Carlton hits up lobbyists for SD 23 cash

The GOP primary for Senate District 23 has become a juicy affair.

The buzz today is that Sen. Lisa Carlton, who currently holds the seat, is calling lobbyists and asking them to contribute to her preferred successor, former state Rep. Nancy Detert of Venice.

Detert faces Rep. Michael Grant in August. Grant has the backing of Gov. Charlie Crist and U.S. Rep. Connie Mack. Detert responded last week with the endorsement of Carlton, Senate President Ken Pruitt and Rep. Bill Galvano.

The race has implications for the 2010 Senate presidency, with Detert apparently pledging to Mike Haridopolos and Grant backing Mike Bennett. There are more immediate concerns, too, like who is better equipped to take on the Democrat in the general election.

Comments

This race doesn't matter for the presidency. Dockery has it in the bag.

So McKay couldnt get any calls returned, so they run to Lisa Carlton...who really made friends in the lobby corps? LOL

Lisa is out of Tallahassee...why should they take Carlton's calls? Has been!

Mike Grant can't win the General Election.

Haridopolos or Bennett - who cares?

Either one will make a great MINORITY leader!

Remember in November and we can make it happen!

Can we PLEASE stop deciding who to back based the personal agenda to be Speaker or President. What ever happened to picking the BEST CANDIDATE?

Remember 8:45 in November we can send Barry Hussein back to the madrassa.

Detert is backing Dockery.Not that anyone can trust her word.

Is there a serious D in that race? Isn't it a solid Republican seat?

Does anyone seriously think that Barack Obama
has a chance to win Florida? And that the Dems will benifit down ballot? Magical thinking. No wonder Walt Disney picked here.Magic Kingdom.

9:04 is totally Right. Term limits has brought us to this.It doesn't matter who is the best candidate to represent Senate district 23. It's all about the Senate presidency.The 527's will determine the winner. And it won't be a Democrat.Whomever wins the Republican primary will win the general.

Nancy Detert=Democrat

hizzore she is

This would be the first time in 4 years someone could actually talk with Carlton. Good luck

Who else has Charlie endorsed? Why is he endorsing a candidate in the primary? Either Grant is strong or Detert is weak. Is Charlie making phone calls? Why has he picked sides in this race?

[Sam Tilden]

How is a State Senator extorting lobbyists for cash news? This happens every day.

Lisa Carlton is well repected in her district but she has lost some credibility with me. She's supporting almost everything D Nancy Detert? Pro abortion, etc. She has taken a bunch of abortion money.

Nancy Detrt= DEMOCRAT

Nancy is so a D

Why is the more conservative Grant backing Bennett while Detert backs Atwater/Haridopolous? Isn't this backwards? Can anyoone explain?

[Cynical Idealist]

1:16....

Welcome to the Alice in Wonderland world we call the Florida legislature...

Gee what a hard choice:

DETERT is backed by the popular incumbent who has done a good job for her district.

GRANT is backed by Do-Nothing Charlie, Carpetbagger Connie and (of course)Kiss _ss Greer.

12:09 why is it YOUR business who has an abortion? Are you a Dr.? the target of a a paternity suit??...

11:34 Charlie hasn't made any phone calla - yet. But Greer has handed Grant the state GOP's phone and e-mail lists. You would know if you constantly got those obsequious e-mails from the Grant campaign.

Is it me, or is the Grant camp (all 3 of them) a little defensive?

8:37 who do you figure those 3 are: Charlie, Greer & Connie?

[outsider]

The endorsment by her and Pruitt means nothing except the same thing they did with Dean and Farcas/Berfield. they don't get it. smart leaders would have joined Charlie, push grant, and keep the seat. now they will lose. Detert is and always has been a dem.so the senate gets a Dem no matter what they do.

Detert might have won if she ran as a Dem. The D's are running some nobody thinking Obama will carry him into office. Good luck with that.

Heffley and Enwright are with Grant working against Haridopolos....

Who is on Detert's team?

aren't they on every side of every race?

Didn't Heffley and Enwright work for Fred Thompson, the noncandidate?

[Reality Check]

Let's follow the bouncing money trail with Detert.

Carlton endorsed Detert because her former boss, John McKay asked her to. John McKay is heading the PAC sending out all of those lying mailers about Detert being concerned about immigration (how many bills did she propose about that when she was a state rep? The answer is none). John McKay is supporting Detert because his wife is a lobbyist and she knows Grant cannot be bought.

Grant is supported by Charlie because he has a reputation of being fair and well respectful to people, something Detert never did in her do nothing terms in office.

Grant is clearly more qualified and will be able to work with legislators to get things done for his district. Ask Detert what she is proud of and she will cite 2 bills benefiting people and organizations outside the district she represented and one bill that never passed.

Shouldn't the grant and bennett staffers be doing something other than blogging?

should the grant and bennett staffers be doing something other than blogging?

That's funny, Detert and her cronies think she's entitled and that she has won every voter over with her "misinformation". This is one voter who pays attention and knows she does nothing and is in the pocket of lobbyists.

Guess what, not everyone who posts or does not speak favorably of Detert is a campaign worker. Many of us are voters who have her number. I have had enough of the cronyism and her do-nothingness.

[campaign worker]

12:21 If you aren't a campaign worker or staffer, why post anonymously?

Why would I subject myself to Detert and her cronies' cristicism. There are few who post with their real neames on this blog because of the backlash they might face. While Detert sucks at cooperating to get things done for her district, she is excellent at ridiculing people publicly.

This is not about me though, it is about Detert's do-nothingness and being in the pocket of lobbyists. I have yet to read anyone's post defending her against either of those things because they are true.

[Citizen Kane]

"Yeah, I'm just a little 'ol voter down here in SD 23, taking time out of my day to blog repeatedly on a political website from a newspaper that drops about 200 subscriptions in my county."

I have news for you genius, the St. Pete Times does distribute heavily in Manatee County ( one county away from Pinellas) and northern Sarasota which is a good portion of Dist 23.

Again, I don't here you defending Detert because can't.

What's the definition of "distribute heavily"?

Last numbers I saw were around 2500 in Manatee, not to mention the fact that Manatee County certainly isn't a "good portion" of the District anyway.

Nancy's people better check the District 23 map of they don't think Manatee and Sarasota Counties were the major portion of the district. Not that they care anyways since they won't do anything for the district, just for lobbyists. Again, I don't see you defending Detert. Nice attempt at a distractions from the actual discussion though. It is hard to defend her when she has no actual substance.

How many campaign workers do you need for a State Senate race? You said "all 3 of them" like it was a bad thing. Again, how many do you need? I thought campaigns were run on grassroots efforts and keeping costs low? I could be wrong though because that isn't what I do. Just wondering for whoever posted that.

8:44 might want to read the comments again. The point was that SPT only drops about 2500 papers in Manatee, not the number of voters in Manatee in SD 23.

Manatee county is a small portion of the district.

SRQ makes up 70%.

nice try distorting the comments.

2:24, Read 4:43's original post. The original post said Manatee AND Northern Sarasota County. Both of which do make up a good portion of district. I think you may be the one distorting the comment. I am interested in hearing your response to 4:43's comment on the race and not on newspaper distribution which is not what this string is about.

the earlier point was that the anti detert blogger who claims to be a "regular 'ol voter" must be involved politically to repeatedly blog on the website of a newspaper that doesn't have many subscriptions in the district. seemed pretty obvious.

As to comments on the race, I think the makeup of the district speaks for itself. With 70% in SRQ, they'll pick one of their own.

Has anyone seen Detert speak lately? She looks tired, old, wrinkled more than ever and clearly medically ill. How is she going to go through session when she can't get through a simple speech?