of right-wing
Martinez supporters labeled McCollum "antifamily." Why? Because
McCollum supports expanded stem cell research to find cures for deadly
diseases - a position that is identical to those of Nancy Reagan,
Connie Mack and many other prominent Republicans.
McCollum for GOP (St Petersburg Times)
Florida Senate Campaign, Politics comment []6:11:57 PM trackback []
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| A quiet news day as the candidates make their final rounds in search of votes. The latest Insider Advantage poll, taken on Friday and Saturday, shows Mel Martinez leading by one point over Bill McCollum with 20% of voters undecided. Weekend poll shows Martinez surging; Race a 32 percent Martinez to 31 percent McCollum free-for-all. (Florida Insider)
Most articles on the race look at how the candidates spent their day on Sunday.Pew time prevails in campaign stretch (St Petersburg Times)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------GOP Senate hopefuls ratchet up campaigns (Palm Beach Post) Democrats with eyes on Senate hit streets (Palm Beach Post) Senate races down to wire (Orlando Sentinel) McCollum, Martinez locked in tight Senate primary (Associated Press) Deutsch rallies S. Florida backers (Sun-Sentinel) The Tampa Tribune looks at the McCollum-Martinez feud ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Gainesville Sun frets about negative campaigning Florida Senate Campaign, Politics comment []9:32:38 AM trackback []
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Sunday, August 29, 2004 |
| I'll post the real update later, but one quick thing for now: The Florida Times-Union endorsed Betty Castor and Bill McCollum. LATER: I realized I should have noted just how much later I was going to be with the complete update (Had second day of drill, plus the drive from Orlando to Tallahassee). Anhyhow, here goes: Mel Martinez says that he had already decided to pull his ad attacking McCollum before Jeb Bush called him. Bush to Martinez: Pull ad (Orlando Sentinel)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Martinez pulls TV ad ripping McCollum (Palm Beach Post) A few general articles on the final days of the campaigns GOP front-runners get personal as tight Senate primary nears (Palm Beach Post)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Undecided (Florida Times-Union) Castor, Deutsch make their pitches personal (St Petersburg Times) Democratic senate candidates court minorities (Palm Beach Post) Republicans face off in U.S. Senate primary (Daytona Beach News-Journal) Democratic candidates tout similarities as party strives to keep seat (Orlando Sentinel) The Miami Herald looks at how gay issues have suddenly surfaced in the final week of the Republican campaign. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Florida Times-Union lists each candidate and the three issues that the candidates considers to be the most important. Florida Senate Campaign, Politics comment []5:48:42 AM trackback []
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Saturday, August 28, 2004 |
| Late post as I'm doing my one weekend a month drill in Orlando. The feud between McCollum and Martinez has sunk to new lows. Governor Bush asked Mel Martinez to pull his ad attacking McCollum and he did so. In last night's debate McCollum said that he was so offended by Martinez' attacks that he could not support him if Martinez were to win the nomination. Jeb Bush steps into bitter primary (Knight - Ridder)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Martinez pulls ad attacking McCollum (Associated Press) Anger escelates as McCollum seeks apology from Martinez (Palm Beach Post) Bitterness boils over at GOP debate (St Petersburg Times) U.S. Senate candidates Bill McCollum and Mel Martinez trade barbs (Orlando Sentinel) A poll by the St Peterburg Times and Miami Herald has Betty Castor with a 24 point lead over Peter Deutsch. On the Republican side, it shows McCollum leading Martinez by two points. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Palm Beach Post has an article on the Doug Gallagher campaign and one on McCollum at a Hillsborough County middle school. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The St Petersburg Times has an article on the 'also-ran' candidates ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Miami Herald has a brief article on Betty Castor's position on abortion ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Sun-Sentinel has an article on the Democratic side of the race Florida Senate Campaign, Politics comment []10:59:23 PM trackback []
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Friday, August 27, 2004 |
| Contrary to what the Orlando Sentinel anticipated a couple of days ago, President Bush's remarks at his rally in Miami today made no mention of Mel Martinez. In attendance were Representatives Mark Foley (a former Senate candidate who has endorsed Martinez) and Mario Diaz-Balart (who has endorsed Bill McCollum. Florida Senate Campaign, Politics comment []7:46:37 PM trackback []
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| The Democrats had a debate last night and new polls came out for the Republican side of the race, which made this quite a busy news day. The details of the Republican half of the Mason - Dixon poll are out. It shows Mel Martinez leading Bill McCollum by six points, which is an eleven point swing from the July poll. It indicates that Martinez leads in all regions, with central Florida being his strongest and South Florida as his weakest (the region is Doug Gallagher's strongest). 18% of voters are undecided. I believe this 'lead' is far too high. It doesn't coinicide with either of the internal polls released a few days ago, and it doesn't agree with another poll released yesterday (see next item). The story buried in the polling stuff is that former candidate and state State House speaker has decided to endorse Bill McCollum after Martinez campaign driven attacks against McCollum's conservatives. Mason-Dixon poll Florida Senate race (Republican) August 23-24 (.doc format)
Neither GOP leader leader captures clear Senate race advantage (Palm Beach Post) Polls unclear on front-runner (Miami Herald) Martinez leads GOP pack (Tallahassee Democrat) Martinez takes lead in Senate race, poll says (Orlando Sentinel) Martinez leads McCollum in poll (Tampa Tribune) Martinez overtakes McCollum (News-Press) A poll from Advantage 2000, commisioned by the Florida-Times Union and South Florida Sun-Sentinel . It contrasts strongly against both halves of the Mason-Dixon poll. It shows Betty Castor's lead against Peter Deutsch to be a mere eight points, and it shows McCollum leading Martinez by four points. It indicates that 10% of Democrats and 13% of Republicans are undecided. It was conducted August 23-25, which means that it has one later day of data than the Mason-Dixon poll. Research 2000 Florida U.S. Senate race poll August 23-25 (Florida-Times Union)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Leading U.S. Senate candidates fight to hold on (Florida-Times Union) Poll shows Republican candidates for U.S. Senate race are neck and neck (Sun-Sentinel) The Democratic debate that was televised state-wide on PBS stations featured the ongoing feud between Betty Castor and Peter Deutsch. Deutsch went after Castor on a variety of issues including Sami Al-Arian and partial-birth abortion (which Castor is against). Democratic Senate Candidates' Debate Not Without Fireworks (Tampa Tribune)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Deutsch-Castor debate includes pointed exchange (Orlando Sentinel) Gloves come off in last debate (St Petersburg Times) Tempers flare in debate finale (Miami Herald) Three Democratic Senate candidates meet in final debate (Herald-Tribune) Castor, Deutsch trade barbs over former USF professor (Palm Beach Post) The Republican candidates debate tonight and it will be televised state-wide on PBS. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Palm Beach Post covers a story that other papers mentioned in their debate articles. A group calling themselves Alliance to Protect Seniors is making phone calls that disparage Peter Deutsch. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Staying with the Post, they have an article on the Alex Penelas campaign. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Associated Press has a biographical article on Bill McCollum. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the St Petersburg Times takes a look at the money awaiting the nominees from both parties. Florida Senate Campaign, Politics comment []9:46:22 AM trackback []
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© Copyright
2004
Charles Fenwick
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Last update: 9/25/2004; 7:25:33 PM .
Last update: 9/25/2004; 7:25:33 PM .
