Presidency 5 Summit Adds U.S. Senate Candidate Forum to Sept. 23 Lineup

U.S. Senate candidates will speak to the Republican Party's Presidency 5 summit on Sept. 23.

The RPOF said Thursday that four leading candidates for the Republican nomination -- Adam Hasner, George LeMieux, Mike McCalister and Craig Miller -- will address the delegates in Orlando as part of the three-day P5 event.

We are thrilled that part of our agenda will include presentations from our top Republican Senate candidates. Bill Nelsons time in the Senate needs to end in 2012, and these candidates will make that case to Florida," said RPOF Chairman David Bitner.

There are, however, several other candidates in the increasingly crowded GOP field, including conservative writer and activist Marielena Montesino de Stuart; Bill Fisher, a consultant who ran for Congress in 2010; attorney Deon Long, who ran for Congress in 2010; businessman Ron McNeil, who ran for Congress in 1982 and 2010; and Dr. Mirand Sharma, a physician and Ron Paul supporter.

Potential additional candidates include U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan; U.S. Rep. Allen West; former state House Speaker Allan Bense; and businesman Nick Loeb who ran for the state Senate in 2010.

RPOF spokesman Brian Hughes said the door might be open for more candidates to join the forum.

"We're not locked in stone one way or the other," he said.

Hughes said P5 will coordinate its schedule with CPAC, which previously announced it would host the four Senate candidates in a debate and conduct a straw poll on the same day.

"Since they were going to be in the building, we wanted to make sure that P5 delegates who may not be going to CPAC have a chance to hear them," he said.