McBride must thank Bush if he dances to victory (What Went Thru Your Head, Jeb???)

Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel ^ | September 8, 2002 | Michael Mayo

[PJ-Comix]

Ask who Bill McBride is and some people say, "Oh, the guy who dances on TV."

This is how clueless some people are. It also shows how negative campaigning has totally boomeranged on Gov. Jeb Bush and the Republicans.

In being so concerned about McBride, the Republicans have boosted his recognition to the point where they're about to get precisely what they didn't want: McBride as the Democratic candidate for governor.

[PJ-Comix]

Big blunder here on Jeb's part. He ended up giving McBride free publicity. Bush will still win the general election but it would have been a lot more fun with Reno as the nominee instead of McBride.

[section9]

Agreed. Huge blunder.

Jeb got cute and tried to do the same thing to McBride that Davis did to Riordan in California. He just should have stayed out of it.

Be Seeing You,

Chris

[f.Christian]

Don't blame Bush...janet dilly-dayo never had a chance---outside the devo zoo---horse farm show!

[f.Christian]

Beast Train

Now I've been happy lately, thinking about the bad things to go
And I believe it is toast, something really bad had to go

Oh I've been smiling lately, dreaming about the Elian Nation rising
And I believed it would be, some day it's now...here to stay

Cause going out over the edge of darkness, there crashes the BEAST train
Oh BEAST train leaving this country, takeing the big crash run

Now I've been smiling lately, thinking about the good things already here
And I believed it would be, something good is here to stay

Oh BEAST train crashing louder
Crash on the BEAST train
Come on crashing BEAST train
Yes, BEAST train crashing harder

losers jump upon the BEAST train
Come losers all onboard the BEAST train

Get our band together, go bring our song too
Cause it's getting farther, it soon will be gone for good

Now come and join the singing, it's so far from you
And it's getting farther, soon it will all be gone for good

Now I've been happy lately, thinking about the Elian Nation here
Why we go on living, why we live in happiness

Cause out on the edge of darkness, there dies a BEAST train
Oh BEAST train left this country, come Elian Nation rising!

[Rome2000]

Don't count the big guy out yet.

Mr. Reno may yet benefit from the fact that Democrat voters are imbeciles.

At the end of the day, neither of these psychotic freaks will come close.

[Rome2000]

Oh yeah, this crosseyed maniac is a big improvement over the manthing.

The jackass party is in real trouble.

[f.Christian]

Did you have a front and top view...or are these the two sides---halves?

[Congressman Billybob]

Jeb Bush in Florida definitely did NOT make the same mistake as Gray Davis in California. Davis spent millions of dollars for ads attacking Riordan, whom he presumed would be the Republican nominee -- before the Republican primary. He was trying to "soften up" his soon-to-be-opponent.

He softened him up too much. He helped Bill Simon defeat Riordan, and therefore Davis wound up wasting all that money on the wrong target.

Jeb Bush in Florida has made no such mistake. He has spent no money attacking either Democratic candidate. If McBride beats Reno for the nomination, it will be entirely due to the reprehensible nature of Reno, and nothing more.

If McBride becomes the Democratic nominee, it will be because he is NOT Janet Reno. He will then lose in the general election because he is NOT Jeb Bush. I agree it would have been more pleasurable to watch Jeb smash a card-carrying Clintoid into the mud. But it looks like she is too pathetic for even Florida Democrats to tolerate -- and that is a very high (or low, if you will) standard for any candidate to achieve.

Congressman Billybob

Click for major article on turnover in the House of Representatives: "Til Death Do Us Part."

Click for latest book: "to Restore Trust in America"

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

It was alright for the three Dem. candidates to use their debate to bash Jeb Bush. It's alright for the Florida papers to ignore Jeb's successes and print DNC accusations as "news"...while giving the voters puff pieces on Reno and McBride. Yeah, shame on Jeb for fighting back. The Dem./press has our number. It's time we turned on these manipulative accusers and not on each other. No candidate will ever be perfect. I guarantee that Jeb is far more ethical, hardworking, conservative, Godfearing and pro-family than his far left Dem. opponents.

Has the press told the voters about McBride's longtime political work ...from Askew, to Gary Hart, Dukakis and Bill Nelson, the man is NO neophyte, as the press claims. McBride's money man is none other than Terry McAuliffe's father-in-law and one time business partner.

Then we have Reno....the richest source of political dirt since Hillary herself...and the press just glows about her heiness.

When they criticize Jeb, just remember how they're treating Jeb's devious opponents.

[AmishDude]

I don't get it. If Jeb did the same thing as Davis, then what should happen is that McBride should lose the nomination and Jeb would have wasted money. The only premise on which this is a bad idea is that Reno was already going to win the nomination and Jeb derailed the weaker Reno's candidacy it by giving McBride name recognition.

The numbers say that wasn't the case. And, if McBride gets the nomination, he'll have automatic name recognition. I won't say it was a masterstroke, but at least McBride can't come out of the primary with a clean slate.

[caltrop]

Whatever Bush was thinking, his attacks on McBride reinforced the argument McBride had been making that Bush didn't want to run against him and did want to run against Reno. When the ads began, McBride was running well behind Reno. McBride began to get traction immediately after the ads began to run.

McBride's strategy all along has been to run as the only Democrat who could beat Bush. To that end, he's outflanked Bush in North Florida and the Panhandle by not obviously pandering to the South Florida loonies. Bush took both areas very much for granted in 1998 when he abandoned the conservative posture he took in 1994. To some degree Bush has begun the process of revitalizing the Democratic Party in North Florida and the Panhandle as conservatives, who joined the Republican Party after Goldwater and Reagan, have begun to move back to the Democratic Party. So far, McBride has run a smart, although high risk, campaign geared to the general election and not the primary. If McBride wins the primary, IMHO he's got a pretty good shot at beating Bush.

[GraniteStateConservative]

What he should have done was work to make sure that Reno's supporters voted on 9/10. He should have gotten voter checklists in pro-Janet precincts and worked to build Janet an organization. He should have had people call and he should have sent postcards.

He also should have basicly said "Please, don't nominate Janet. She'll be too hard to beat!!! Don't throw me in the briar patch either."

[paul544]

The bottom line is that while McBride is doing well for the primary, he is still unknown to the rest of the state. Once the primary is over and Jeb's and McBrides records are put next to each other, then the real fight begins. As we have seen with a couple of GOP candidates, a late surge to beat the favorite in a primary, does not in any way guarantee a general election victory.

[leilani]

"Big blunder here on Jeb's part." Uh-uh. Don't think so. They wiped out Reno - proved to the world she's unelectable for DOGCATCHER (amen), and Jeb Bush is faced with WHO? in the election. Come on. This is actually pretty smart politics,except the guy who wrote the posted article is too dumb to get the obvious (gosh, they give anybody a column now, don't they?.)

[Wait4Truth]

Unfortunately, McBride IS a clintonite. Terry McAuliffe's father-in-law is a big worker in his campaign and the clintons are giving him tons of money. The clintons and mcauliffe made darned sure Reno won't win. They want to beat Jeb Bush more than they want anything in the world right now. They want to call it a referendum on George W. Bush and if McBride beats Bush, that's exactly what they will say. Jeb must win this election, no ifs, ands or buts.

[AmishDude]

his attacks on McBride reinforced the argument McBride had been making that Bush didn't want to run against him and did want to run against Reno

Of course McBride will say that. If the polls started going McBride's way after the Jeb commercials, there had to be some lead time. There are plenty of internal polls and I'm sure they showed that McBride's numbers were rising before the ads. You can refuse to believe it if you wish, though. Just a matter of opinion.

McBride's strategy all along has been to run as the only Democrat who could beat Bush.

Of course! What other strategy was available to him? And of course he's going to claim that whatever Jeb does reinforces that view. If Jeb says "hi" instead of "hello", McBride is going to claim that it's a reinforcement of his position. Reno's a polarizing figure. McBride positions himself as a moderate and wins the job. Most of us were amazed that Reno was in the race out as long as she was and I said from the very beginning that a no-name Democrat would get nominated. (Of course, I predicted Reno would drop out, also.)

Bush took both areas very much for granted in 1998 when he abandoned the conservative posture he took in 1994. To some degree Bush has begun the process of revitalizing the Democratic Party in North Florida and the Panhandle as conservatives, who joined the Republican Party after Goldwater and Reagan, have begun to move back to the Democratic Party.

OK, now you're just getting goofy. So these people were so disappointed with Jeb's abandoning their conservatism that they're flocking back to the Democrats?!?!? Riiiiiiiiiiiiiight . . .

So far, McBride has run a smart, although high risk, campaign

What risk? He was a nobody. All he had to do was stick around until Reno faltered. And he did that.

Maybe Reno is easier to beat, but if she were to have gotten nominated, the campaign would have been very nasty and you never know what would happen. McBride is a much more conventional candidate and, as such, he may seem harder to beat, but he's much more predictable.

[AmishDude]

Unfortunately, McBride IS a clintonite.

But for all the world, Reno is tied to Clinton. If Reno wins, it's a validation of Clinton. Notice that the people running who were part of the Clinton administration either look to win outright (Richardson) or go down in flames in the primaries (Reno, Cuomo). Look for general election headlines on the first Wednesday in November to read about a validation of Clinton.

They want to beat Jeb Bush more than they want anything in the world right now.

That's what the grassroots want. The Clintons have ambitions of their own.

[Lancey Howard]

The Clintons have ambitions of their own.

The Clintons run the national Democrat Party with an iron fist (and with a boatload of Terry Lenzner / Jack Palladin dirt files as well) and every race they attempt to influence has some bearing in some way to the ultimate goal of getting Hillary into the White House. Every single move that the Clintons make has that singular goal in mind, whether it is eliminating Andrew Cuomo in New York or boosting McBride in Florida. Look at every race that the Clintons seek to influence and dig - and I bet anything that you will find that the national implications do something to help Hillary, either by eliminating a potential threat to her candidacy or by taking over a state's party machinery.

[conservative_2001]

Jeb's blunder is that he started the attack ads too early. By starting them weeks in advance of the primary, it became a certainty that voters would eventually learn that Bush was behind it. This has given Democratic primary voters plenty of time to realize that Bush thinks McBride is the strongest nominee, and plenty of opportunities for McBride to "brag" to Democratic voters that Bush was attacking him.

If Bush had only waited to run the ads until the last few days of the race, none of this would have happened. It's not enough time for the media to pick up on it and run enough stories to saturate the voters. McBride would never be able to turn it into a long-standing, long-discussed issue. The message of the ads themselves would be what is on the voters minds, not the politics behind the ads.

[caltrop]

Your assumption that Bush can continue to take the conservative areas of the state for granted will prove incorrect when the November votes come in. Win or lose, Bush's numbers in those areas will disappoint. A Reno - Bush race wouldn't have been nasty, it would have been over before it began. Reno is unelectable in Florida, even lots of Democrats have figured it out.