Free Republic

Former appointed Sen. George LeMieux, whose reputation as former Gov. Charlie Crist‘s "maestro" once made him the embodiment of the Florida GOP establishment, has been endorsed by Herman Cain, who hailed LeMieux’s anti-establishment credentials at a Hernando County GOP dinner over the weekend.

Florida Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater has decided not to enter the Republican primary for U.S. Senate after briefly considering a late bid. “As much as Carole and I are humbled by your calls, notes and messages to enter the US Senate race and carry our banner into the fight we believe we have a responsibility to finish the job Floridians elected us to do,” Atwater said in a weekend Facebook post. He’s less than 16 months into his four-year term as Florida CFO. Atwater, a North Palm Beach resident, said last week he was mulling a Senate bid after...

George LeMieux pointed to a laundry list of policy differences between himself and Congressman Connie Mack, his most formidable opponent in the U.S. Senate race, even questioning Mack’s fitness to run for office, in a conference call Friday. Mack’s record of misconduct recently documented by the Miami Herald was only part of the conversation with reporters, LeMieux also scheduled the call to remind the press of Mack’s history and voting record. LeMieux's campaign released this video, calling Connie a "half Mack" on Monday

Republican Congressman Connie Mack now runs dead even with incumbent Democratic Senator Bill Nelson in Florida’s 2012 U.S. Senate race. But Nelson outdistances two other potential GOP challengers, former Senator George LeMieux and businessman Mike McCalister. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Florida Voters finds Mack and Nelson earning 41% support each. Five percent (5%) like some other candidate in the race, and 12% remain undecided at this early stage. (To see survey question wording, click here.) In Rasmussen Reports’ first survey of the Florida Senate race last November, Mack, a congressman from the Fort Myers/Naples area, posted...

George LeMieux has two big problems to overcome in his campaign to become the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate. One is Connie Mack, and the other is Charlie Crist. LeMieux has taken a lot of heat in this race because he was Crist's strategist and helped guide him into the governor's office. That is a legitimate concern for conservatives, but I don't put a lot of stock in that criticism because, as a former political consultant, I know it's incredibly rare for a consultant to agree with his client about everything. The relationship, no matter how close, is fraught...

If you haven't spoken to U.S. Senate candidate Adam Hasner in a while, all you have to do is post a link to a story he doesn't like on Facebook, and he'll give you a call. According to Boca Raton political consultant Bryan Rudnick, that's exactly what happened when he posted a link to Adam Hasner: The moderate-conservative chameleon on his Facebook page. Not long after Rudnick posted the link on Facebook, he received the following voicemail message from Hasner: "Hey Bryan, it's Adam Hasner. Actually just checking in with you. Heard you're working against me, and if you are,...

U.S. Senate candidate Adam Hasner has been attacking his rival for the Republican nomination, former U.S. Sen. George Lemieux, almost daily for being a moderate, and a one-time supporter of former Gov. Charlie Crist. What Hasner has yet to admit is that at one time, not so long ago, he billed himself as a moderate Republican, and a Crist supporter.On Feb. 19, 2008, the Palm Beach County Voters Coalition, a liberal-leaning but ostensibly nonpartisan organization, honored then-Gov. Crist at its 25th anniversary dinner in West Palm Beach. A photo of Crist was on the program cover, and the event was...

Here is video of Florida GOP Sen. George LeMieux speaking on the Senate Floor today, where he blasted the Obama Administration’s response to the Gulf Oil Spill Crisis. He particularly slammed Obama for the fact that there are still only 20 skimmers working off the coast of Florida to keep the oil at bay. This despite the fact LeMieux was told there are 2,000 skimmers available in the U.S. alone, in addition to international offers of help with skimmers. LeMieux said he was told only 20 skimmers were in use to contain the massive Gulf Oil Spill because others may...

Republican senator George LeMieux of Florida has done the math. If government spending were reduced to its 2007 level, we’d have a balanced budget (with a $163 billion surplus). Returning to the 2008 level of spending, the budget would be balanced in 2014 (a $133 billion surplus). And in both cases, that’s while keeping the Bush tax cuts across the board and indexing the loathed alternative minimum tax for inflation. “Could we live with what we did in 2007?” LeMieux asks—the “we” a collective reference to Congress, the federal government, and the country. He thinks so. Because of the recession,...

AP: "That was embarrassing and shameful," said LeMieux, who watched the address from the House visitors' gallery. "Everybody in the chamber just gasped. He should be censured."