GOP Senate Hopefuls Weigh In On Keystone XL, Obamacare Challenge

Two of the leading Republican candidates looking to defeat Democrat incumbent U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson weighed in on national issues on Wednesday as they looked to gain momentum for their campaigns.

U.S. Rep. Connie Mack announced at a media event at a gas station in the Tampa area that he is going to launch petition drives to support the Keystone XL Pipeline.

"The Keystone XL Pipeline would create more than 20,000 private-sector, 'shovel-ready' jobs. It would make America more energy independent and secure, Mack said. It is such a common-sense project that even former president Bill Clinton supports it. Yet at every turn, President Obama has fought tooth and nail against this critical national priority. And at every step along the way, Senator Bill Nelson has stood by the presidents side and done his dirty work in the U.S. Senate to stop the Keystone XL project from moving forward. Shame on them.

Mack looked to portray Nelson as a liberal. Gone are the days when Senator Nelson can vote like a liberal in Washington and pretend to be a moderate in Florida, said Mack. The Keystone XL Pipeline is but the latest example of Senator Nelsons pattern of trying to have it both ways. But the people know better.

While Mack weighed in on energy, former U.S. Sen. George LeMieux, also running for the Republican nomination, weighed in on the Supreme Court hearing oral arguments in a challenge from Florida and 25 other states to the federal health-care law Obama signed in 2010.

If the federal government can force you to buy health insurance, they can make you do anything," LeMieux said on Wednesday. Our Founding Fathers enumerated the specific powers of the federal government, and the individual mandate of Obamacare is in direct violation of our Constitution.

Retired Army officer and businessman Mike McCallister, who took more than 10 percent in the Republican gubernatorial primary back in 2010, is also running for the GOP nomination.