Gelber Knocks Aronberg's "Rank Political Stunt"

A day after Sen. Dave Aronberg, D-Greenacres, called on Sen. Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach, to resign from Akerman Senterfitt, a law firmed hired by BP to handle claims due to the spill in the Gulf, the Gelber campaign said that their candidate did so last week, and fired away at Aronberg -- a rare moment of acrimony in what has been a civil contest so far.

"Several people, including some of my closest advisers told me to call a press conference last week and pat myself on the back for taking a principled stand, wrote Gelber on Tuesday. But I didn't because doing the right thing is never a cause for celebration. But unfortunately, last night, my opponent in the primary, in what could only be considered a rank political stunt, decided to politicize the tragic oil spill, calling on me to resign even after I had already done so.

Sadly, while I continue to offer real solutions to hold BP accountable and help victims impacted by the spill, my opponent is focused on scoring political points, continued Gelber. The stakes in this race are too important for politics-as-usual and I really hoped this campaign, unlike so many others, would remain on the high road.

Looks like the gloves are finally coming off in this interesting -- and close -- battle for the Democratic nomination.