Dems slamming Feeney

  The Florida Democratic party has taken out online ads with Roll Call, Florida Today, the Fort Report, and BrevardCountyMoms.com (The Daytona Beach New Journal refused it) depicting Tom Feeney as corrupt.

"For a full year now, Tom Feeney has refused to come clean with Floridians about his unsavory relationship with a convicted felon, Jack Abramoff. The fact is that Feeney went on a lavish golfing trip to Europe paid for by this super-lobbyist instead of doing his job for the people of Florida," said Mark Bubriski, spokesman for the Florida Democratic party, which has taken out online ads in .  "The odds that 2008 ends up being Tom Feeney's last year in Congress, whether because of electoral defeat or legal recourse, increase with every passing day."

The full release is here.

Of insurance legislation and elections

Buzz hears that this flier touting the insurance package (which the Senate passed 32-7 Wednesday) was distributed in Sen. Jeff Atwater's district, paid for by the Republican Party of Florida. The incoming Senate president is being challenged by Democrat Skip Campbell.

Sayfie expands web TV

Sayfie Review and Ron Sachs Communications have teamed up to produce a new weekly TV mini-program called "PowerPlay," a five-minute, Web-based video, featuring members of the Capitol Press Corps talking about politics and policy, starting this Saturday, March 8.

First up is Buzz's own Steve Bousquet and Mary Ann Lindley of the Tallahassee Democrat's editorial page. The March 15th episode features Mary Ellen Klas of The Miami Herald and John Kennedy of The Orlando Sentinel.

Dennis Jones' February election ad

What do you do if you're an incumbent state senator up for re-election in November, who has no official opponent and has at least $150,000 in the bank? Buy TV time, of course.

The face of state Sen. Dennis Jones, R-Treasure Island, just popped up on Bay News 9. We here at The Buzz almost did a double take.  The commercial isn't overly political; Jones is asking constituents to take a survey and tell him what's on their minds. You can see it for yourself here. Buzz digs the soothing tones of the ocean.

Crist's robo call for McCain

"Hi this is Gov. Charlie Crist. Tomorrow I will be  voting for John McCain and let me tell you why: He's the only life-long  conservative who can beat the Democrats in November . He has the experience now to be commmander and chief and John McCain  will be a strong  conservative leader. I know him, I trust him,  and as your governor I'm  asking you to join me in voting for my friend John McCain for president."

Impressive, but so were the robo calls from Mitt addressing homeowners' by their names. How much does that cost?

Baxley dialing for Mitt

The Buzz is that former state Rep. Dennis Baxley, the incoming Christian Coalition chair, is urging social conservatives to vote for Romney in recorded calls. Some Huckabee folks are fuming  that Baxley is improperly invoking the Christian Coalition, even though he's speaking for himself.

Other robo calls we're aware of: Bay Buchanan for Romney, Jack Kemp for McCain and John McCain for McCain.

Who else have you heard from?

The first CAT fund TV ad

Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani announced that starting Friday Floridians will see a TV commercial that talks about an issue dear to their hearts: property insurance.  Giuliani is going to tout on Florida airwaves how he's the only Republican candidate that wholeheartedly endorses a nationwide catastrophe fund that Florida leaders say would help cut Florida property insurance rates.

Here's Giuliani and Attorney General Bill McCollum during a press conference in Boca Raton, where Giuliani denied that he made a mistake by blowing off early primary states to focus on Florida.

"Given that it's still a wide open race, No, I don't think it was a mistake," Giuliani said.

Miami dog killers

This piece sure looks dramatic enough to get voters' attention.

Romney's FL TV advantage

With Mitt Romney launching a new ad touting his competent, free market conservatism today and polls popping up left and right don't forget the Romney's key advantage noted here: "Romney stands to have the advantage in a McCain-Romney Florida contest, because the multimillionaire former venture capitalist is the only candidate with the money to buy loads of TV ads. He already is significantly outspending his rivals on TV everywhere but in the Tampa Bay area, and in a sign of confidence today will begin airing ads in Miami-Dade, the most expensive media market.

"Unlike Romney and Giuliani, McCain has little campaign organization in Florida to mobilize support. About 270,000 Republicans and 250,000 Democrats already have voted, either through absentee ballots or early voting, and Giuliani has been especially aggressive trying to bank those early votes. " Giuliani is using direct mail and phone calls to help bank early votes, while Romney has been relying only on phone calls.

McCain: Proud Conservative

Independents helped deliver John McCain wins in New Hampshire and South Carolina. But in Florida's closed primary, he'll need to rely on the support of Republican voters. To woo them, he launched a web ad today titled "Proud Consevative." It includes testimonials from supporters -- and opponent MIke Huckabee, who's featured in the ad calling McCain a "genuine conservative."

Mitt Romney on economy in new ad

On a day when the stock markets are expected to plunge, Mitt Romney is starting to air a new TV ad in Florida about his credentials to fix a dour economy. Check it out here.

Push pollsters for Huckabee

We heard of one to a St Petersburg household asking favorable questions about Huckabee, and negative ones about Giuliani (abortion rights) and Romney (taxes). We heard of another in Jacksonville---robo calls from Herndon, Virginia trashing Romney's record. Sounds like ccAdvertising, which was busy in SC and other early states too.

Clinton: Obama busting FL boycott pledge

UPDATE: Obama spokeswoman Jen Psaki tells the Buzz: "We asked the cable channels if we could prevent the ad from airing in Florida and we were told that would be impossible."
-------------
CNN and MSNBC viewers in Florida today are seeing a Barack Obama campaign ad, which is part of a national cable TV buy. Remember, though, that pledge not to campaign in Florida ("Campaigning” for purposes of this section includes, but is not limited to, purchasing print, internet, or electronic advertising that reaches a significant percentage of the voters in the aforementioned state").

"There is no question that these ads are a clear and blatant violation of the early state pledge that Sen. Obama and the other leading Democratic candidates signed last year,'' said the Clinton campaign. "Just last week the Obama campaign snubbed the people of Floridain a memo that stated that Floridadid not matter in the nominating process.  After consecutive losses in New Hampshire, Michiganand Nevada, they appear to be changing course. Sen. Obama’s flagrant disregard for the pledge that he signed is disturbing and calls the integrity of the pledge into question."

Take it from Mel and Bill

Florida's two U.S. senators, Democrat Bill Nelson and Republican Mel Martinez, have collaborated a public service announcement urging Floridians to vote in the Jan. 29 presidential primary.

You'll remember that the national Democratic Party stripped all of Florida's delegates to the national nominating convention after the state Legislature moved the primary a week earlier than allowed under party rules. The major Democratic candidates have pledged not to campaign here because of it (though somehow raising money in Florida is fine).

The national Republicans, meanwhile, docked their Florida cousins half of their delegates to the Republican National Convention.

No matter, Nelson and Martinez say in the PSA, which the senators unveiled on YouTube today. They're offering it in English and Spanish to TV stations across the state.

Romney returning to FL airwaves?

The Buzz is that the Mitt Romney campaign, having gone dark on FL TV is making inquiries with TV stations about going back on the air in Florida (or at least Tampa Bay) by this weekend.

The renewed optimism, we assume, comes from the GIANT win in Hernando County on Jan. 10: a straw poll at the Timber Pines Republican Club found Romney with 34% support, John McCain with 31%; Rudy Giuliani with 19% (ouch-this is Bill McCollum's native county!);  Mike Huckabee at 12% and Fred Thompson at 3%.

Romney goes dark

The Mitt Romney campaign may be sounding upbeat, but a rival campaign notes that as of today he has halted all TV in Florida and South Carolina and has not extended any buy into next week. Hmmmm. Saving resources to see what happens Jan. 15 in Michigan? What happens in that state, probably Romney's Waterloo, should tell us whether he'll still be around Florida Jan. 19.

UPDATE!! Romney supporter Al Cardenas told reporters just now that Romney has not made the decision to go dark in Florida. "We fully expect to be on the air in Florida. . . We haven’t finalized our plans but our intentions are to stay on the air," Cardenas said.

UPDATE 2!! Romney campaign spokeswoman Kristy Campbell called up to clarify that Cardenas intended to get this message across: "We're currently on the air in Florida and the resources to provide for ads will be there when that decision is made."

Thompson have fuel to make it to Florida?

Tucked deep inside a Thompson campaign statement today about its focus on the upcoming South Carolina primary was this revealing statement:

"The campaign's headquarters staff is going above and beyond the call of duty to shift the focus to South Carolina, as well. National office staff will work for reduced pay through the South Carolina voting." (Emphasis added).

A victory for the native Southern son in the Palmetto state -- where an average of polls put him virtually tied for fourth with Rudy Giuliani -- is key to his plans for a big show in Florida. But will he have the money to make it here?

Yes on 1: $2.6-million and counting

The political committee working for passage of the property tax amendment on Jan. 29 reports raising $2.6-million so far with another burst of checks just before Christmas. The group, Yes On 1, Save Our Homes Now, regularly updates its lists of contributions and expenses on its web site. Among the most recent donors: Communications International of Vero Beach ($100,000), 21st Century Oncology of Fort Myers ($50,000) and Jupiter investor Larry DeGeorge and Leon Advertising and PR ($25,000 each).

The Florida Association of Realtors wrote the first and by-far biggest check, for a cool $1-million. Don't look now, but the election is 27 days away.

The first FL presidential mailer ...

... Came from Rudy Giuliani. This went statewide.

New jolt of FP&L money for tax effort

Look what the pro-property tax referendum YesOn1 committee found in its Christmas stocking: a second $250,000 check from Florida Power & Light, the utility that was once Charlie Crist's mortal enemy but is back in the governor's good graces. The committee's online record of contributions shows a second $250,000 check from FP&L on Dec. 21, in addition to the same amount a week earlier. (That's a lot of kilowatt hours!) See earlier story here.

FP&L's cumulative support of $500,000 is second only to the Realtors' $1-million. The Florida Chamber of Commerce also kicked in $100,000 on Dec. 21.

Justice attacks campaign loophole

Sen. Charlie Justice has filed a bill to go after the campaign finance laws often used by people, companies and political operatives to raise millions of dollars within a couple of weeks or even days on surprise smear ads.

His bill would cap contributions to political committees called "electioneering communication organizations" to $500 by a person or group. Right now, ECOs can raise and spend whatever they want, running issue-related ads, as long as there's no coordination with a political candidate. Currently, the committees have to tell the state who gave them money and how they spent it, but often that information gets reported weeks after the committees have gone dark. That said, ECOs are subject to the same reporting deadlines as other candidates and committees.

Buzz can't help but wonder if such a "clean-up" law, as Justice calls it, would make elections boring.

Romney's FL TV

The Nielsen Company tells us that Mitt Romney has aired 2,053 local TV spots in Florida, through Nov. 18, the only presidential showing some love to Florida's TV stations so far. By comparison, Romney ran 7,469 ads in Iowa, 2,697 in South Carolina, 2,237 in New Hampshire, 1,495 in Vermont, 61 in Michigan, 96 in Georgia.

Auto Insurers: New PIP Law Raises Rates

Floridians for Lower Insurance Costs, a group funded primarily by the major auto insurers, is accusing Gov. Charlie Crist and the Legislature of raising auto insurance rates, as Crist signed a bill today to extend the no-fault system starting Jan. 1.

Read their statement.

The accusation assumes every driver would have eliminated PIP and saved money. In the Banking and Insurance committee, Sen. Bill Posey said that he discovered the group's claims assumed that nobody who dropped their PIP coverage would pick up extra med pay coverage.

Howard Dean is buddies with Katherine Harris?

Talking to the Florida Chamber's political candidate & training institute in Orlando Tuesday Democratic pollster Jim Kitchens suggested that Howard Dean is the new Katherine Harris of the 2008 election cycle: "He's making sure Democratic votes won't count." Kitchens glumly noted that people are so furious over the Democrats' handling of the presidential primary mess that the controversy may be enough to tilt the state to the Republicans in a close race.

Meanwhile, check out Republican consultant Randy Nielson's ad urging  disenfranchised Fl Dems to vote Republican: "Every Democrat in the nation will have a vote - except Florida Democrats,'' says the narrator, speaking over the famous Dean scream scene. "Tell Dean and the Democrat powerbrokers we won't forget how the Democrats turned their back on Florida."

Meet Randy Nielsen, "Democratic leader"

Hey, Howard Dean and the Democratic National Committee, you might want to scrub that direct-mail list.

Who should get a copy of the "2007 Grassroots Survey of Democratic Leaders" (and the obligatory request for a check) but Randy Nielsen, a well-known political consultant in West Palm Beach who is even on the Republican Party payroll, for gosh sakes. The owner of Public Concepts, LLC got a good laugh out of the flub. "How could they be so misled?" Nielsen asks of the Democrats. See for yourself.

Eliot Spitzer and Hometown Democracy

What do NY Gov. Eliot Spitzer and Hometown Democracy have in common?

A Republican political strategist named Michael Caputo who is working to defeat them both.

Caputo has made Florida news as the executive director of an anti-Hometown Democracy group Floridians For Smarter Growth. But he has also made regular appearances in the New York press, because Caputo runs an anti-Spitzer website, and he has a long-standing relationship with Roger Stone, the man accused of making that nasty phone call to Spitzer's father; Stone has denied the charge.

Caputo works on his New York and Florida efforts mostly from his home: a tugboat trawler off Miami Beach, which he shares with a parrot named Augie. (Picture provided by Michael Caputo)

So if he's a Floridian, why does he care so much about Spitzer? It all goes back to insurance. Remember when then-Attorney General Spitzer went after the insurance industry?

An 'extremely urgent' matter

Voters who have signed no-growth Florida Hometown Democracy petitions are getting letters from a group using the new petition revocation law to prevent Hometown from reaching the 2008 ballot. It's a first-of-its-kind test of whether a revocation effort can be effective. More here.

Thrasher fronts anti-Hometown effort

Tallahassee lobbyist John Thrasher, a former speaker of the House, is helping to lead a statewide effort to convince voters to revoke their signatures on Florida Hometown Democracy petitions. The revocation push takes the form of a statewide direct mail campaign aimed at voters who have signed Hometown's slow-growth petitions over the past 150 days. "Extremely Urgent," the letter says.

"Hundreds of thousands of good Floridians are being tricked into signing onto their special interest amendment," Thrasher's letter states. "The special interests are hoping they can sneak their Constitutional Amendment past Florida's voters and into Florida's Constitution before you fully understand what's in it."

Thrasher's letter (paid for by the new Save Our Constitution committee) doesn't say that he's a lobbyist, or that his Southern Strategy Group represents -- among others -- the St. Joe Company, Associated Industries of Florida, Walt Disney World and the engineering firm Post Buckley Schuh & Jernigan. 

Randy Nielsen off the hook

The Florida Elections Commission will not pursue formal charges against attack ad king Randy Nielsen and the Florida Home Builders Association. State Rep. Paige V. Kreegel, R-Punta Gorda, filed complaints with the state agency responsible for policing election laws 18 months ago. He accused Nielsen and others of making malicious false statements in last-minute campaign ads mailed to voters in his southwest Florida district in 2004.

More here.

State: Groups can't do issue polling

In a decision that is likely to jolt Florida's political world, the state Division of Elections has ruled that political committees are prohibited by law from paying for issue-oriented polls. Candidate polls? Those are legal, the state says, but issue-oriented polls are not. For decades, interest group political committees all along the political spectrum have been doing issue polling.

The legal opinion, issued last week, was authored by Gary Holland, an attorney in the elections division. It was issued in response to a request by Jon Kislak of Florida Red and Blue Inc., the group opposing efforts to put a ban on same-sex marriages into the state Constitution. The effect of this opinion is that groups keenly interested in, say, the Jan. 29 property tax referendum are barred by law from sampling public opinion on the issue. Read the opinion here.

1,300 miles away, a tax vote plays in SD3

As Dennis Baxley and Charlie Dean scrap it out in the final days before the SD3 primary, the Republican Party is turning attention to the general election. A new mailer is calling into question Democrat Suzan Franks' voting record as a legislator in New Hampshire.

"Let's take a look at liberal Suzan Franks' baggage," reads a tag on a suitcase packed for Florida. The flip side shows votes Franks made on a state income tax, statewide property tax and other taxes.

"The Republicans haven't gotten anything right," Franks asserted when asked about the ad, which her campaign publicized in a news release (see comments). She cited one of the excise taxes, saying it was a tax on cigarettes to pay for anti-smoking campaigns. "I voted for a sin tax," she said.

If Franks prevails in her own primary, she can expect her New Hampshire voting record will be on full display. More about Franks at her Web site. An interesting tidbit you won't find there: Franks, formerly of Nashua, was a Republican until switiching parties in 2000. She said she felt the GOP had gone too far to the right.

Editing Kottkamp

A blog called the Florida Progressive Coalition, which has an open user-edited "wiki"-type online political library for issues, is reporting that their "Jeff Kottkamp" entry was creatively edited by an anonymous person using a Department of Management Services computer.

The mysterious editor used a computer registered with DMS, according to the blog's archives, and deleted negative information about the state's lieutenant governor. The Florida Progressive Coalition blog is reporting that they filed a complaint with DMS.

DMS confirmed they received a complaint.

Targeting those robo-calls

The Senate Commerce Committee on Monday passed a bill sponsored by Sen. Jim King of Jacksonville to curtail pre-recorded political "robo calls" to voters, even if they paid a fee to get on the state's "do not call" registry. But despite the vote, the issue appears dead for this session because there is not enough time left to maneuver the bill for floor votes. "This is probably a two-session issue," said King, a former Senate president who plans to file the bill again next year.

The Invasion of the Tax Reformers

Hundreds of people are expected in the Capitol Tuesday for a rally organized by Floridians for Property Tax Reform, the political committee created a few weeks ago that has been broadly supportive of the House tax plan.

Robo-calls were circulating on Monday, offering people a T-shirt and free lunch for attending the midday rally which coincides with Miami-Dade County Days in Tallahassee.

Floridians for Property Tax Reform filed papers on March 26, and reports only a single $100 donation so far, from its chairman, Realtor Jamie Yarborough. But it costs plenty to pay for the group's web site and all those T-shirts and free lunches. Realtors and mortgage lenders are said to be among the group's top financial supporters.

Romney's TV buy

The Hill today reports that the Mitt Romney campaign has spent about $298,000 on TV ads in Florida (Tampa and Orlando markets), part of the $1.3-million ($2.5-including production and other costs) spent on TV across the country since late February. So far, there's little sign it's helping him.

A rising Democratic star

A new Democratic campaign star is emerging, and Republicans better beware. This guy used to wear a hockey mask and wield an ax.

Mitch Kates, formerly "Jason the Terrible" on the professional wrestling circuit, is winning considerable buzz among Florida Democrats after having just won his second tough Tampa Bay race in which his candidate was outspent more than four-to-one.

More here

Romney airs Spanish radio spot

Former state GOP chairman Al Cardenas is the star of a new Mitt Romney Spanish language radio ad:

"I want to talk to you about Mitt Romney, my candidate for President of the United States. This great nation needs a new dawn,'' Cardenas said in the 60-second spot. "And the leader that could bring us hope is Mitt Romney.Mitt Romney is the leader who rescued the Olympics after the attacks of 9/11…he is a business leader that knows how to build a solid economy. Mitt Romney is the Republican Governor who turned around a Democratic state without raising taxes. It is a difficult time in the world, in the Americas, and in our Cuba in transition.Mitt Romney understands the dynamic of Cuba. He will be with us this weekend in Miami-Dade attending the Republican Lincoln Day Dinner…to talk to our community and afterwards address our leaders in exile."

Tampa Dirt

The mud is flying in the highly competitive race for the Tampa City Council District 4 seat that includes south Tampa. This week, mailers emerged that brutally attack incumbent John Dingfelder.
One derides Dingfelder as tacky, odd and arrogant. Another criticizes him for raising property taxes, even though Dingfelder helped pass the city’s first property tax rate cut in 20 years. The mailers were paid for by Election Watch-Florida, an organization headed by Jack Hebert, who also heads the Mallard Group. That’s the political consulting firm that advised the 2002 campaign of former Pinellas-Pasco judge John Renke, who was booted from office, in part, for misleading campaign materials. Julie Brown, Dingfelder’s strongest and best-funded opponent, said she had nothing to do with the mailers. “Obviously, somebody is very unhappy with Mr. Dingfelder,” she said, but noted she doesn't see the ads as negative. "It's all factual," she said.

Kriseman's a punctuation scofflaw

Forget illegal contributions, dirty tactics and sign theft. Apparently what riles the Florida Elections Commission is punctuation. Just ask state Rep. Rick Kriseman, D-St. Petersburg, who was fined $500 last week for adding an extra period to the required disclaimer "Political Advertisement. Paid for and approved by Rick Kriseman," on campaign materials this fall, making it two sentences. "The lawyer in me wanted to fight it," said Kriseman. "But the state representative in me said, 'You've been elected to serve the people, and you have more important things to deal with.' "

Hitting Harrison at Home

The latest attack ad from Tampa City Council candidate Mary Mulhern is intended to hit her opponent Shawn Harrison where it hurts -- on his home turf. Targeted to New Tampa residents represented by Harrison for the past eight years, it features a grid-locked road -- a common sight in Harrison's north Tampa neighborhood. Harrison says he has addressed the problem by bringing $100-million in transportation improvements to New Tampa. He also describes new HART express buses from the city's northern regions to downtown as the "beginning of a mass transit service" for north Tampa and points to a mass transit study launched by the MPO, which he chairs. But Mulhern says the time for studying mass transit is over. "The longer we wait, the more expensive it is," she says. She advocates moving quickly on light rail as part of a regional effort. Mulhern and Harrison are running for the at-large District 2 seat. 

Will anti-tax sentiment sink Penny for Pinellas?

The signs have popped up along roads and lakes, in front of fire stations and recreation centers, designed to show the fruits of the Penny for Pinellas sales tax.So far the county has spent nearly $60,000 on a marketing campaign that includes an array of posters, fliers and fact cards all aimed at persuading voters to extend the 1-cent sales tax on March 13. Commissioners are poised to spend as much as $200,000 on the campaign, if that's what it takes.

More here.

A Shot at Shawn

With less then two weeks to go before Tampa city elections, challenger Mary Mulhern is turning up the heat on sitting City Council member Shawn Harrison. Mulhern's latest mailer touts her endorsements by The Tampa Tribune and St. Petersburg Times and targets Harrison as "The Invisible Man." The graphic was also e-mailed to more than 1,000 people along with the first installment of a "True Life Adventure Series" that positions Mulhern as the "hero" who can "save the city" from Harrison and his developer allies. Harrison's response to the attack? "I'm running a positive campaign with positive messages," he said. 

Romney's Fl TV campaign begins

Mitt Romney is launching a 60-second TV spot running in Florida, Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina. Check it out here. The campaign's not saying what Florida markets or number of points. If anybody actually sees it outside of YouTube let us know.

Naked in the Streets

Blogosphere is abuzz about Bilirakis' mailer that labels Busansky as an advocate of "public nudity on the streets." After wonkette, a DC political gossip site,  named it  "campaign mailer of the day" on Sunday, others have taken note. (ie. here, here, here) Charging that "Phyllis Busansky will bankrupt our values" the mailer also says that she supports strip clubs (voted to approve a late night adult club near a daycare in 1989 & 1990 & gets backing from "radical pro-choice special interests" (emily's list)

Bilirakis:"I led the fight for insurance reform"

The whole family is back on the beach for this feel-good spot in which Bilirakis touts his accomplishments in Tallahassee.
Busansky campaign disagrees, charging that "...the so-called leadership of Gus Bilirakis has led to an insurance catastrophe."  They issued a two-pronged response, attacking Bilirakis' state house record ("AdWatch") and presenting snapshots of people roiled by insurance costs.

On issues from Iraq to tax cuts to stem cell research, the District 9 candidates share little common ground. More here

A New Ad Slams Davis

A new Republican ad running statewide this weekend attacks Democrat Jim Davis by asking: "Which candidate for governor met with terrorists? Jim Davis. Had lunch with terrorist Yasser Arafat" and "traveled to Cuba, meeting with Castro's Communist regime." The 30-second spot shows these words on camera: "record with terrorists and Communists."

Charlie Crist first leveled that charge at Davis during their first TV debate in Davie nearly two weeks ago. Davis called the latest ad "just another desperate attack" by Crist.

"I went to the Middle East to pressure Yasser Arafat on an arms shipment, and Charlie Crist was sitting in Tallahassee," Davis said."I've been standing up for peace and security in Israel and Charlie Crist has done nothing."   

Justice slams Berfield

An emotional state Senate candidate Charlie Justice held a last-minute news conference Saturday to chide opponent Kim Berfield for what he calls "baseless, extreme attacks" that label him a friend of sexual offenders and predators. More here.

Taking Aim at Crist in North Florida

An independent political group backing Democrat Jim Davis, 21st Century Florida, is up on North Florida TV stations with an ad attacking Republican Charlie Crist on taxes and insurance. The ad also dubiously links Crist to the Mark Foley scandal: Citing an obscure cable TV show report backed by unnamed sources, the commercial claims the FBI alerted Crist's office months ago to Foley's salacious e-mails to young male Congressional pages.

The 30-second ad shows Crist and Foley together on screen. With a curious choice of words, a narrator says: " ... The FBI told Crist about Foley months ago and he did nothing. Charlie Crist says you can trust him. Come on, Charlie, it's time to be straight with Florida." A similar ad is running on North Florida radio, in an apparent effort to depress conservative turnout.

Crist called the ad's claims "bunk," and said: "It's just false."

The biggest donor to 21st Century Florida is a 527 group called the National Freedom Alliance, a Fort Lauderdale electioneering group whose biggest single contributor is Elizabeth Buntrock, a long-time supporter of Democratic candidates and cousin of billionaire H. Wayne Huizenga. Pensacola trial lawyer Fred Levin donated $25,000 of broadcast time to 21st Century Florida.

--Adam C. Smith, Steve Bousquet

 

Bilirakis #1 in $, Busansky "could care less"

As of Oct. 18, Gus Bilirakis had more cash-on-hand than any other candidate for an open House seat in the country with $975,469, acccording to a FEC pre-election finance report released today. Meanwhile, Democrat Phyllis Busansky's cash totalled $24,584,  The gap is unlikely to come as a surprise to Busansky. In June, she told The Times: "He is going raise millions...I don't need as much to stay competitive." She predicted it  would take $1-million for her to defeat  Bilirakis   

Response of Robert Becker, Busansky's campaign manager: "Gus could have $900 million in the bank – we could care less. I can assure you the Pasco homeowners Phyllis met with yesterday to talk about their insurance bills which have quadrupled and the veterans Phyllis was with this morning discussing the war Iraq could care less too."  Becker said they just posted a new youtube spot, entitled "Gus on Homeowner's Insurance"

Tampa Bay's No. 1 - and fed up

Tampa Bay TV watchers won't be surprised, or happy, about this:  Nielsen Media Research on Thursday named Tampa Bay the country’s top market for TV political commercials. Los Angeles came in No. 2.

"That makes sense,'' Democratic pollster Dave Beattie said of Tampa Bay's volume of political ads. "You've got the highest spending congressional race in the country (Vern Buchanan v. Christine Jennings) and the highest spending state senate race (Republican Kim Berfield vs. Democrat Charlie Justice) in Florida, and you've got every statewide candidate battling for that market." Add in a bunch of open state House candidates, and it's like a tsunamu on our tubes.

"We've gone from being one of the biggest national test markets in the country to being the biggest political swing market in the country,'' Republican media consultant Adam Goodman of Tampa said Thurday, in the midst of producing a last round of ads for assorted candidates. "I think you're going to see more of this, not less of it, as we move into the '08 presidential cycle.''

Read today's story in the Times.

GOP targets Hispanics

The RPOF launched another Spanish language TV spot for Charlie Crist featuring U.S. Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart of Miami: "Few times do we have the opportunity to vote for someone as exceptionally qualified for a position like Charlie Crist is for governor," Diaz-Balart says in the spot which will available at http://www.charliecrist.com/.

Also, the state GOP is having fun with Jim Davis and the missing chair. Check out www.donothingdavis.com.

The ad wars continue - new Davis spot

Jim Davis isn't limiting his ads to the Internet. A few hours after launching the Web spot, his campaign said it was going on TV with this one. It takes some big swings at Crist.

But Crist answers with the real deal

The Republican Party of Florida and Charlie Crist campaign are launching a new TV ad called "Prescription."

The 30-second spot - Crist's 11th since the primary - touts his "commitment to affordable and accessible healthcare."  It will begin airing Saturday throughout Florida. It will be available later today at www.charliecrist.com and www.rpof.org.

Another Davis Internet ad

The Davis campaign has a second Internet-only ad up, touting newspaper assessments of his performance at Tuesday's debate. See it here.

Storms in trouble?

Could Republicans really be worried about Ronda Storms losing heavily Republican state Senate District 10? Get this strange robo call hitting voters in voters in the Hillsborough district, practically casting pro-gun, pro-life Democrat Steve Gorham iathe chief black helicopter pilot for the Trilateral Commission:

"Hello, here some things liberal Stephen Gorham is not telling you. The Gorham campaign is bankrolled by liberal special interests that support abortion on demand, a secret plan for higher taxes, casino gambling, and a worldwide UN ban on guns. Records prove Gorham has cozyed up to gay rights extremist congressman Barney Frank. Their agenda is higher taxes, more abortions, and gay marriage. We can not let them get away with it.
On election day say no to Stephen Gorham. Paid for by the Republican Party of Florida."

Barney Frank and a UN ban on guns? State Sen. Geller, naturally, says it's evidence of how worried Republicans are. He says the Senate Democrats' tracking poll (Penn, Schoen & Berland) has the race a dead heat between Gorham and Storms, (while Democrat Jim Davis is trailing Charlie Crist 21 points in that district).

We're hearing Buzz from both parties, btw, that Republican Kim Berfield is in serious trouble in Senate District 16, while Democrats are in trouble in Rod Smith's Senate District 23 (Ed Jennings v. Steve Oelrich). Geller says their polling shows Jennings within the margin of error.

Busansky & Bilirakis: Lastest Ad Exchange

Gus Bilirakis' spot uses a British Robin Leach-esque voice-over to paint Phyllis Busansky as a "socialite" who raised taxes to bankroll "lavish spending on herself."  (Back-up Bilirakis' ad is here:  Download meet_socialite_phyllis_busansky.doc & "Adwatch" Response from Busansky is hereDownload AdWatchBilirakisattack.doc)

Busansky goes to the other extreme, invoking a populist montage that splices man-on-the-street testimonials about insurance woes with a narrator who describes Bilirakis as "part of the problem," citing his legislative votes and hefty "contributions" from the insurance industry. Back-up materials are here: Download contributions_script_backup.pdf & Download contributions_ad_gb_ntu_survey.pdf)

Big Signs, Bigger Controversy

Charlie Crist calls it "good advertising." Democrats say Crist "has no respect for the law."

They're both talking about something that has literally grabbed voters' attention: the display of two giant Republican Party banners featuring Crist that Tampa officials say are illegal under the city sign code. But since scofflaws have 30 days to take down an illegal sign, those Crist banners can stay put through Election Day and nobody can do a thing about it. But a similar oversized sign in St. Petersburg could land Crist and the GOP in hot water.

Shrewd political timing -- or outright arrogance? The full story here. 

Russell for Brown-Waite? Not that Russell

A flier touting that outgoing Republican state Rep. David Russell has endorsed Republican U.S. Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite has upset Waite's Democratic challenger John Russell.

Read about it here.

Sink swings at Lee

Democratic CFO candidate Alex Sink came out swinging at Republican Tom Lee at a Florida Chamber of Commerce debate today in Miami. She blamed the legislature for talking about fiscal conservativism while shifting tax burden to local homeowners and she blamed Lee for taking baby steps on insurance when "We needed a giant leap for mankind to get this problem solved." But she was particularly ticked off by a new Lee ad hitting the airwaves:

"Alex Sink talks about cutting spending, but hides her past. Sink proposed raising taxes on phone bills, electricity cable TV. Even tried raising college tuition 10% every year for ten years. Imagine what she would do to our property taxes." The ad refers mainly to Sink's work on a couple business groups in the mid 1990s (alongside some Republican heavy hitters like Chuck Charles Cobb) that advocated taxing utilities to fund school construction, and raising university tuition over 10 years to cover 50 percent of instuctional costs. In Hillsborough, she also served on a group pushing a half-penny sales tax increase to fund school and criminal justice programs.

"Many of you in this audience know me, you've worked with me,'' Sink told the Chamber crowd. "How could I be the president of the state's largest bank and had a 26-year banking career and not be a fiscal conservative?"

Said Lee: "You've run as an outsider, as someone who's not been involved in public policy, but you have been exceedingly involved in trying to shape public policy. I've represented you in the senate for the last 10 years, and I know the political activity that you've been involved in. And you've advocated the increase of taxes, the increase of tuition. You're attempting to run as a conservative because you know that's popular in this state, but that's not who you are."

An out-of-date database or an unlikely show of support for Foley?

Records filed with the Federal Election Commission on Friday show that WAFC-FM of Clewiston, FL was paid $720 for a radio spot supporting the embattled former congressman by the National Right to Life Political Action Committee.  Beside the shout-out on "South Florida's Cane Country 99.5 FM," the group also noted a $495 payment for a pro-Foley ad to WOKC-AM (via an address in Dayton, Ohio???) [Download foleyad1.gif & Download foleyradioad2.gif].   A National Right to Life filing from the previous day shows that they forked over $820 to a direct mail & printing company in Baltimore for postage costs in support of Foley.  (Download foleypostage.gif)