Posted on 09/27/2002 6:04:33 AM PDT by NautiNurse
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Posted on Thu, Sep. 26, 2002 |   |
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McBride lobbies Florida's black community
Knight Ridder Newspapers
MIAMI - With a new poll showing Gov. Jeb Bush's once-daunting lead reduced to just single digits, there were signs from the campaign trail Wednesday that Democratic challenger Bill McBride is setting the agenda for the campaign's final stretch. McBride made his first personal appeal to the Miami-Dade black community that backed his former rival Janet Reno in this month's primary but now must turn out in full force Nov. 5 for him to have a shot at beating Bush. And as McBride appeared at an F-rated Liberty City elementary school to rail against Bush's system of using standardized tests to grade schools, Bush trotted out the second installment of a new education plan designed to remind voters that he is the "education governor." The Tampa lawyer acknowledged that the man he selected to be his running mate, state Sen. Tom Rossin, got the job only after he asked someone else first: retiring U.S. Rep. Carrie Meek. McBride told a group of local black leaders that he didn't spend much time campaigning in Miami-Dade prior to the primary election because he knew it was Reno's turf.
But, he noted: "She and I are together now. I need to explain to black leaders the things I care about and if they feel I care about the same things that she did and they did, then I'll get the vote. "I understand that she was first in their heart and I don't want to change that," McBride said. "But it's beyond personalities. This is about Nov. 5 and who's going to be the next governor of Florida." Bush, meanwhile, donned a hard hat at a union hall in Hialeah, accepted the endorsement of the state's carpenters' union chapters and pronounced himself ready to take it to McBride at their first debate Friday night. Officials from the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America said it was their first time endorsing a Republican for governor of Florida. The union is not affiliated with the AFL-CIO, which endorsed McBride even when he faced an against-the-odds primary against Reno. Bush then flew to Orlando to unveil the second installment of his "Blueprint for Achievement," a series of education policy pronouncements intended to build on the "A-plus" accountability plan that McBride has made the leading target of his campaign. Wednesday's plan, called "Retaining Quality Teachers," would create more salary bonuses for teachers to receive national board certification and offer better retirement incentives to encourage teachers to remain in the classroom. But Bush's new round of education pronouncements - including a plan last week to borrow money to build more classrooms, even as he opposes a proposed constitutional amendment to cap class sizes - have come under fire from Democrats, who wonder why the governor has waited until the end of his term to offer new ideas. Bush tried Wednesday to turn the criticism back at McBride, who he accuses of promising the world but failing to show how he can pay for it. The governor called the Democrat's plan to add $1 billion to public schools and limit class size in early grades "so vague it's breathtaking in its vagary."
The rollout of Bush's new plans are designed in part to undercut the endorsement of McBride by the state's teachers' union. The Florida Education Association has poured an estimated $2 million into TV ads boosting McBride's candidacy - ads the state Republican Party claim are illegal because they advocate for a specific candidate rather than an issue, as required by campaign finance laws. |
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Thanks. Yes, I have.
Joseph Edward Brower = JEB. Funny coincidence.
If you want on (or off) of my black conservative ping list, please let me know via FREEPmail. (And no, you don't have to be black to be on the list!)
Extra warning: this is a high-volume ping list.
That's a lie from the Democrats, of course. Jeb has a solid record in Florida for his work on education, McBride has nothing but his big talk, and if a reporter doesn't even know this basic fact about our Governor, they have no business covering the Florida Governor's race, imho.
When Dem. "opinion" is presented as "news", the voters lose. The reporter didn't ask the Dems.,"Why are you pushing a class size amendment that is a documented failure? Why are 4 of the biggest sponsors far left groups: PFAW, NAACP and the two biggest teachers' unions - from out of state and won't even be paying for the bill?" Why isn't the press telling the voters about this "class size" con? It isn't "opinion." It's documented, common sensical, full blown DNC BS.
Finally, why are Knight-Ridder and AP writing articles for our local papers about our candidates? Our "hometown" Gannett-owned papers are ignoring our hometown voices.
And when she turned me down it was the happiest day of my life.
It's unfortunate American law doesn't require imprisonment for lies of this magnitude.
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