Attention Florida voters: Do you know who this man is?

Tampa Bay Times ^ | May 18, 2018

[SMGFan]

Does Bill Nelson's understated public persona and record in the U.S. Senate help or hurt him as he faces a barrage of TV ads by his opponent, Gov. Rick Scott, that aims to define who Nelson is?

You've probably heard: Bill Nelson flew to space.

Thirty-two years ago.

To this day, that's how many people identify the Florida Democrat — now a three-term Senator, he blasted off on space shuttle Columbia as a 43-year-old Congressman — underscoring that for all the flamboyance of the mission, Nelson has been long grounded in the vanilla center of politics.

"He's like the old reliable, somebody you can count on. But you can't put your finger on an extraordinary thing he's done," said Jack Shifrel, a veteran Democratic activist in Broward County. "He's just always there for the right reasons, the right issues."

[SMGFan]

Waiting for President Trump to call on Florida to fire Nelson!

[DaveA37]

Nelson “flew to space”........

Being a demodummie he is still IN “space”

[gov_bean_ counter]

Freaking astronut.

[Blue Highway]

Weird, I’ve been in Fl since 1988 and don’t remember any hub bub about him flying on the Space Shuttle.

[nutmeg]

Bill Nelson ping! :-D

[HonkyTonkMan]

It was in 85 - just before Challenger.

[rollo tomasi]

Space "hero" and brings home the taypayers' bacon to the gibsmedats constituents. Will be tough; Rick is divided with the gun stuff within his own Party. A lot of Repubs, especially on the female side with kids, are not fans of guns at this moment. They could gravitate to the space "hero" again.

Also Rick barely squeezed out the governorship and add to that, a bunch of potential gibsmedats Puerto Ricans moved to Florida and registration drives by dems are in overdrive (Going slowly which might be a good sign). Fiscal sanity needs to be preached, hard to describe economic unintentional consequences in campaign slogans, but doable. Tip-toe carefully around gun control to the point of agreeing with the other-side. The quirky "sensible gun laws" approach will be attacked by the totalitarians so need a strategy to counter that so "the moms" feel comfortable.

[Blue Highway]

Still strange, in all these years you’d think I would have come across that. Never have until today.

[Blue Highway]

you just know those gibsmedats Puerto Ricans will ALL vote Democrat!

[rrrod]

Wrong...I know several that voted TRUMP....and will vote for Scott.

[The Deplorable Miss Lemon]

I write to Nelson pretty often especially during the Obamacare debate. I am still waiting for a reply. His office staff is rude and arrogant, two traits which come right from the man himself.

I will never vote for him.

[Blue Highway]

We were talking specifically the Puerto Ricans that came to Florida after the hurricanes. Those are most likely 99% gibsmedat future Democrats.

[Taxman]

Floridians: We MUST RETIRE “Howdy Doody” Nelson!

[ealgeone]

Bill Nelson was insurance commissioner during and after Hurricane Andrew. He is responsible for the insurance market being so screwed up in Florida.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Retirees in Florida are pulling up stakes and moving to N. Georgia and eastern TN.

[NautiNurse]

I’ve been in Fl since 1988 and don’t remember any hub bub about him flying on the Space Shuttle.

Bill Nelson's singular jaunt into space was a political stunt performed after he was an elected U.S. Congress Critter. Nelson was unable to capitalize on his "astronaut" experience with a failed run for FL Governor in 1990. He successfully campaigned using the space flight experience for U.S. Senate runs since 2000.

[SecondAmendment]

Are there any Republican astronauts ?

[MrEdd]

Tampa Bay Times? That was Facebook’s “fact checker.”

[MrEdd]

No, I don’t know that at all.
I served with a fair number in the Marine Corps who I am certain would not.

[HonkyTonkMan]

Halfbacks. Yankees move to Florida, ruin it, then move “halfway back home” to N. GA and the Carolinas.