Can Pruitt help bring down Mahoney?

Ken Pruitt will serve as honorary chairman of state Rep. Gayle Harrell's campaign to defeat U.S. Rep. Tim Mahoney, D-Port Charlotte.

"We have a great team in place; I am especially excited and honored to have Senate President Ken Pruitt serve as my honorary campaign chairman," Harrell said in a statement announcing her team, which includes Brian Brooks as campaign manager; Randy Nielsen as consultant; pollster Gene Ulm; media consultant Adam Goodman; national fundraiser Trey Richardson and Jody Thomas.

Mahoney is one of the most targeted Democrats in Congress, though last week The Fix's weekly roundup removed Mahoney from its list of top 10 most competitive races.

Comments

Harrell has Pruitt? That should be a real boost to her campaign!

http://gayleharrell.blogsforvictory.com/

[Gene Smith]

Pruitt better start loading up the truck with money. At September 30, Mahoney had $1.1 million on hand. His 3, count em, 3 Goper challengers had about $850k total. and they are going to spend it all killing themselves in a primary.

When did Florida Republicans start getting so stupid?

Let's not forget, Rooney can write himself a check. So can Valeche.

Harrell needs all the fundraising help she can get.

Mahoney won in a fluke. Its a relatively safe GOP seat, so he will need every penny of that $1.1 million to win against a competent Republican.

3:21, Harrell has $1 million in name ID alone.

Go Gayle Go!

[Reality Has Set In]

no, gayle does not have name ID. Rooney starts off with instant name ID and he's going to win the nomination. The only reason Pruitt is helping out is the fact that they share a political consultant and political consultants make bad decisions.

[Out of the District]

The Rooney Camp should not be worried. Word is the President of the Pennsylvania Senate is going to come through with a counter endorsement tomorrow.

Makes sense- if you get all of your money from Pennsylvania, why not look for support there too?

That name ID check won't be for campaign commercials.

If she has 1mil in name id why does she trail Rooney?

All three of the Republican candidates are great and should do well against Mahoney.
My preference is Harrell because I think she's the strongest.

[Ike]

Rooney - Spoiled rich kid who's family wants to buy him a seat in Congress. He should run in PA 'cause he'll represent PA not FL. Valache - Almost out of the District to the south - doesn't understand the needs of the majority of the district. Harrell's been around for a long time - knows the people - the people like her - without question she has the best chance to beat Pelosi's puppet.

Gayle has name ID by virtue of her service. Rooney's name ID? nonexistent unless you are a fan of "Ferris Buheler's Day Off" (The snarky Principal...)

Greer should step in and read both Rooney and Valache the riot act and get them off that primary/ Isn't there something else they could run for?

[peggy arvanitas]

Well, Gayle Harrell has a little problem, because she has been meeting with Florida Gas Storage people, being promoted by Mike Twomey AARP rep for the Indiantown project. The president of the company was an ENRON ex employee.

Most people forget Enron and El Paso owned the gas pipelines when Enron and El Paso manipulated the proce of natural gas the FERC docs and DOJ atty Michael Shelby documented in a Texas lawsuit.

Anyway, back to real stupid Gayle. She, and Nancy Argenziano PSC Commissioner and Cristopher Kise, Crist's general counsel have been gung ho on this INVESTMENT. But it will make Florida a dirty hole in the wall to store gas that El Paso Gas will make money off of, shipping to the Northeast.

NO WHERE has the Florida Gas Storage and FP&L said that the price of gas, ergo the electric costs from our 60% of Florida fuel costs wil go down with all this gas!!

THE Florida GAS STORAGE SITE SITS ON A SUPERFUND CONAMINATED WATER AND SOIL SITE OF US STEEL THAT JEB BUSH HAD APPROVED FOR HIS TEXAS FRIENDS!!!

Yes, the potable water supply of ST LUCIE COUNTY will be contaminated! As a matter of fact, we intelligent people want to ask Congressman Gayle Harrell, where is Florida Gas Storage going to put 100,000 TONS of soil that the EPA Superfund site said were "tarped" in plastic... Florida Gas Storage intends to DIG UP over 50% of the area, which is HALF OF A 150 ACRE SITE!!

Well, I think Mahoney will keep his job, he is pushing water Everglades issues and has already received the EPA, DEP and Florida Gas Storage documents. I sent them to him.

4:36 what does she trail in? there has been no polls done to date. Being 80k down is not a bad place to be sitting. Rooney needs to spend 750k just to get even name id. Its not cheap to advertise in West Palm

Neilson+Pruitt=Disaster for Harrell.

8:07:

the correct equation is

Neilson + Pruitt = $$$$$ for Neilson & Pruitt + disaster for Harrell

[Campaign Manager]

I reckon that Pruitt is worried about becoming obsolete once he's termed out, so is trying to raise his profile - which is good news for Harrell, because Pruitt, if he puts his mind to it, will help raise some good money.

That said, Mahoney is not nearly as vulnerable as it seemed he would be last year. Yes, there was a gaffe or two, but he's raised good money and the district, snaking across the state as it does, is hard to run in.

Yes, it was a Republican seat - but the voters consistently voted for a gay, moderate (and didn't we all know he was gay for years? it certainly wasn't a surprise) Republican, which suggests they will be more than willing to support for moderate Democrat.

The biggest factor is the NRCC's failure to convince Joe Negron to run for this seat was a huge setback, because none of the current GOP contenders have anywhere near his name recognition or positives in the polls.

[Not a fan]

Isn't Brian Brooks that nut job who worked for Katherine Harris?

Not a smart move!

Adam Goodman also worked for Harris, along with half of Florida.

Adam goodman is an idiot too

7:14 - when the comment is longer than the post we scroll down - good job wasting your time - no one's reading it - oh and, CAPS LOCK YELLING IS CHILDISH

[A.Blue Voter]

I read it all - thanks, Peggy.

Mahoney will have some explaining to do about his vote to reward William Jefferson and his broken promise on ethics.

[VPS]

Concerning name recognition---I do not live anywhere near that district, however, I have heard of Harrell, and have never heard of Mahoney. Even though I won't be voting in that race, it will be interesting to watch.