Posted on 08/28/2018 11:48:00 AM PDT by Presbyterian Reporter
BRADENTON — GOP candidate for governor Adam Putnam portrayed his primary opponent as President Donald Trump’s puppet during a campaign stop in Bradenton on Tuesday, saying Ron DeSantis doesn’t have his own plan to lead the state.
“You can’t afford to have a governor who calls the White House every morning and says ‘What are we going to do today, boss?’” Putnam said during a breakfast event at Theresa’s Restaurant. “No, if you want to help our president make America great, the third-largest state has to be hitting on all cylinders.”
“I know Florida best,” Putnam added. “I have a plan.”
With just a week before the Aug. 28 primary, Putnam is making a stronger effort to confront the key asset that has propelled DeSantis in the race: Trump’s endorsement. Putnam’s message: If voters look beyond Trump’s backing, they won’t find much substance to DeSantis.
“My opponent’s running on an endorsement,” Putnam said. “No plan, no vision, no agenda — just an endorsement. Just hanging on to the coattails. It takes more than that to lead the state of Florida. You deserve better.”
DeSantis campaign spokesman David Vasquez responded by saying it is “disappointing that Adam Putnam would disparage the president.”
“Ron DeSantis is proud to have the endorsement of President Trump because the president knows Ron is the best leader for Florida,” Vasquez added. “From issues like standing up to special interests and protecting our environment to cutting taxes and creating more jobs, Ron is committed to securing Florida’s future and working every day for the people of our great state.”
Trump’s involvement has upended the race and bedeviled Putnam, the state’s agriculture commissioner and early favorite to win the GOP nomination. DeSantis, a congressman from Northeast Florida who graduated from Yale and Harvard Law School and served in the military, has surged to frontrunner status on the strength of Trump’s support. The president even flew to Tampa recently to hold a rally for DeSantis.
Trump is hugely popular with GOP primary voters. That leaves Putnam in a difficult position as he strains to discount Trump’s endorsement without actually criticizing the president. In recent days, he has implied that DeSantis is little more than Trump’s “apprentice,” playing off the title of Trump’s popular television show in an effort to question DeSantis’ experience and whether fealty to Trump is the best qualification for governor.
“Florida’s not picking an apprentice; we’re electing a governor,” Putnam says in his latest television ad.
At the same time, Putnam is quick to point out that he backs Trump’s policies.
“I support President Trump’s agenda,” Putnam said in an interview after the Bradenton event, which drew a few dozen people. “I wish that he’d stayed out of the race. There’s no bigger thumb on the scale than the leader of the free world. But I believe that at his rally in Tampa there were an awful lot of Trump/Putnam voters there.”
Putnam has stuck with his “Florida First” message as he tries to overcome the Trump factor, arguing that his deep roots in the state and experience dealing with Florida issues — he has been agriculture commissioner for eight years and was a congressman and state representative before that — mean he is better prepared to be governor.
The president’s endorsement is a daunting hurdle to overcome. Since June, the president is 14 for 14 in endorsing GOP candidates who went on to win their primary contests, according to the Washington Post.
But two recent polls have shown Putnam and DeSantis running neck and neck in the race. Florida Atlantic University released a survey Tuesday that had DeSantis at 32 percent support and Putnam at 31 percent, within the margin of error. Another poll, conducted by SurveyUSA — a well-regarded polling firm — for Spectrum News Networks last week had Putnam trailing DeSantis by just two percentage points, also within the margin of error.
“We’re certainly seeing evidence that the race has tightened and that the Trump bump has evened out as Florida voters begin to pay closer attention to this race,” Putnam said in an interview after the event.
Putnam predicted his “grassroots efforts” and hard work on the campaign trail will pay off next Tuesday.
Some of Putnam’s supporters noted that the candidate has a better campaign organization than his opponent.
“Adam’s organization and get-out-the-vote effort will” help led him to victory, said Lakewood Ranch-based developer Pat Neal, who attended the breakfast.
Nik Wallenda, the famous tightrope walker who has traversed the Grand Canyon and Niagara Falls, also came out to support Putnam.
Wallenda is a Trump supporter who attended a 2016 Trump rally in Sarasota. Asked why the president’s endorsement did not sway him to back DeSantis, Wallenda said: “I’m a homegrown Florida boy. I want somebody who’s from the state and has the same beliefs as me, and he’s just so personable.”
Putnam came to Bradenton just as Manatee County was declaring a countywide emergency because of the red tide algae bloom, and the candidate addressed the issue in interviews after the event.
DeSantis has sharply criticized Putnam on the algae issue, saying he is too closely tied to sugar companies that are routinely blamed for contributing to excess nutrient levels in Lake Okeechobee that help fuel blooms. Some have speculated that discharges of nutrient-rich water from the lake into the Caloosahatchee River are making the current red tide bloom worse.
But Putnam questioned whether sugar companies are to blame for the algae problem.
“Like a lot about his campaign, he’s misinformed, and he doesn’t understand the basic geography of Florida,” Putnam said of DeSantis. “The Everglades Agricultural Area is south of Lake Okeechobee and the rainfall that comes into Lake Okeechobee is flowing from Orlando into the lake. And the farmers in the [Everglades Agricultural Area] have reduced their nutrient loading by 70 percent.”
Like, being a “Trump puppet” is a bad thing?
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