Romney-Scott World: no one told anyone to tone anything down

Democrats are high-fiving over the latest anonymous-source story that explores the message wedge between Mitt Romney and Rick Scott over the economy.

The former wants to remind voters how bad the economy is and blames Obama. The latter wants to remind how good the economy is getting and wants credit. And their opponents say the opposite (that is, that Florida is in bad shape because of Scott but is improving thanks to Obama).

Scott and the Republican Party of Florida have taken the extraordinary step to run television ads touting the governor and the economy even though he’s not on the ballot. And, yes, it conflicts somewhat with what Romney is saying. We explored the contradictions in March, when RPOF began running the ads.

Now, Bloomberg reports that folks from Romney’s camp told Scott to “tone it down.” State and national Democrats can't get enough of it. But the higher-ups in Romney and Scott worlds say that the substance of the report isn’t true.

Here’s what we specifically asked Brian Burgess (Scott’s chief spokesman), Tony Fabrizio (Scott’s top political adviser and pollster) and Romney’s Florida advisers Brett Doster and Albert Martinez,: did anyone affiliated with the Romney campaign directly or indirectly ask Scott directly or indirectly to ‘tone down’ his message.

The answer: No.

Jeb Bush commends Obama on education reform, chastises on deportations

After Mitt Romney addressed the NALEO conference of Hispanic leaders in Miami, Jeb Bush took the stage and drew a much more enthusiastic reception than the former Massachusetts governor. Switching back and forth between English and Spanish, Bush spoke about the importance of reforming the education system through higher standards, more accountability and school choice.

"To me this.this is the great civil right, and you as leaders in your communities need to take a stand and to be strongly supportive of education reform, to move to a child-centered system where children truly have a greater chance of gaining the power of knowledge,'' Bush said, arguing for higher standards, accountability and more school choice.

Education reform is one area where Bush often agrees with the Obama administration, and the Republican former governor said he was proud to introduce President Obama last year at a Miami high school.

"I don't know about you, but when we find common ground we shouldn't fight any more. We should move on and build on that success,'' Bush said. "Apparently one can get in trouble when they say these kinds of things, but I happen to believe it's the American Way. There's enough to fight about."

Bush was considerably less charitable about the president's move last week to halt some deportations.

"it was a purely political move to pre-empt, and that’s exactly what the motive was," Bush said of Obama. "He’s had supermajorities in the House and Senate to fulfill his promise he made in the last campaign, and what we’ve heard are crickets. I mean, not a single move. And then to do this was a good political move. Bad policy in the sense that it’s a stopgap -- it creates continued uncertainty for a whole lot of people who don’t deserve it.”

-- Adam C Smith, Tampa Bay Times

Board approves tuition hikes ranging from 9 to 15 percent

The Florida Board of Governors finally settled on tuition increases for the state's 11 universities after more two hours brokering.

The process wasn't pretty, seeming arbitrary and auction-like. At one point, board member Ava Parker put it this way: "There seems to be no method to our madness."

Yet, they continued. And here's the final roundup: 

Romney slams Obama's immigration record but softens tone on illegals

Speaking before an influential Hispanic group Thursday, Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney said President Barack Obama has failed to enact immigration reform and offered his own plan, calling for permanent residency for highly skilled college graduates and members of the military and a “high-tech fence to enhance border security.”

But Romney did not address the biggest and most vexing immigration issue: What to do with the 11 million undocumented residents already living in the United States. And he was vague on how to deal with the children of illegal immigrants that a growing number of Republicans say should get some protection.

Overall, however, his tone and proposals marked a dramatic departure from the GOP primary, when he took hard-line immigration positions and attacked his rivals for being soft.

“Some people have asked if I will let stand the president’s executive action,” he said referring to Obama’s announcement last week that he would block deportation of young illegal immigrants. “The answer is that I will put in place my own long-term solution that will replace and supersede the president’s temporary measure. As president, I won’t settle for a stop-gap measure.”

His speech before the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, was met with tepid applause but signaled his broadest remarks on immigration, which leapt back into focus with Obama’s announcement last Friday.

Story by Alex Leary and Adam Smith here.

Mitt Romney at NALEO

ORLANDO – Mitt Romney outlined a broad immigration policy before an influential group of Hispanics on Thursday, saying Presidnet Obama failed to enact reform while offering his own plan that calls for permanent residency for highly skilled college graduates and members of the military, a streamlined work visa system and a “high-tech fence to enhance border security.”

"Some people have asked if I will let stand the President's executive action. The answer is that I will put in place my own long-term solution that will replace and supersede the President's temporary measure," Romney said. "As President, I won’t settle for a stop-gap measure.  I will work with Republicans and Democrats to find a long-term solution.  I will prioritize measures that strengthen legal immigration and make it easier. And I will address the problem of illegal immigration in a civil but resolute manner. We may not always agree, but when I make a promise to you, I will keep it."

Exceprts from his speech.

Rubio's book media blitz continues

 

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., met with reporters Thursday to tout his new book -- and of course got asked about everything from immigration to the pending contempt vote in the House over the Fast and Furious controversy.

The highlights from the Christian Science Monitor breakfast:
*Attorney General Eric Holder should resign, Rubio said. A House committee on Wednesday voted to hold Holder in contempt over the department's refusal to turn over documents related to the Justice Department's Fast and Furious gun operation. President Barack Obama has claimed executive privilege in the matter -- his first such assertion in his presidency.

*When asked to address the questions this week over whether he'a being vetted as Mitt Romney's running mate, Rubio declined to comment. "I don't talk about process at all," Rubio said. "But I have a new book!"

*Rubio continued to decry the politicization of the immigration debate, saying that the Obama Administrations's move last week to let some young illegal immigrants stay in this country only temporarily addresses the problem. "I think he injected election-year politics into an issue that, privately, we were making progress on," Rubio said.

GOP debate in Wasserman Schultz district

No need to wait for the GOP Congressional District 23 debate to start, well, debating when the planning for the debate started.

We wrote a blog yesterday saying that the 7 p.m. June 28 debate at the Old Davie School House will be minus one key candidate: Karen Harrington had already scheduled a fundraiser for that night.

Karen Harrington spokesman Anthony Bustamante said yesterday: "We literally got notice like a week and a half ago," Bustamante said. "We already had prior engagements that evening. We have already been at two other forums -- it's not like we haven't participated in getting Karen's message out."

BREC sent an email to candidates about the debate June 1 and Bustamante responded June 3 so if we want to get technical that was closer to two and a half or three weeks. But let's hope the candidates come up with some meatier issues to debate than the scheduling of the debate.

Ozzie deFaria, Joe Kaufman, Gineen Bresso and Juan Eliel Garcia have confirmed. The GOP contenders are competing for the chance to face U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Weston) who has raised more than $2 million and is the DNC chair.

 

Obama's new FL ad targets women voters

From Obama for America, which says it's running this 30-second spot in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, North Carolina, Nevada, Ohio, and Virginia.

Q Poll shows Dems up in FL: Nelson over Mack 43-39, Obama over Romney 46-42

From Quinnipiac:

U.S. Rep. Connie Mack has an overwhelming lead over the Republican field for Florida’s U.S. Senate nomination, while Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson edges him by a nose, 43 – 39 percent, in a November match-up, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll.

A shift by independent voters gives President Barack Obama a 46 – 42 percent lead over Republican Gov. Mitt Romney in the Sunshine State, according to the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University poll.

In the GOP U.S. Senate primary, Republican registered voters give Mack 41 percent, while none of the other three candidates crack double digits.  Former U.S. Sen. George LeMieux gets 8 percent, with Tea Party favorite Mike McCalister at 5 percent and former U.S. Rep. Dave Weldon at 3 percent.  Another 39 percent of Republicans remain undecided.

“At this point, the Republican Senate nomination is Congressman Connie Mack’s to lose,” said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. “In politics, anything is possible and we still have two months to go until the Senate primary, but it would take a major change in public opinion for one of the other candidates to stop Connie Mack.  And the projected November election between U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson and Mack looks like it could go down to the wire.”

Mack also runs best against Nelson among the GOP hopefuls. The Democratic incumbent‘s leads over the other GOP Senate aspirants is in double digits: 47 – 32 percent over LeMieux; 45 – 34 percent over McCalister and 47 – 31 percent over Weldon.

Nelson’s razor-thin lead over Mack compares to a tie in the May 24 Quinnipiac University poll with Mack at 42 percent and Nelson at 41 percent.