Fla.
Dems Hope To Retain Sen. Seat
By BRENT KALLESTAD,
AP
01:17 PM ET 09/18/00
TALLAHASSEE, Fla.
(AP) - Florida Republicans are hoping George W. Bush
can help them keep a U.S. Senate seat that his father
helped them win a dozen years ago. But it may not be
as easy as 1988 when former President Bush's coattails
carried Connie Mack into the Senate.
The GOP is betting
on U.S. Rep. Bill McCollum to retain the seat, while
Florida Democrats have their money on Bill Nelson, the
state's insurance commissioner and former congressman,
to pick up one of the five seats they need to reclaim
control of the Senate.
With the 2000
election just seven weeks away, it doesn't look like
the latest Bush entry can deliver Florida with the
same ease his father dispatched Michael Dukakis.
The former
president's million-vote margin in that race propelled
Mack, then a congressman, into a seat that had been
held by Democrats throughout the 20th century.
McCollum, 56, would
like to take the same route.
``That was the
model,'' said Larry Sabato, a University of Virginia
political science professor and expert on Southern
politics. ``His real shot is a large Bush margin
producing coattails.''
But that doesn't
seem to be in the mix, even though Bush's younger
brother Jeb is Florida's governor and enjoys
widespread approval ratings as he approaches two years
in office.
``It's time now for
the Republicans to bring their top guns into the state
and for Jeb and Connie Mack to get on the trail if
they're serious about winning that seat,'' said Susan
MacManus, a political science professor at the
University of South Florida.
Sabato called Nelson
``the clear front-runner'' in his bid for the Senate.
He is favored by 44 percent to McCollum's 36 percent
in a poll conducted by Washington-based Mason-Dixon
Polling and Research Inc., and published Thursday. The
poll of 803 likely voters had a margin of error of 3.5
percentage points.
Five other
candidates are in the race.
McCollum, a former
Navy legal officer, has served 20 years in the House,
where he established a strong conservative record. He
led the battle against the Brady Bill, which
established a five-day waiting period and background
checks on handgun purchasers.
During President
Clinton's impeachment, McCollum was the House floor
manager. Democratic activists passed out ``Impeach
McCollum'' bumper stickers in front of his Orlando
office at the time but it has not been a factor in
this campaign.
He is trying to sell
himself as the ``new'' Connie Mack, Florida's popular
two-term senator.
``This was a
tremendous setback for Republicans,'' Sabato said of
Mack's resignation. ``Effectively they've lost a seat
and I think one of their best leaders.''
After losing the
governor's mansion, state House and Senate, and
control of the independently elected stated Cabinet
during the 1990s, Democrats look to Nelson as the man
to get them back on track as a competitive party again
in Florida.
Nelson served a
dozen years in the U.S. House before running for
governor in 1990. He is probably best known for flying
on the space shuttle Columbia just two weeks before
the 1986 Challenger explosion.
During his
gubernatorial campaign, when he lost the Democratic
nomination to former U.S. Sen. Lawton Chiles, Nelson
was depicted as an empty suit on the cover of a
prominent Florida business magazine.
After four years in
the private sector, Nelson was elected in 1994 as
insurance commissioner, one of the state's toughest
statewide offices. He has worked hard to hone a
pro-consumer image, battling frequently with insurers
over rate increases.
Nelson, who turns 58
this month, believes he has overcome the empty-suit
image.
``Ten years is a
long time,'' he said. ``You can ask the big insurance
companies I've fined, or ask the consumers who've
gotten back their life's savings.''
Although George W.
Bush campaigned in Florida last week, McCollum didn't
break off from his campaign schedule to appear with
the Texas governor.
``I've been planning
this race as if there were no presidential race,''
McCollum said after his primary election victory
earlier this month.
Bush and Democratic
nominee Al Gore were in a statistical dead heat in
their bid for Florida's 25 electoral votes in the
latest poll.
A Nelson victory
would give Florida two non-controversial,
middle-of-the-road Democrats. The state's senior U.S.
senator, Bob Graham, is known for his note taking,
Florida ties and cautiousness.
Related Links:
McCollum's
site: http://www.mccollumsenate.org
Nelson's site: http://www.nelsonforsenate.com
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