Cappelli v Heller

House District 52 candidates Bill Heller and Angelo Cappelli sought the political center during a forum Friday, trying to tune into the largely moderate views of voters in the district. House District 52 candidates Bill Heller and Angelo Cappelli sought the political center during a forum Friday, trying to tune into the largely moderate views of voters in the district.

House District 52 is a moderate district. They want moderate leadership, not a "far-right social agenda," the 71-year-old Heller said. Cappelli, who turns 37 on Monday, disputed the characterization, saying it was wrong for Heller to attack him with a questionnaire he hadn't filled out himself. Story here.

Comments

[first timer]

The story omits mention of the winner of the debate. I was there and Dean Bill Heller was in command from the opening bell.

Let's also not forget that Cappelli is willing to allow oil drilling just 50 miles off our beaches. How out of touch can he be?

Cappelli said this election is not about values because his are all wrong. I was there too and he was on the defense the entire time about his right-wing views. But most remarkable, his view on solving the property insurance crisis is to turn it over to FEMA and Wall Street. What? That makes zero sense. If this election is about property insurance, Cappelli just lost. Time for folks to run from Cappelli. Got beat at Tiger Bay. Going to get beat on election day.

FEMA?????? I wouldn't want FEMA to help me with my toilet overflowing.

[Gene Smith]

Angello Capelli is wrong for House District 52. When asked about banning AK-47s, such as the one that was used to shoot a St. Petersburg police officer in the head, Capelli gave an answer that boils down to people bad, guns good.

While overall crime rates in the state are falling, violent crimes and murders are rising in most urban areas of the state, incluiding St. Petersburg. Do we really want these criminals to have more fire power than our police officers?

I believe the voters in House District 52 will say to Capelli - people good, Capelli wrong fo us. The people of District 52 know that Bill Heller shares their values and Angelo Capelli does not.

[Liz M.]

This shouldn't even be an election.
We are lucky that Bill Heller wants to work this hard for our community.
But it's no surprise. He has been working hard for our community for years.
Thanks Bill. Cannot wait to vote for you on Monday, October 23rd.

[Otto1]

I watched the debate on TV- Heller stumbling and bumbling, not answering questions fully, falsely accusing Cappelli of being right wing. Can anyone really argue with Cappelli views on stem cell research? Even Heller?

After yesterday's Tiger Bay, students looking at Yale probably added Southern Illinois to their college short list. Clear win for Heller.

Earth to Otto 1. Take your television into a repair shop. Must be lonely with Angelo over there on the far right. The rest of us see opposing a ban on semiautomatic wepaons and opposing embryonic stem cell research as right wing. Time for you to take a minute for a reality check. Bottomline: Crist, Davis and Heller all support embryonic stem cell research and Cappelli does not. So can we disagree with Cappelli's stem cell position? Most of us do.

i am totally for stem-cell research.
i will not vote for a moron with his head in the sand on this issue. it's too important to leave in the hands of the creationist goofballs.

this Cappelli guy has trouble telling the truth. He runs as a far right lunatic in the primary and now tries to run back to the middle.

Congrats Rep. Heller

No doubt, very clear Heller win. I wasn't sure he had it in him, but wow, he was strong.

Bill Heller is the kind of guy we always want to see run for office but never does. Lets not blow this.

Just watched Tiger Bay. Someone needs to tell Angelo that Cord Blood storage and embryonic stem cell research have nothing to do with each other. And that was the proof he wasn't far right winger. Hardly. Angelo, you've been unmasked. The only moderate in District 52 is Heller.

[Otto1]

Are all you people morons, or just sticking your head in the sand? Cappelli said he is FOR STEM CELL RESEARCH, just not for creating stem cells JUST TO DESTROY THEM for research.
Is Heller for creating stem cells just to destroy them for research? I really doubt that - he can't be that callous.

Calling Cappelli a right winger is like calling a cow a duck. Get real, people

Otto - perfect name for a Nazi.

I doubt Capelli has his head in the sand. The Ds haven't left room there for anyone else.

Gene: Ever hear of a gun loading itself, pointing itself and shooting itself at anyone of its own free will? Right. People are dangerous when they don't know about weapons and can't handle them. The answer is to educate the populace, not disarm them.

Number of questions answered by Heller= Zero.

He sounded and looked like a guy out of his league.

Angelo Cappelli's solution to the homeowner's insurance crisis: WALL STREET, FEMA, WALL STREET, FEMA, WALL STREET, FEMA, WALL STREET, FEMA, WALL STREET, FEMA, WALL STREET, FEMA, WALL STREET, FEMA, WALL STREET, FEMA, WALL STREET, FEMA, WALL STREET, FEMA, WALL STREET, FEMA, WALL STREET, FEMA, WALL STREET, FEMA, WALL STREET, FEMA, WALL STREET, FEMA, WALL STREET, FEMA, WALL STREET, FEMA, WALL STREET, FEMA, WALL STREET, FEMA, WALL STREET, FEMA, WALL STREET, FEMA, WALL STREET, FEMA

Heckuva Job, Angelo!

[A.C.]

4:34, Hey Nick, get back to putting labels on the absentee pieces. Thanks, Angelo.

Anyone who believes Cappelli's positions are even remotely in line with the realities of this House District must be on dope! Whether he was pandering to the C.C., or he actually beleives it is irrelevant. If he was planning to run on these stances, he should have relocated to somewhere in North Florida, and tried it there. HD52 leans "R", but is moderate and largely independent philosophically. Heller knows this and will make a great legislator. Remember running for office is not what Bill's spent his whole life building toward.

4:41 is correct - there were audible gasps in the room at Tiger Bay, when Cappelli said that WALL STREET would solve the property insurance crisis! That is pretty scary stuff right there!

[Gene Smith]

4:16

Man, I hate to agree with a wingnut, but you are right about this:

"The answer is to educate the populace, not disarm them."

How about we educate the people about that "well regulated militia being necessary" part of the Second Ammendment? You know, when the "well reguilated militia" men were expected to provide their own weapons.

Suppose we go back to that now and just require our National Guard and Reserves to provide their own weapons? Oh, wait, we already require them to buy their own body armor.

OK, then, since they're used to it, lets let them provide their own weapons, too. Then everybody else wouldn't need assault weapons on the streets shooting police officers in the head.

The only guy who got a worse response at Tiger Bay than Angelo Capelli, was Ed Helm, who actually got booed while pluggin some radio show while supposedly asking a question.

Ed Helm didn't even have sense enough to be embarrased. Well, there were plenty of "real Democrats" in the room who were embarassed enough that this maniac has any relationship to the Democratic Party.

Come on, Karen! Why wait till November 8th? Pull the plug now.

WALL STREET, FEMA, WALL STREET, FEMA, WALL STREET, FEMA, WALL STREET, FEMA, WALL STREET, FEMA, WALL STREET, FEMA, WALL STREET, FEMA, WALL STREET, FEMA, WALL STREET, FEMA, WALL STREET, FEMA, WALL STREET, FEMA, WALL STREET, FEMA, WALL STREET, FEMA, WALL STREET, FEMA, WALL STREET, FEMA, WALL STREET, FEMA, WALL STREET, FEMA, WALL STREET, FEMA, WALL STREET, FEMA, WALL STREET, FEMA, WALL STREET, FEMA, WALL STREET, FEMA

4:55 is partially right. I personally don't think Cappelli really believes any of that stuff, because I don't believe he knows what he believes. However, he is ready and willing to say anything to get elected. That CC survey was nothing more than an attempt to pander to the extreme of his party. He just had no idea it would ever become public. Now he's caught.

I was there and what it looked like to me was there was one authentic public servant and one who looked like a politician. This round to Bill Heller.

If Cappelli iss such a right winger why is he talking about coalitions with the democrats, like Rick Kriseman
I think he is a closet democrat except for his shallow wife

7:24, that's bullcrap. Kriseman is supporting Heller. Cappelli slammed Kriseman and other local electeds on the property tax issue at Tiger Bay. You could see the grimaces on the faces of Kriseman, James Bennett, Mayor Gerard, Commissioner Welch, and Linda Lerner (all Dems, by the way) when Cappelli started his "local goverment spending is the problem" rant, on the heels of his "wallstreet will fix the insurance problem" mantra.

Heller, for God's sake, elect Heller!

All that trouble from the CC questionaire and Cappelli didn't even get their endorsement? Not only is he a right winger, he's a fool as well.

Just watched the replay. First of all, the SP Times needs more political reporters. This story was accurate as far as it went, but missed every one of the interesting points from a campaign perspective.

One, Heller without a doubt won the expectations game big. He was not expected to perform well at all in this setting, and Cappelli was expected to clean his clock. Heller hit a home run with his opening while Angelo was nothing special.

Two, Cappelli spent half of his opening remarks on the defensive, talking about stem cell research (making no sense, I might add, since cord blood storage is totally unrelated to embryonic stem cell research; it doesn't even contain embryonic stem cells) and denying that he's a right winger. Another victory for Heller - if your opponent spends their time talking about your message instead of theirs, you've won.

And finally, FEMA AND WALL STREET? Are you kidding me? They can't possibly have polled that. This guy wants to talk about being an eagle scout and a Yale grad, FEMA and Wall Street. Who in the heck is developing his message? Can't you just see the mailpiece now? Angelo Cappelli wants to invite FEMA in to solve our insurance crisis.

Tiger Bay is virtually meaningless, unless you screw up and say something stupid. And Angelo just told us that he wants FEMA and Wall Street to fix our hurricane insurance problem. Heller can just talk about that (and stem cell and assault weapons and oil drilling) from now til Nov. 7.

All for not... Capelli wins this one. Heller disappears as fast as he appeared.

EXCUSE ME!,WALL STREET,FEMA,EXCUSE ME! EXCUSE ME!,WALL STREET,FEMA,EXCUSE ME!
EXCUSE ME!,WALL STREET,FEMA,EXCUSE ME!
EXCUSE ME!,WALL STREET,FEMA,EXCUSE ME!
EXCUSE ME!,WALL STREET,FEMA,EXCUSE ME!
EXCUSE ME!,WALL STREET,FEMA,EXCUSE ME!
EXCUSE ME!,WALL STREET,FEMA,EXCUSE ME!
EXCUSE ME!,WALL STREET,FEMA,EXCUSE ME!
EXCUSE ME!,WALL STREET,FEMA,EXCUSE ME!
EXCUSE ME!,WALL STREET,FEMA,EXCUSE ME!
EXCUSE ME!,WALL STREET,FEMA,EXCUSE ME!

[A.C.]

10:40---Nick, what did we talk about? Get back to work. Angelo

A.C.--- Kevin, what did we talk about? NO MORE IM's.

Signed, Parent of a 14 year old.

[Peter S.]

Does anyone else think that Heller's TV ads are sub-par? They're nothing more than an ugly power point presentation set to bad piano music.

Not that it's going to make much difference. Angelo's TV is too-Goodmany for its own good. I mean, why would you state that your endorsed by Rick Baker in a district that is relatively evenly split D to R and is, made up of , what 25% to 30% non-St. Pete. Angelo is also relying too much on an expected surge of local Crist voters.

On the plus-side for Angelo, he is "out-working" Heller. He's got five times as many signs. (Bill, why did you use green fo a yard sign? Green looks like, um, grass!!!) Not for nothing, but when the two best young activists (me and Kevin) are sidelined, the GOP does have an advantage.

I'm betting Heller wins by two points, 51-49.

The flyer I received in yesterday's mail titled Nutty Professor made my decision for me. Anyone that would send this out will never get my vote. Shame on the person that made the decison to mail this.