Posted on 06/29/2004 9:02:21 AM PDT by kjfpolitical
Note to all elected republicans...SIDE WITH THE RATS ON ANYTHING AND FACE THE WRATH OF THE PRIMARY VOTERS!
When will they learn?
Attempting to grant Amnesty for Criminal invaders INCLUDED!
I'm here in Tampa; please add me to your list.
Done!
I campaigned for McCoullum last time...looks like I will save myself the energy this time.
Unfortunately, I think we are living in the post-Regean era, where conservative ideas and free speech is going to be punished.
It is very important for conservatives to vote at the Primaries and don't fall for the eastern establishment Republican's baloney - as it is many times promoted by the local press.
Mel Martinez sounds exactly what the U.S. Senate needs. I hope he wins.
Bump
I'm supporting Martinez over McCollum because aside from these two issues, McCollum voted to use taxpayer funding for liberal government programs like the worthless National Endowment for the Arts and the Legal Services Corporation.
He's greatly disappointed conservative and pro-life activists here in FL with his opposition to President Bush on embyonic stem cell research, hate crimes and his support of anti-2nd amendment gun control legislation right before he left Congress. McCollum used to be pro-NRA, but started waffling prior to leaving Congress.
I think his nearly two decades in Congress have made McCollum a squishy RINO. If he got to the Senate he'd only get worse.
I don't think Martinez's three years in W's Cabinet make him a Washington insider. Plus, Mel Martinez is solidly pro-life, pro-family, pro-2nd Amendment and anti-tax.
Bump
OPs4 God Bless America!
I fear that whereas Reagan brought conservatives to the promised land, Bush has sent us back into the desert.
For me, the position of a political candidate on the Second Amendment is very important.
I will be looking closely to McCollum. If Martinez is more pro-Second-Amendment than McCollum, then Martinez will probably get my vote.
What I can't figure out is how McCollum lost that race in 2000.
I know he was facing Bill Nelson, a guy with statewide ID because of the Insurance Commish post he held.
But it seems to me that in an increasingly conservative state like Florida that McCollum should have done better than he did.
What caused this race to end up how it did? I appreciate any insights from any Freepers in the know.
I did a internet search on McCollum's 2000 campaign to make sure I wasn't mistaken that he was getting squishy. Here's one of the articles I found:
St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
September 19, 2000, Tuesday,
SECTION: CITY & STATE; Pg. 1B
HEADLINE: McCollums's consistency attacked
BYLINE: ADAM C. SMITH
Interest groups on all sides ask whether the Senate candidate is running away from his record.
Bill McCollum's message is consistent as he campaigns to succeed Connie Mack in the U.S. Senate:
"I'm a fellow who stands on principle. I believe firmly in what I say and mean what I say," the Republican congressman from Longwood repeatedly tells voters while questioning the consistency of his opponent, Democrat Bill Nelson.
"I don't just put my finger in the wind when I make a decision."
But as McCollum tries to soften his image, interest groups on all points of the political spectrum are questioning whether he's running away from his record or abandoning his core beliefs.
"This guy must put his finger in the air to see which way the political winds are blowing," said Andrea Lafferty of the Washington-based Traditional Values Coalition, which fights against abortion and gay rights. "I am very concerned about someone who purports to be this way or that way, and then acts differently. It speaks to his character."
Lafferty said she had a meeting in late July with McCollum, who told her that while he "needed to appease a certain constituency," he would never promote a gay rights agenda. Weeks later, McCollum began holding news conferences with gay activists to tout his support for a hate crimes bill. The bill gives stiffer sentences for violence committed because of a victim's race, religion or sexual orientation.
In trying to appeal to swing voters with moderate rhetoric, he's facing accusations of hypocrisy from an array of interest groups picking apart his 20-year congressional record.
McCollum says he is consistent and that he makes every decision based on what's reasonable and what he gets passed in Congress. That he's being attacked from both the left and the right, he said, shows how independent and moderate he really is.
Nonetheless, his efforts to claim the moderate, middle ground are drawing him heat from all sides.
"He's turned his back on his principles," said Kristin Hansen of the conservative Family Research Council.
Gun Owners of America, an ardent gun rights group, is attacking his gun control record over the past 18 months, warning members in Florida that McCollum's voting is much like Democratic U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York. Meanwhile, Handgun Control Inc. is airing TV commercials painting McCollum as an opponent of common-sense gun laws.
The League of Conservation Voters is expected to weigh in on Florida's Senate race as early as next week, attacking McCollum even as he campaigns as "an environmentalist of the first order."
"He attempts to hide his record with a little green cover," the league's political director, Betsy Loyless said, referring to McCollum's touting his effort to have the Wekiva River designated an official "scenic river."
"On nearly three out of every four votes on important environmental protections, he's voted anti-environment," said Loyless.
On the stump, the law-and-order congressman from Longwood sounded like a traditional Democrat, holding press events one day at a homeless shelter, another day at a black church and another day alongside gay rights leaders.
Rather than mention impeachment, McCollum preaches about the need for smaller class sizes and better pay for teachers. He says that consumers should be allowed to sue their HMOs, and that no one at a gun show should be allowed to buy a firearm without a criminal background check.
In Congress, he has been one of the most influential opponents of gun-control measures, including the Brady Bill requiring background checks and waiting periods for handgun purchases.
Last year, though, for the first time in his 20-year career, he endorsed waiting periods for gun purchases. His bill - opposed by both the National Rifle Association, which called it too far-reaching, and gun control advocates, who called it too weak - required gun buyers to wait up to 72 hours for a background check before buying a gun at a gun show.
McCollum said that had nothing to do with his Senate race, and that common sense calls for ending the "gun show loophole," which allows people to buy guns without background checks.
The Bill Nelson campaign has 20 years of McCollum congressional votes to throw back at McCollum. When McCollum talks about the homeless, the Nelson campaign e-mails reporters assorted votes McCollum has taken against housing programs and housing assistance.
"He doesn't want to talk about it," Nelson, Florida's insurance commissioner, said of McCollum's record after a speaking appearance in Pinellas. "He is trying to remake himself into a raging moderate, but it's not working, and I'm not going to let him."
Meanwhile, McCollum rarely misses an opportunity to portray Nelson as a flip-flopper interested mainly in political expediency. He often notes how Nelson initially said he opposed repealing the estate tax as too expensive, and then changed his mind.
Nelson says higher budget surplus projections prompted the change.
- Times Political Editor Tim Nickens contributed to this report.
Mel Martinez website:
www.melforsenate.org
Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Florida
(Bob Graham is--finally--retiring...)
I live for the day when we have another voice. Maybe the conservatives will learn the hard way, and form a third party that has some teeth.
A FL Freeper, Minute Gal tried to assist the McCollum campaign in 2000. She became thoroughly disgusted with the disorganization and half-hearted efforts. Many believe McCollum was a weak campaigner.
Leni.....when you can......please add your comments to this thread.
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