Will McBride: 'in striking distance' (Florida GOP Senate Primary)

St. Petersburg Times ^ | 9-2-06 | Anita Kuman

[TitansAFC]

WEST PALM BEACH — A few weeks ago, on the last day that candidates could get their names removed from the ballot, U.S. Senate candidate Will McBride called two opponents, urging them to get out of the race.

McBride, 34, an Orlando lawyer, said he could beat front-runner Katherine Harris in Tuesday’s GOP primary in a two-way race.

His rivals refused to quit, but McBride still thinks he has the best shot at defeating Harris, a congresswoman from the Sarasota area whose campaign has encountered a series of problems.

“It’s been a response that I’ve just been like 'Wow’ and in just a short amount of time,” McBride said while campaigning outside the Palm Beach Mall last week. “We’re in striking distance. Is it a done deal? No, but we’re in position to win.”

Harris is still considered the favorite, but recent polls indicate the total support of her three rivals combined is more than hers, with almost half the voters undecided.

McBride’s competition also includes retired Adm. LeRoy Collins and Safety Harbor developer Peter Monroe.

McBride initially drew attention because of family wealth and the expectation that the GOP might help him, since Bush adviser Karl Rove knows McBride’s father-in-law, the owner of more than 100 Christian radio stations. His family ties have helped him raise money, provided radio air time and attracted well-known campaign consultants, but the party has stayed neutral. McBride has raised almost $300,000 and put in more than $700,000 of his own.

He stresses the need to curb government spending with a balanced budget and a line-item veto. Collins and Monroe have attacked McBride to clarify his position on illegal immigration and his participation with groups that want to defeat immigration reform bills. The grandson of immigrants from Mexico and the Dominican Republic,

McBride is fluent in Spanish and says he has spent years making inroads with the Spanish community. “Why would you attack ourselves?” he said. “I thought the objective was to have an alternative to Katherine Harris.”

[TitansAFC]

Interesting move. I guess the ball is in Collins' court (and Monroe's) as far as the request for endorsements go. Rarely does such a move happen, but I credit McBride for boldly asking rather than just sitting on his hands and pretending his opponents would make no difference or don't exist.

Still, Katherine Harris zealots keep telling us the polls all lie (even by 40% margins), so I guess there's a good chance McBride is actually well ahead of Katherine Harris anyway.

Here's hoping to move a seat from the "absolutely certain Democrat retention" to "leans Democrat retention" column. Who knows?

[capt. norm]

I hadn't heard much about him uintil recently. He does have some very straight-forward ads running here and seems like a good candidate.

[Rawlings]

I hope he wins. If he does I think he deserves the RNC's support for pulling it off. Democrats should not be able to win in Florida.

[knarf]

For me, the biggest appeal of Katherine Harris is the thought processes and guts that moved her to rule in the contested Florida race .. locking out a Socialist theft and exposing their tactics.

As a man (or woman) thinketh, so is he (or she).

Katherine's 'problems' IMO are not earth shaking flaws in her character nor ability to formulate thought .. thereby come to conclusion(s) .. ultimately .. legislate.

That's the main target of the socialists ... the root of how a person thinks.

[italianquaker]

I already early voted for harris but Mcbrides position on not being in favor of a premptive strikes concerns me but if he wins i will obviously vote for him instead of fat moore loving nelson

[FloridianBushFan]

Will McBride is the best hope of winning in November and of beating Harris tomorrow. He is a Conservative who wants to go and control and cut out all the pork spending. He wants to put an end to all th reckless spending going on in Washington. This is a major issue. We need more fiscal Conservatives in Washington.

[OK]

Joe Farah chimes in:

Vote for Katherine Harris
Posted: September 4, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern

Whenever the media establishment's long knives come out for a politician, I figure the person is doing something right – that he or she is a legitimate threat, that he or she is effective and getting to the enemy.

That's the conclusion I came to after reading an L.A. Times hit piece on Rep. Katherine Harris, now a candidate for the U.S. Senate in Florida.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=51811

[tiredoflaundry]

[duckln]

Chaffee will lose and Harris will win their primaries.

Despite the NRC's shameless attempts to enforce the 'conservatives need not apply' rule.

[TitansAFC]

Farah advocated not voting for Bush in 2004.

He is a purist - not that I'm not. But I also believe in winning to get Conservative things done, as opposed to backing only hardcore Conservatives and enjoying a Democratic Supermajority in a Senate with no RINOs.

Harris can't win - she can't even cut a 30% deficit. McBride has an outside shot.

[TitansAFC]

On Steve Laffey vs. Lincoln Chafee:

Not only did Laffey come out and declare, "I'm not a conservative," but he also called for the firing of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and criticized President Bush on the war in Iraq.

I'm not sure Laffey winning is a very positive thing at all.

[NautiNurse]

[NautiNurse]

[gov_bean_ counter]

IMO, the national party messed over Harris six years ago when they failed to defend her against the onslaught of criticism when she was just doing her job. They allowed her to be labeled a party hack and drove her negatives down. Now what other issues she has are magnified and only reinforce the negatives her own party allowed to accumulate.

[gov_bean_ counter]

sorry, drove her negatives up.

[dawn53]

Okay, if McBride wins the nomination, I figure he's got a secret "ace in the hole" for the general election.

It is Florida, remember, the home of the infamous butterfly ballot debacle.

So...Will McBride sounds an awful lot like Bill McBride, and maybe that will confuse the Dems and they'll vote for him thinking since he didn't beat Jeb for the Governorship, he deserves a shot at the Senate. (end/sarcasm)

[NautiNurse]

LOL!

[montag813]

For me, the biggest appeal of Katherine Harris is the thought processes and guts that moved her to rule in the contested Florida race .. locking out a Socialist theft and exposing their tactics.

Don't disagree, but she should have served several more terms in the House to build up her rep before taking on the Senate. It was just a stupid miscalculation. Too soon, akin to Rick Lazio taking on Hillary Clinton, or the woman who defeated Cynthia McKinney running for the Senate after one term also.

[OK]

No, Farah did vote for Bush in 2004.

[krunkygirl]

Thanks for posting that timely reminder.

I will vote K. Harris.