Well he did. He flew to Miami and gave this big elaborate speech about what a grrrreat guy Mel the RINO is. McCollum was done after that. Castor, the Dem candidate, was no competition. The RNC could have put Spongebob out there successfully.
Back to my assertion- the GOP doesn't want a conservative Congress, and the Senate is the easiest place to maintain the threat of liberalism, which keeps the conservatives on the RINO plantation.