While he declined back in March to run for the U.S. Senate seat his father held for two terms, U.S. Rep. Connie Mack is preparing to enter the crowded Republican primary field of candidates looking to knock off Democratic incumbent U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson in 2012.
Media outlets at the state and national level reported on Wednesday night that Mack had reconsidered his decision and would enter the race. At the end of June, Mack endorsed state Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, for the Republican nomination to challenge Nelson. Haridopolos ended his bid for the U.S. Senate a few weeks later in mid-July.
Sources close to Mack informed Sunshine State News on Thursday that the Republican congressman would be entering the race in coming weeks.
While conservatives have taken aim at Macks opposition to the Arizona immigration law, Heritage Action, a group affiliated with the iconic conservative organization the Heritage Foundation, released its congressional rankings in August and ranked Mack as the most conservative Floridian in the U.S. House. From his perch as the chairman of the U.S. House Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, Mack has been a leading critic of the Castro brothers in communist Cuba and Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez.
In recent months, Mack has been pushing a plan to reduce the size and scope of the federal government and balance the budget by 2019. The proposal, which Mack and co-sponsor U.S. Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., have dubbed the Penny Plan," would mandate a 1 percent reduction in federal spending from 2012 until 2017, before imposing a spending cap in 2018. That cap would mandate the total cost of the federal government not to exceed 18 percent of the total gross domestic product.
Mack and Enzi maintain that their proposal would cut $7.5 trillion from the federal government over the next decade. The measure has earned the backing of a number of prominent Republicans in Congress as well as conservative organizations like the National Taxpayers Union and FreedomWorks, a Washington-based tea party movement organization led by former U.S. House Majority Leader Dick Armey.
Before announcing he was not running, Mack was doing better against Nelson in the polls than the other Republican candidates. A poll from Ron Sachs Communications and Mason-Dixon released in February found Nelson beating Mack by 5 percent, giving the Democratic incumbent a closer match-up than Republicans who had already announced they were running.
Some of the other candidates in the Senate race reacted to Macks looming entry on Thursday.
Nelson shrugged off the question when asked about Macks entry into the race during a visit to Griffin Middle School in Tallahassee on Thursday.
Its over a year to the election, and Ive got a lot of work to do as senator, Nelson said. And what Ive found, if you just try to do a good job, the politics will take care of itself.
Some of the leading Republican candiates for the nomination weighed in on Mack a bit more directly.
The team behind former state House Majority Leader Adam Hasner forwarded a piece by Adam Smith of the St. Petersburg Times in which he argued that Macks entrance was not a game changer.
Businessman and retired Army officer Mike McCalister released a statement to the media on his new primary opponent on Thursday.
"Let me be the first to welcome Congressman Connie Mack to the Senate race, McCalister said. He knows firsthand from his many years working with the Washington establishment how broken our government is and I'm certain that voters will closely examine his record on job creation, immigration, and government spending. As I continue to travel the state talking to tea party, 9/12, Republican, and other conservative leaders, I am more confident than ever that they want an outsider not tainted by years of political deal-making. I will work hard to continue to earn Floridians' trust and votes."
Former U.S. Sen. George LeMieux, who is running in the Republican primary, also issued a statement.
Connie is a friend. His father was an outstanding U.S. senator for whom I have great respect. I welcome Congressman Mack to the race and look forward to detailed debates on the issues and our records, LeMieux said. This race is about the critical challenges facing our country, our economy, and Washingtons disastrous fiscal policies. It is essential that Florida Republicans choose a nominee in 2012 with a record that stands in stark contrast to that of liberal incumbent Bill Nelson.
LeMieux also threw a few jabs Macks way.
While Congressman Mack has done some good things in Washington, he will have to explain to Floridians why he voted to raise his own pay several times, why he joined Bill Nelson in voting for a highway bill that contained 6,376 earmarks, including the infamous Bridge to Nowhere, and why he specifically rejected efforts to eliminate wasteful earmarks like an aquarium in Connecticut and tourism funding in Kentucky, LeMieux said.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859. Reporter Jim Turner contributed to this article.
