While Republicans control every state Cabinet office and hold veto-proof majorities in both chambers of the Legislature, Barack Obama carried Florida in the 2008 elections, and on Wednesday the GOP put the Democrat incumbent on notice that they intend to take the Sunshine State back in November.
Former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, the GOPs presumptive presidential nominee, hit the Sunshine State on Wednesday with an event in St. Petersburg. Romney heads to Jacksonville on Thursday.
Speaking in St. Petersburg, Romney slammed the fiscal policies of the Obama administration, comparing them, in an analogy he used in Iowa on Tuesday, to a prairie fire.
This imperils the nation," Romney said. It's unthinkable to me. It's a bit like -- and I mentioned this yesterday -- its like looking out across the prairie and seeing a fire in the distance. You don't, at a stage like that, you don't say, Well I'm going to go to bed and maybe someone else will take care of it. You don't say, I'm going to go to bed because the wind might change. You instead look for someone that says I'm going to take responsibility and fix this. Put it out.
It's high time that we have a president who will stop this spending and borrowing inferno, and I will, Romney insisted. I'll get the job done. I love this country. I love this country as I know you do, but I'm concerned about this country. I'm concerned about the debt. I'm concerned about the spending. I find it incomprehensible that a president could come to office and call his predecessor's record irresponsible and unpatriotic, and then do almost nothing to fix it and instead every year to add more and more and more spending. And so if I'm president, I'm actually going to take responsibility and lead, and get us on track to have a balanced budget.
But Romney faced heavy fire from Obamas allies on Wednesday. Staff from the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank closely allied with the Obama administration, slammed Romney for holding a fundraiser hosted by Dr. Phil Frost, the chairman of the board of Teva Pharmaceuticals which creates Plan B pills and other forms of contraception.
Florida Democrats also came out to bash Romney. State Rep. Rick Kriseman, D-St. Petersburg, held a media appearance outside of Romneys event in St. Petersburg and tore into the Republican candidate.
While polls have shown that the Sunshine State will be up for grabs -- yet again -- in November, Romney is receiving some air support in Florida and other key states from a super-PAC that has helped Republicans across the country.
On Wednesday, Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies (Crossroads GPS), a conservative political group affiliated with Republican strategist Karl Rove, unveiled a new ad that will run in Florida and nine other battleground states that hammers Obamas record on economic issues.
Crossroads GPS has sunk $25 million -- including $1.5 million in the Sunshine State -- on the ad, which will start airing on Thursday and will run until the end of May. The ad is also being run in nine other states that Obama carried in 2008 which Republicans hope to carry in November -- Colorado, Iowa, Michigan, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
President Obama made commitments on core issues to the American people, and this ad holds him to account, insisted Steven Law, the former deputy secretary of Labor who is now the president of Crossroads GPS. Our country faces serious economic and fiscal problems which require practical solutions and not just promises. If we dont hold Washington politicians accountable, we wont fix these problems that are holding our country back.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
