Salon: Karl Rove's Florida Frankenstein

[kskiska]

Did Team Bush turn once-moderate GOP Senate candidate Mel Martinez into a gay-bashing, reactionary ogre?

By Mary Jacoby

Here is the campaign narrative that Mel Martinez had once hoped to present to the voters of Florida: Cuban immigrant, sent to America by his parents as a little boy to escape tyranny, grows up to become a successful trial lawyer, mayor of Orlando and a member of the president's Cabinet. Known to all as a "really nice guy," he caps his American dream with a run for governor.

Now here is the narrative that White House political chief Karl Rove, in pursuit of every possible advantage for President Bush in the crucial swing state of Florida, has foisted on Martinez: Cuban immigrant becomes mayor of Orlando (note to Mel: Drop the "trial lawyer" part) and a member of the president's Cabinet. Known for appealing "to the worst in people" with a vicious anti-gay campaign, he caps his American dream with a run -- for U.S. senator.

(snip)

Polls now indicate a tossup race between Martinez and Democrat Betty Castor, a former president of the University of South Florida in Tampa, for the seat now held by retiring Sen. Bob Graham, a Democrat. Castor is running as the moderate heir to the popular Graham, stressing her support for a strong defense, education and lower prescription drug costs. Martinez, on the other hand, has defied Florida's centrist tradition by continuing to list to the right. His campaign sent an e-mail news release recently that called the federal law enforcement agents who removed shipwrecked Elián Gonzalez from the home of his Miami relatives for return to his father in Cuba "armed thugs." And he has attacked Castor for failing in the mid-1990s to fire a tenured USF computer science professor who was suspected of (and later indicted for) helping lead a Palestinian terrorist group.

The tactics -- which Martinez has plaintively blamed on his staff -- have little to do with getting the former Bush HUD secretary elected to the Senate. Rather, they appear aimed at spurring turnout for President Bush among key Hispanic blocs in Orlando and Miami and depressing it among Democratic-leaning Jewish voters in a state that vaulted Bush to the White House in 2000 by a margin of 537 votes when the Supreme Court stopped the counting.

And what if Martinez's political reputation and future get sacrificed in the process? Well, it's all for a higher cause…

more…
http://salon.com/news/feature/2004/10/08/florida_senate_race/index.html

[Cha]

1. I tell ya what's gonna be done for the

"higher cause"..bush is getting a one way ticket to crawford..

And here's hoping Betty Castor beats out the bad "trail lawyer" in Florida!:)

[LiberalFighter]

2. gw* needs to someplace other Crawford

Someplace where heat will affect him more and he can't receive any relief.

[tomreedtoon]

3. Castor has been too polite.

Martinez has been running a typical right hand/left hand campaign. He talks about his noble time as a Cuban immingrant, "living the American dream" in some of his ads. Then he runs these "Betty Castor supports terrorism" ads, complete with a supposed "FBI agent" supporting his case.

All Castor has done is have a spokesman - not even her personally - saying Martinez is "running deceptive ads." If she had any guts - if she really wanted to win - she would do an on-camera ad saying that Martinez is throwing around flimsy accuastions, and that "as a former ambulance chasing attorney" he knows how to play a dirty game. "I don't have rich Washington cronies to run my campaign. All I have is my character - and the truth."

I'm afraid she'll be too polite to do such an ad - too polite to win.