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Politics

Backroom Briefing: GOP Candidates Ready for Some Sunshine

October 1, 2015 - 9:45pm

Maybe the Republican Party of Florida didn't need to toughen the rules on how 2016 GOP presidential candidates can qualify for the state's primary ballot after all.

A week after the party eased a plan that would have required candidates to submit their qualifying papers at the party's "Sunshine Summit" event in November, several candidates have already confirmed they'll stop by the fall shindig.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio --- home-state favorites in the GOP race --- confirmed Tuesday that they would show up for the event, scheduled for Nov. 12 to Nov. 14. Joining the two were U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, both of whom are lagging in the polls and need all the attention they can get.

And Thursday brought more welcome news for Republicans: The party announced that former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, whose numbers have also been soft, will be on hand. More important, real-estate magnate, reality-TV star and current front-runner Donald Trump will bring his bombastic style of campaigning to Orlando.

"The road to the White House goes through Florida, and our grassroots leaders and volunteers are ready to hear the candidates share their vision for the future of our nation," GOP Chairman Blaise Ingoglia said in a statement released Thursday.

In all, the number of presidential candidates who are at least part-time residents of Florida and will be at the summit is at four. Huckabee and Trump both own property in the state. But Bush and Rubio are clearly expecting to have a home-field advantage.

"As governor of Florida, I led our state's economy into the 21st century by shrinking government, creating high-wage jobs and cutting taxes by $19 billion. ... With the support of families and voters across Florida, I am committed to reforming Washington with the same principles and values that reformed our state," Bush said in a statement issued by the party.

Rubio, who called himself "a son of Florida," added: "Our state and nation have offered me the opportunities that no other nation could, and now, through my conservative agenda we can restore the hope and promise of the American Dream."

Even if no one else commits --- which seems unlikely --- the presidential candidates already announced and former Vice President Dick Cheney, who will speak at a fundraising dinner Nov. 12, will give Republican voters plenty to take in. But there are 14 hours set aside over two days for the candidates "and other leading Republicans," according to the agenda for the event, so additional programming couldn't hurt.

WYLLIE OUT; 'SUN GOD' STILL UNCONQUERED

Adrian Wyllie has decided to resign as chairman of the Libertarian Party of Florida, he announced Thursday on Facebook, because the rest of the party's executive committee was unwilling to openly oppose Augustus Sol Invictus, the only declared candidate for the party's U.S. Senate nomination.

According to Wyllie, Invictus --- whose translated name purportedly means "Unconquerable Sun God" --- is a fascist who supports eugenics and is committed to start a second Civil War.

"Mr. Invictus practices Thelema, an occult pagan religion based on the teachings of Aleister Crowley," Wyllie wrote. "Mr. Invictus was ejected from Ordo Templi Orientis for brutally and sadistically dismembering a goat in a ritualistic sacrifice."

On his website, Invictus says he uses Benito Mussolini's logo because it "dates back to the Roman Republic and represents strength through unity." Invictus says he wrote a paper in law school supporting eugenics, but has changed his mind and no longer believes it is the right public policy.

Invictus says he is a pagan. And in an August blog post entitled "A Call for Total Insurrection," he quotes himself as saying: "I have prophesied for years that I was born for a Great War." But it's not entirely clear how violent he wants the rebellion to be.

"I want you to take LSD and practice sorcery," Invictus writes. "I want you to listen to trap music and black metal, to learn the law and to break it deliberately, to find your own religion. I want you to learn the use of firearms and subject yourselves to rigorous physical training. I want you to treat your bodies as Holy Temples and to take your girlfriend to a strip club so you can seduce a dancer in the back room. I want you to worship Nature and dance naked in the moonlight `round the fire, screaming in ecstatic joy."

Wyllie said he believes the party should have disowned Invictus.

"While no one on the Executive Committee openly supported Mr. Invictus, only a few had the conviction to stand openly against him," he wrote.

WHY ATWATER'S RECONSIDERING?

Any number of factors might have prompted a change of heart from state Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater, who hinted this week that he's reconsidering his decision to forego a bid next year for the state's open U.S. Senate seat. But one reason might be that none of the other Republican candidates for the seat, which will be vacated by Rubio, have stood out.

In a September survey of Florida done by Public Policy Polling, a left-leaning outfit that has produced good numbers before, 52 percent of Republican voters say they don't know which of the three office-holding candidates would get their votes. And those three --- Congressman Ron DeSantis, Congressman David Jolly, and Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera --- are all drawing below 20 percent of the party vote right now.

Democratic Congressmen Alan Grayson and Patrick Murphy, the main Democratic contenders, are also mysteries to many voters, though Murphy is the only one of the bunch who has a favorability rating that isn't underwater. Murphy would beat all three Republicans in a head-to-head match-up, while the more liberal Grayson would defeat only Lopez-Cantera.

"The main story line in the Florida Senate race right now is how unknown the candidates are," said Dean Debnam, president of Public Policy Polling.

A late August poll by Quinnipiac University found much the same thing. Upwards of 80 percent of voters said they hadn't heard enough about each of the candidates to have a favorable or unfavorable opinion, the exception being Grayson, who stood at 67 percent by that measure.

There's no guarantee that Atwater would vault to the top of the polls if he did enter the race. But the fact that no one else is running away with the race might be one reason he's taking another look.

TWEET OF THE WEEK: "Huh. I take back my earlier tweet. Apparently, doughnuts are, in fact, legit bear bait. #BearTrial"---Dan Sweeney (@Daniel_Sweeney), state politics reporter for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, at a hearing on a controversial bear hunt rule.

 

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