Political sons, unite: Jeb Bush Jr. endorses Connie Mack IV

Jeb Bush Jr. threw his support on Friday behind Rep. Connie Mack IV for U.S. Senate, a chance for the two sons of well-known Florida politicians to appear together and, well, talk about their fathers.

"We have a lot of things in common," Mack, a Fort Myers congressman, told three reporters at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables. "One of them is we have fathers that are very respected."

Mack's father, Connie Mack III, was also in Congress. Bush is the son of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.

Mack said Bush Jr. will co-chair his campaign. Bush praised Mack's "honor, integrity and dogged determination." Mack made no mention of his Republican primary opponents, former Sen. George LeMieux and Mike McCalister, and instead tried to tie incumbent Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson with President Barack Obama, calling them "lockstep liberals."

"That's a good thing, we welcome that," Mack said about former rival Adam Hasner dropping out of the Senate race to run for Congress. "But this race is really about Sen. Nelson."

Bush, for his part, last held a made-for-press endorsement for former Gov. Jon Huntsman, before Huntsman dropped out of the presidential primary. Bush has since backed Mitt Romney.

"I am a Mitt man," he said. "I think it's time for us as a party to get behind one candidate.

"In terms of Dad," Bush added, "we'll see."

Shakeup: Adam Hasner to run for West's CD seat; Mack could walk in U.S. Senate primary

The dominoes are falling.

U.S. Senate candidate Adam Hasner will likely leave the race and run for Allen West's soon-to-be-vacated Congressional seat, a source tells us. West's seat looks a lot like Hasner's old legislative Delray Beach-based district.

Hasner's move makes sense on more levels than that. Rep. Connie Mack, of Fort Myers, is cruising in the U.S. Senate race, leading in the polls and, soon, fundraising. Hasner could have handled that.

But Hasner's campaign was dealt a serious blow, of sorts, bythe presidential campaign of Mitt Romney, who stumped in the final days across Florida with Mack. Mack picked up precious TV time and the aura of the favored.

Meanwhile, to avoid a bloody primary, leadership in the U.S. House asked Hasner to run for West's seat. But first, West had to announce he'd leave his seat and run for Tom Rooney's seat. And before that happened, Rooney had to announce he'd leave his district and run for a new district.

Connie Mack still has to run in a primary, though, and former Sen. George LeMieux is sticking with it. At least for now.

All of the shifting has been sparked in large part by the Constitutional requirement to redraw congressional districts every 10 years after the U.S. Census. A new state constitutional requirement forbids state legislators, who must redraw the maps, from favoring or disfavoring an incumbent or political party.

 Translation: It's a recipe for a lawsuit.

So now the question is: What happens to this Republican congressional musical-chairs game if Democrats sue and win the right to have new maps?

Bill Nelson: I raised $1.4 million

From a press release:

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson’s re-election campaign now has $8.5 million in the bank, with about $1.4 million brought in during the just-ended fourth quarter of last year, the campaign announced today.

In a Facebook posting, the campaign also said the final down-to-the-penny figures were still being tallied for reporting to the FEC by the Jan. 15 deadline.

 “The figures reflect strong support for Sen. Nelson,” Christian Robinson, a campaign representative, said.   “Meantime, the senator remains focused on doing his job for Florida. He’s always believed that if you do your job the politics will take care of itself.”

 At the end of the third quarter, Nelson’s campaign had more money in the bank than any other Democratic U.S. senator up for re-election this year.

 

Head fake! Connie Mack raises $758k, 50 percent more than initially indicated

A week ago, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Connie Mack sent out a memo suggesting he raised about $500,000.

Surprise!

Now he reports raising $758k in the fourth quarter. That's about 50 percent more. Good expectations management.

"Last week I said that I believed our campaign would exceed our $500,000 fundraising goal for the fourth quarter. Thanks to you, boy did we ever," campaign manager Jeff Cohen wrote in a memo.

Along with money from his congressional re-election account, Mack reports he has $918,000 in the bank.

 

Rubio opens new Tallahassee digs

Call it a homecoming of sorts.

U.S. Senator Marco Rubio has opened an office in a city -- and building -- he knows well: the state Capitol.

Having a Tallahassee office will enable Rubio, a former Speaker of the Florida House, to stay in direct contact with state officials, spokesman Alex Conant said Wednesday. Constituents will also be able to swing by for assistance with federal agencies.

Rubio landed the space after seeking help from Gov. Rick Scott last year, Conant said.

"The governor’s staff located the space for us," Conant wrote in an email to The Miami Herald.

The monthly rent is "about $1,300," Conant said. The check goes the Florida House, which Conant said is leasing the office from the state, and subleasing it to Rubio.

Rubio's new digs are on the 21st floor of the Capitol and have a great view of downtown Tallahasee. A copy of the painting Washington Crossing the Delaware is on display in the reception area.

Rubio has other Florida offices in Miami, Orlando, Tampa, Naples, Jacksonville and Pensacola.

His counterpart in the U.S. Senate, Democrat Bill Nelson, has a Tallahassee office in the federal courthouse.

Adam Hasner loses his mouthpiece..... to New Jersey GOP

Doug Mayer, described here in July as US Senate candidate Adam Hasner's new mouthpiece, has left Florida for the verdant splendor of the Garden State, where he's the new spokesman for the New Jersey Republican Party, according to Politicker NJ.

Mayer's departure isn't a big shock for Hasner. There's relatively little attention being paid to the Republican Senate race amid the jockeying for Florida's Jan. 31 GOP presidential primary. There's just not much for a spokesman to say. Also, Hasner is struggling in the bottom of the polls right now, which can affect fundraising, which makes it tougher to pay a spokesman who has not much to say.

The voluble Rick Wilson and Alberto Martinez are still with Hasner. And we recently got a press release from someone named Hannah Tarrian, so Hasner might still be overstaffed.

Hasner still has time. The primary is  Aug. 14. That's a few lifetimes in politics. Still, US Rep. Connie Mack is dominating in the primary and former Sen. George LeMieux looks like a distant number 2 in most polls. Hasner is often vying in the single digits with Mike McCalister and Craig Miller.

Democrat calls out Marco Rubio for voting against El Salvador ambassador nominee

 Hispanic politics sure can get complicated in South Florida.

To wit: Annette Taddeo-Goldstein, the (Colombian) Democrat who ran -- without the hyphenated last name -- against Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (Cuban) in 2008 and again unsuccessfully for Miami-Dade County Commission last year, sent out an e-mail blast Monday night condemning Republican Sen. Marco Rubio (Cuban) for voting to block to nomination of Mari Carmen Aponte (Puerto Rican) to serve as U.S. ambassador to El Salvador.

Phew.

Senate Republicans, including Rubio, voted against Aponte's confirmation on Monday. They cited questions about an old live-in boyfriend of Aponte's who was a Cuban spy and allegedly tried to recruit her (in a spy-caper twist, there was also a report that the boyfriend was an informant for the U.S.). The FBI cleared Aponte, who later received two top security clearances -- but not before the chatter scuttled her 1993 nomination by President Bill Clinton to serve as ambassador to the Dominican Republic.

Republicans also took issue with a gay rights op-ed Aponte wrote in a Salvadoran newspaper. She is temporarily serving as ambassador in the Central American country, having been named to the post by President Barack Obama during a congressional recess.

Rubio has also opposed the nomination of Roberta Jacobson as assistant U.S. Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, which deals with Cuba. Rubio has warned that he will oppose other Western Hemisphere nominees until the Obama administration changes its policies toward Latin America, which Rubio views as weak and inadequate.

Memo to Connie Mack: It's A-R-R-I-Z-U-R-I-E-T-A

One reason campaigns spend so much time sending out press release about steering committees and endorsements is that their supporters like seeing their names.

Presumably, they want their names spelled correctly as well. 

But in all fairness to the Connie Mack for Senate campaign, the name of longtime Republican fundraiser "Jorge Arrizurieta" of Miami is a tough name to get right. 

Here's the press release:

FT. MYERS – Congressman Connie Mack (R-FL) announced the initial names of his statewide Finance Steering Committee for his campaign for the United States Senate.  These key initial supporters will help establish a strong and deeply committed network around the state of Florida to help raise money for Mack’s campaign.

Mack said:

“The outpouring of support this early in my campaign has been exciting and humbling.  Having the support of these respected individuals from across the state get us one step closer to defeating Bill Nelson and the Lockstep Liberals in Washington. Their help, support and guidance will be an important part of our successful campaign.”

Mack Finance Steering Committee (in formation)

Ambassador Francis & Kathleen Rooney
Joe & Leslie Fogg
Senate President Mike Haridopolos
Senator John Thrasher
Marty Fiorentino
Brian & Kathryn Ballard
Charlie Dudley
Lew Eisenberg
Jorge Arrizureta
Dr. Zachariah Zachariah
Bill & Bonny Smith
Carlos & Janelle Beruff
Tramm Hudson
Senator Pat Neal
Robert Watkins
Stephen Diaco
Mark Bostick
Scott Barnhart
Garrett Walton

--MARC CAPUTO AND PATRICIA MAZZEI

PPP poll: Bill Nelson holds double-digit lead over Connie Mack in U.S. Senate race

From Public Policy Polling, which usually surveys for Democrats:

Several Florida Senate polls conducted shortly after Connie Mack IV's entry into the race found a toss up contest, but PPP's newest look finds that any announcement bump Mack may have received has now receded.  Bill Nelson leads him by a 46-35 margin. That's pretty consistent with two earlier polls of a Nelson/Mack match that PPP had conducted. In March we found Nelson with a 13 point advantage and last December we found him ahead by 9 points.

Nelson has two big things going for him in a match against Mack.  One is that he wins 14% of the Republican vote, an unusual amount of crossover support for a Democrat.  The other is that he has a 42/33 advantage with independent voters. 22% of Republicans are undecided compared to only 13% of Democrats so this race will likely tighten up once the GOP unites around a candidate, but for now Nelson has a healthy lead.

Nelson's approval numbers continue to be tepid with only 38% of voters approving of him to 37% who disapprove.  But as we've explained repeatedly, Nelson's numbers are a little bit misleading. The reason they're so low is that only 51% of Democrats approve of him to 27% who disapprove, an unusually weak standing for a Senator to have with the party base. But even though only 51% approve of Nelson, 76-80% say that they will vote for him in a general election. Barack Obama will have to provide the enthusiasm for those folks to get out to the polls, but once they get there they'll vote for Nelson too.  Although Nelson's unusually weak with his own party, he's on positive ground with independents at 40/35 and also gets good marks from a higher than normal 22% of Republicans.

More here.

--MARC CAPUTO

George LeMieux camp touts Miami-Dade support

Republican U.S. Senate hopeful George LeMieux's campaign put out a list of Miami-Dade supporters, including state Sen. Rene Garcia of Hialeah, County Commissioner Lynda Bell, Miami City Commissioner Francis Suarez and School Board member Carlos Curbelo, who worked for LeMieux in Washington.

Here's the press release: