Posted on 01/03/2006 4:04:42 AM PST by FerdieMurphy
WASHINGTON - Ever the cautious centrist, Sen. Bill Nelson sometimes gets hit from all sides.
When the Florida Democrat harshly criticized the Bush administration for the Iraq war in November, telling a Sarasota fundraiser, ''We're in a heck of a mess,'' Republicans tried to liken him to Howard Dean, the Democratic national chairman.
Early last year, some liberals grumbled when Nelson, unlike most of his Democratic colleagues, voted to confirm Alberto Gonzales as attorney general. Nelson's reasoning was simple: Gonzales was fair and easy to deal with on Florida judges.
And despite pressure from pro-immigration activists, Nelson has not taken a position on an immigration bill. As he has done on many issues, he said he will work on it with his Florida colleague, Republican Sen. Mel Martinez.
Nelson will complete his first six-year term in the Senate in January 2007 and says he's prepared for a long, expensive reelection campaign in the fall. Given Florida's reputation as a battleground state, he has long been a top GOP target and will probably face U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris.
But for Republicans, Nelson has proven a tough target to pin down.
At 63, he has positioned himself as a careful, deliberative Democrat who listens attentively to all sides and benefits from a network of friends and contacts -- from consumer activists to corporate leaders -- that goes back decades.
Former U.S. Rep. Carrie Meek, a pioneering black leader from Miami, recalled her first impression of Nelson from years ago: ``He's just a nice Christian gentleman, and at first you wouldn't think he's very insightful. He's not a hot shot. But don't misjudge him. He listens, he sits back, makes an assessment and then does what needs to be done.''
Meek tells Democratic activists who are sometimes disappointed by Nelson: ``He's not a liberal all the time. He's a centrist and doesn't adhere to any ideology. But he is a very fair man.''
On large, contentious issues, Nelson works at maintaining relationships with both sides. Bob Hunter, the director of insurance issues for the Consumer Federation, has known Nelson for years. They were both state insurance commissioners.
''We disagree sometimes, but he's one of the most careful politicians I know,'' Hunter said. ``He understands insurance better than almost any senator and generally looks out for consumers.''
Sam Miller, who heads the Florida Insurance Council, a leading voice of the industry, said of Nelson: ``He was a good guy, a good insurance commissioner. No disrespect to him, but he followed the laws, and some Florida regulations of insurance are out of line and too stringent.''
Last year Nelson helped the state's agricultural interests get more federal help after a wave of hurricanes. But he also supported CAFTA, the trade agreement with Central America and the Dominican Republic, after the sugar industry lobbied against it.
`ATTENTIVE EAR'
''He goes out of his way to have an attentive ear, even if he doesn't always do everything you want,'' said Dalton Yancey, head of the Florida Sugar Cane League, who has known Nelson since high school days in Central Florida.
Nelson said CAFTA was a good example of weighing different interests before reaching a decision. He worried about labor standards and the impact on the sugar industry but said he saw the ``long-term advantage of giving the fragile economies in those countries a chance to succeed.''
To those who think he's too cautious or slow to reach a decision, Nelson has a ready response: ``I would hope my approach is thoughtful and deliberative. Too careful? That's criticism I can live with.''
Nelson supported the resolution to use force against Iraq in late 2002, but he says he was misled by the Bush administration, ``which has not been up front with the American people.''
A member of the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees, he has close contacts with active and retired military in Florida, and complained that Florida National Guard units were getting worn out with deployments to Iraq.
Unlike Howard Dean and some other Democrats, he won't support a phased withdrawal from Iraq and says security there must be improved before a U.S. pullout.
SIGNATURE ISSUE
Nelson's signature issue in 2005 was his uncompromising opposition to any proposal that might bring Gulf Coast oil drilling closer to the state. He threatened a filibuster at one point and held up an Interior Department appointee to get assurances from a key senator that a drilling plan would not be attached to a spending bill.
Some Republicans accused Nelson of grandstanding, while environmental groups praised him. ''He went the extra mile on those issues and not just for glory or media attention,'' said Mark Ferrulo, director of the Florida Public Interest Research Group. The drilling issue demonstrated an important decision by Nelson last year to forge a close, working relationship with Martinez. That was even after Martinez suffered a major embarrassment when he inadvertently passed along a staffer's memo about how to damage Nelson politically.
''Nelson had the right to really rip into Martinez and his staff, but instead he reached out to him. That was a big deal and really helps Florida,'' said a congressional staffer and longtime observer of the Florida delegation who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Nelson said he decided early on that he and the new senator had to work together, following the model of the state's last two senators, Democrat Bob Graham and Republican Connie Mack.
''I didn't let anything come between us. When we're in session, we talk almost every day and we make sure our staffs talk, because it would be easy to drive a wedge between us,'' Nelson said.
The two senators kept a united front on the drilling issue and worked to get $140 million for Everglades restoration and $5.8 million for the National Hurricane Center.
This year, Nelson plans to work on the complex issue of insurance for major catastrophes, including the possibility of a national catastrophic fund to cover some losses from future hurricanes and earthquakes. Insurance companies and consumers have a huge stake in the issue.
But first, Nelson will face a major decision -- to support or oppose Samuel Alito, Bush's nominee for the Supreme Court.
MUM ON ALITO
Unlike other senators who have interviewed Alito, Nelson said he will wait until mid-January, after the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings. And unlike some senators, Nelson will say nothing about Alito until then.
''I'll review everything from the hearings,'' Nelson said. ``Then I'll size him up and make a decision.''
Gonzales was a liberal and so is Nelson.
Like LIEberman, Nelson is touted as a "centrist" and like LIEberman has a voting record that shows him to be a full-blown socialist!
Katherine Harris is the best choice for Floridians and Americans.
This, of course, is a typical fluff piece on a typical DemocRAT politician who is as worthless as his partner Graham.
Here's the link to Katherine Harris' website:
http://www.electharris.org/
Fluff piece? If Frank Davies had kissed Ben Nelsons butt any harder Nelson could aviod his prostrate exam this year.
What's Nelson's ACU rating, like 6?? He is as much a centrist as Joe Lieberman. Joe supports the war effort but on every other issue he is a down the line lefty yet they make him sound like a moderate. Both these senators vote against banning partial birth abortion. To me that is one "litmus test" over how extreme you are, and both of them flunk.
What a pompous ass statement.Hopefully the voters in Florida will size Nelson up and find him to be a socialist in socialist's clothing.
Perhaps it will rain on election day and all the welfare imbeciles will have to stay home, watch their relatives on the Jerry Springer Show and stuff their bloated faces. Besides, the stake trucks that the DemocRAT Party marshalls to haul their sorry behinds to the polls wont have tarps to keep them dry.
Wow, is the a news story or a PR from the Davis 2006 campaign?
So it time for the liberal Florida papers to start shilling for their democRAT Senator. If they can't successfully paint him as something other than what he is---he loses.
That being said, the RepubicRATs make me sick at my stomach. Here is a party that continuously snatches defeat from the jaws of victory and could screw up a steel ball with a rubber mallet.
The Republicans serve as towel boys to their DemocRAT buddies and prance about referring to socialist scum like LIEberman as a "moderate" and to others as "centrists." At night they slink off and crawl into bed with these anti-Americans.
Together with their DemocRAT "friends" they have, over the decades and centuries, helped morph this nation into what our founding fathers would consider a nightmare. This, of course, happened with our acquiescence.
This kind of political masturbation has brought our nation to the brink where Rome teetered and fell.
With all our enemies (and I can scarcely think of a friend) looking at us like crocodiles and hoping for our failure, we can't afford a revolution either with our without blood. Perhaps our salvation lies in hammering at the Republicans until they thin out the traitors whose slots are taken by true right-wing conservatives who are anxious to return to what was originally in the minds of our founders.
The good news is, a majority of Americans are on to them and are fully aware that 95% of journalists and 99% of editors are nothing less than Howard Dean suck-ups. You can't tell the difference between a "news story" and a DNC press release anymore.....
..........and most of the voters see that.
When he shows up for a media event, these handlers are all over the place making sure nobody asks him a question that wasn't covered by the talking points he's been rehearsing.
Someone who can't decide just what it is that they believe.
I just love having a chance to say this again: I don't give two shiites what the numbers say now ten months out, Katherine Harris will beat the snot out of the wooden Indian.
He can not erase his liberal votes and he will make things worse for himself with the Alito filibuster which he can not aford to stay out of.
The reasons are many. The top reasons are that he is out of step with Florida and the GOP in Florida is the strongest state organization in the country.
We can all help Katherine Harris by calling talk shows, contributing to her campaign, and of course, by posting about her to keep her name alive.
So far, I've donated more money to Katherine's campaign than I've given any other in my history of political contributions.
Nelson is a socialist/communist zombie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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