Big names are being dropped -- not in a good way -- between the candidates battling in the special election for the open congressional seat left vacant by the death of U.S. Rep. Bill Young, R-Fla. The candidates spent Thursday trying to tie the other to leading political figures.
Attorney David Jolly, a Republican, is hitting the airwaves with a new ad. Jolly, who worked for Young, is taking on former state CFO Alex Sink, a Democratic, and Libertarian Lucas Overby in the March 11 special election.
Jolly showcased a new television spot Thursday where he goes on the attack against Sink for backing President Barack Obamas health care law and contrasting their fiscal records.
Pinellas needs someone to look out for our interests, not President Obamas, Jolly says in the ad, whichcan be viewedhere.
As Jolly plays up Sink's ties to Obama, she is striking back by trying to link the Republican to Gov. Rick Scott, to whom she lost in the 2010 gubernatorial election.
The Sink campaign blasted an email to supporters bashing tea party Gov. Rick Scott for hosting a massive fundraiser" for Jolly. She called Scott responsible for the largest Medicare fraud case in U.S. history, taking advantage of Florida seniors for his own companys profits.
The Sink campaign says the governor was helping fund Jolly campaign ads.
Every big check that Scott and Jolly raise will go directly toward airing deceitful attacks against Alex -- ads designed to distract Pinellas voters from Jollys career as a Washington lobbyist, the Sink campaign insisted. Rick Scotts time as Floridas governor has been nothing short of disastrous. We cant let Jolly represent Pinellas with that same divisive, harmful agenda. Alex is committed to something different -- bringing people together to get real results for Pinellas families, just like she did as Floridas CFO.
In the meantime, the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) is looking to tie Sink to U.S. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. With Politico reporting that national Democrats are increasingly more concerned with trying to keep the U.S. Senate instead of flipping the U.S. House in November, the NRCC is looking to paint Sink as left of Pelosi.
Alex Sink and her support of Obamacare are so toxic that Nancy Pelosi and Washington Democrats are considering cutting their losses and moving on to another political battle, said Katie Prill, a spokeswoman for the NRCC. Pinellas families need to know that the policies Alex Sink supports are too liberal even for someone as extreme as Nancy Pelosi.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com.
