For South Florida voters, who have a history of unintentionally voting for the wrong candidates, the Republican primary ballot in state Senate District 36 could prove to be a challenge.
The top two candidates, Miguel Diaz de la Portilla and state Rep. Julio Robaina, R-Miami, shouldn't have a problem with name recognition. The trouble is voters could plausibly mistake them for other locally well-known politicians. And that could be exactly what they want.
Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, a former Miami-Dade county commissioner, sounds familiar because he's running to replace his brother, Alex, who has decided not to run for re-election. Robaina is a state representative in District 117, a former mayor of South Miami, and he sounds familiar, too. Why? Because he has the same name as an overwhelmingly popular mayor from nearby Hialeah.
A third candidate, Jenny Nillo, entered the race late but hasn't raised any money, done any campaigning, nor is her name a sound-alike.
In a race where the two main candidates hold similar views on the issues -- both are against bringing the Arizona immigration law to Florida and both are in favor of lower property taxes and incentives for small businesses to spur job growth -- the campaigns have focused on personal differences and ties to candidates in statewide races.
In the final weeks of the campaign, Diaz de la Portilla unleashed television ads and robocalls linking himself with U.S. Senate candidate and former Florida Speaker of the House Marco Rubio, and Robaina with Gov. Charlie Crist, who defected from the GOP earlier this year.
Robaina has expressed support for Crist in the past, but withdrew it after Crist made his decision to leave the Republican Party to run as an independent in the U.S. Senate race. Robaina now supports Rubio in that race, even though Rubio has endorsed Diaz de la Portilla.
To combat this, Robaina has tried to portray Diaz de la Portilla as a lobbyist who is beholden to special interests.
"My opponent is a full-time lobbyist, he represented developers in our district. That, for me, is totally incorrect and borderline unethical. I think the choice is clear," Robaina said.
Robaina thinks Diaz de la Portilla's cynical campaign tactics are a symptom of what is wrong with Florida politics.
"Apathy continues to happen here in Florida and I'm really offended by the dirty campaign that continues to be run by my opponent," he said.
Diaz de la Portilla did not return calls for comment Friday or Monday.
The winner of Tuesday's primary faces write-in candidates Luisa Artilles and Alberto Flores in the general election. There are no Democrats in the race.
Gray Rohrer, who writes this story "Special to Sunshine State News," lives in Satellite Beach.
