Two of the leading candidates in the crowded Republican primary looking to take on Democratic incumbent U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson in 2012 sparred Monday over conservative credentials.
With recent winners in statewide Republican primaries having run to the right of their opponents -- including Rick Scott and Marco Rubio in their successful 2010 campaigns -- some of the leading GOP hopefuls to challenge Nelson are looking to follow the same strategy.
On Monday, former U.S. Sen. George LeMieux took aim at primary rival former House Majority Leader Adam Hasner.
Hasner has gathered the support of some prominent conservatives at the state and national levels -- including, on Friday, the backing of the Family Research Council Action PAC. In a new Web video, the LeMieux team is trying to argue that Hasner is a phony conservative" -- an argument they have made at a campaign website.
Desperate and stuck in last place in the polls, Adam Hasner has spent months running from his record in Tallahassee, said Brian Seitchik, LeMieuxs campaign manager. Seitchik focused on a site Hasner launched, insisting LeMieux was French for "Crist" -- a reference to LeMieuxs old ally former Gov. Charlie Crist who remains unpopular with Florida Republicans for leaving the GOP during the 2010 election cycle. Now, hes even attacking George LeMieuxs family ancestry.
Ethnic attacks are not what Floridians deserve to hear, Adam; lets stick to the records, added Seitchik. Our video is entirely factual and entirely about the Hasner record, not about anyones ethnicity. The problem for Adam is that his record is a whole lot less conservative than he wants Florida Republicans to think, and the voters just arent buying his masquerade.
The Hasner camp fired back, forwarding news of the FRC Action PAC endorsement to supporters in an email on Monday morning and responding to LeMieuxs attack later in the day.
"With $15 trillion in national debt and nearly 1 million Floridians unemployed, the last thing voters want to hear is a U.S. senator whining about the push and pull of the election season, Douglass Mayer, a spokesman for Hasner, wrote in an email to Sunshine State News on Monday. Despite his attempts at reinvention, George LeMieux is a Charlie Crist Republican, and Floridians deserve to know the truth. To paraphrase Herman Cain, George LeMieux needs to learn how to take a joke.
Retired Army officer and businessman Mike McCalister, who garnered more than 10 percent in the Republican gubernatorial primary in 2010, also attempted to appeal to conservatives over the weekend. McCalister, who placed a strong second behind Hasner in a straw poll held at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) event in Orlando last month, spoke in Lakeland on Saturday at a conference on Agenda 21 -- the United Nations plan on sustainable development, which has drawn the ire of conservatives across the nation. McCalister stressed his opposition to Agenda 21 during a speech at the CPAC event.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
