BOOM! @AdamHasner wins #CPACFL straw poll

I'll post more when I get the rest of the details, but I have confirmed that Adam Hasner has won the CPAC Florida straw poll by a convincing 34% to LeMieux's McCalister's 24%. Congrats to #TeamHasner!

UPDATE: My apologies, in the excitement I made an error in the original post about who came in second in the CPAC straw poll. Correction above.

Is George LeMieux working with Guetzloe?

Why would George LeMieux willingly work with Doug Guetzloe, the man who spent last year engaged in a direct assault on both the Republican party and many tea party movement organizations and activists around the state (see my post from last month here with lots of links about Guetzloe)?

Or - and maybe this is worse - is LeMieux really that ignorant about the tea party? That doesn't seem that farfetched, considering the swirling gossip about LeMieux's contempt for grassroots conservatives. Or is he so desperate for positive press as L'affaire de Greer grinds on, that he'll take it from any source, no matter how low he has to stoop?

Here's what we know so far:

Morning Coffee Reading for September 5, 2011

Here's your morning coffee reading for today:

• Surprise, surprise. The Heritage Foundation has finished their annual "Score Card" of Congress, and Marco Rubio scores very well, and Bill Nelson, eh, not so much (yet another reason why we should replace Nelson with someone who would work better with Rubio):

Red County | Dr. Richard Swier | The Score Cards are In: Senator Marco Rubio 93% and Senator Bill Nelson 10%

• The St. Pete Times nails it in their selection of Winner (RPOF Chairman David Bitner) and Loser (George LeMieux) of the Week:

St. Petersburg Times | The Buzz | Winner and Loser of the Week in Fla politics

Thank you @DaveBitner for your service to the GOP- your courage to serve the cause while battling an illness is an inspiration to us all.Wed Aug 31 21:17:51 via EchofonReince Priebus
ReincePriebus

Morning Coffee Reading for August 30, 2011

Here's your morning coffee reading for today:

• Florida Senate candidate Mike McCalister is having a rough time of it lately after spending the month getting buried by an ever-increasing pile of bad press based on apparent exaggerations of his military record and ties to questionable people. The Crowley Political Report is now openly calling for his withdrawal from the race:

Crowley Political Report | Why Mike McCalister should quit Florida's Senate race

Mike, Mike, Mike. What were you thinking? 

Mike McCalister is a tough talking, retired Army colonel who dreams of winning the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate. His little dream is turning into an embarrassing nightmare.

If you listen to McCalister, it is easy to walk away with the impression that this is one combat hardened, black-ops [savvy], kick-a** son-of-a gun.

Instead, the real McCalister is a lot like the high school football player who later in life talks as if he played in the pros...

Will George LeMieux Apologize to the Veterans?

"Something's rotten in the state of Denmark."

This quote, from Shakespeare's play Hamlet, is used in modern times to refer to a situation that is "rife with errors from top to bottom," or exhibiting evidence of rampant corruption or suspicious motives.

Well, something's rotten in the Florida Senate race, and the people of Florida deserve some answers.

Florida Senate Debate - Watch and Judge for Yourself

I've made no airs about being unbiased in the Florida Senate race. I'm one of the few bloggers that directly and openly declares my endorsements. There's a place for objective journalism and there's a place for opinion sites, and I firmly believe that both of these types of commentary are helpful, especially in politics.

Now, in a week where this website received a lot of traffic for several pieces I wrote about the August 20th Florida Senate debate and its aftermath (here, here, here, and here), I've seen a few articles and blog posts discussing the debate that seem so far off base I wonder if they written by people who were not there.

[Further discussion and video after the jump]

[Crickets]

Oh, what an interesting day.

At 7:29 am Wednesday morning, I hit "Publish Post" on this:

Sunshine State Sarah | Connections between Mike McCalister and Doug Guetzloe?

...got a cup of coffee and waited...and waited...

...and waited...

I mean, surely, Colonel Mike McCalister would have something, something, to say in response, right? Right?

There's no way that McCalister, the self-proclaimed "National Tea Party Star," would join forces with Doug Guetzloe, the guy who spent 2010 threatening tea party movement groups and activists around Florida, the guy who helped organize a third party political party that was designed to split conservative votes and make it easier for Democrats to win, the guy who was repeatedly tied to liberal bomb-thrower Alan Grayson?

Of course the campaign will have a response. There's some excuse. There's some explanation. I mean, McCalister's excuse for the whole "I-testified-before-Congress-except-I-didn't" kerfuffle was that he had a "bad memory." Was that it?

I'm sure the McCalister campaign will have some sort of excuse for working with a guy like Guetzloe: "We're new to politics and didn't know any better." "We don't have Google." "No, seriously, we don't have Google."

But...nothing.

Connections between Mike McCalister and Doug Guetzloe? [UPDATED]

After getting caught in what is, at best, a misrepresentation about testifying before Congress, and facing mounting questions about his record, new information has been discovered that is likely to further damage Colonel Mike McCalister's credibility in the Florida Republican Senate Primary.

Previously under fire from Florida tea party organizers for his "bold self determination" declaring himself a "national Tea Party star," McCalister appears to have made the unfortunate decision to ally himself with Doug Guetzloe.

In case you are not acquainted with Mr. Douglas M. Guetzloe, let me introduce you to some of his "greatest hits:"

• For years, Guetzloe has repeatedly been accused of being paid consulting or advertising fees that were more extortion payments to ensure loyalty than payments for actual services. A grand jury said that their "inescapable conclusion" was that Guetzloe was paid "hush money" as part of the "culture of corruption" present at the Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority, as one example.
• After he was removed from the Orange County Republican Executive Committee, he helped start a third party political party with the misleading name "Florida Tea Party." Guetzloe and others involved with the "Florida Tea Party" repeatedly engaged in attacks against legitimate Florida tea party activists, threatened lawsuits (and actually filed several), and had troubling ties to former Democratic Congressman Alan Grayson.
• In the 2010 elections, Guetzloe and the Florida Tea Party worked to defeat Republican candidates by running FTP candidates in swing districts, in an attempt to split the conservative vote and give the advantage to the Democrats, because they would be listed on the ballot as (TEA).
• Many of the FTP candidates were previously registered Democrats, students with no explainable reason for running for office, and family members or roommates of FTP officers. The vast majority of them showed very low contributions and expenditures on their campaign finance reports and rarely appeared to actually campaign for votes. Fortunately their attempts to be "spoilers" failed, but RPOF and the targeted Republican candidates were forced to spend several million dollars to educate voters about the difference between the fake tea party political party and the actual tea party movement.
• Guetzloe has a history of violating election laws and failing to pay the fines imposed on him.
• And let's not forget that $1.61 million verdict against Guetzloe in a defamation suit earlier this year.

The bottom line is that Doug Guetzloe is no friend to the tea party movement or the Republican Party. As one Central Florida tea party organizer said to me (name withheld upon request), "I would go out of my way to not have my name associated with Guetzloe, in any way."

Despite all of this history, the McCalister campaign is running ads on Guetzloe's websites and on the website for the "Phoenix Network," where Guetzloe's internet radio program is broadcast. All of the McCalister banner ads on Guetzloe's websites link directly to the McCalister campaign website. I have taken screenshots of the websites just in case the ads are removed after I post this information (click images to enlarge):

Morning Coffee Reading for August 22, 2011

Here's your morning coffee reading for today:

• Libyan nutcase dictator Muammar Kaddafi Quadafi Gaddafi Holy-heck-pick-a-spelling-dafi was overthrown yesterday, but it may be a bit early to pop the champagne, according to John R. Guardiano:

The Minority Report | Mission Not Accomplished In Libya

• In case you missed it, I posted some updates to Saturday's post about Mike McCalister's post debate run-in with Miami Herald reporter Marc Caputo:

Sunshine State Sarah | "The Colonel Has To Use The Restroom" aka Mike McCalister's Post Debate Debacle [UPDATED] 

And here's a funny tweet from State Representative Scott Plakon in response to my post:

"The Colonel Has To Use the Restroom" aka McCalister's Post Debate Debacle [UPDATED]

Earlier today the Florida Family Policy Council and the Central Florida Tea Party hosted a debate between Florida Republican Senate candidates Adam Hasner, George LeMieux, Mike McCalister, and Craig Miller.

I'll share my thoughts about the debate in general later, but wanted to post this about what happened after the debate first.

You may have noticed a bit of a kerfuffle this week between McCalister and a veterans' group called the Stolen Valor Task Force, who have questioned some of the claims made by McCalister during the campaign.

After the debate, reporters were chatting with different candidates, and Marc Caputo with the Miami Herald approached McCalister. The second Caputo mentioned the issue with the veterans' group, things got interesting.

McCalister claimed, "I did not say testify in front of Congress," became very agitated, and he and his handler hastily headed for the exit.

Here's a link to Caputo's post and video:

Quick note about today's Florida Senate Debate

I'll have more to post later, but wanted to post this press release from the Adam Hasner Campaign. It's very telling that John Stemberger would post these statements on Twitter during the debate.

------------------------------------

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 20, 2011

Contact: Douglass Mayer

410-703-5604

Hasner Campaign Comments On Florida Family Policy Council Debate

Orlando, FL - Hasner for Senate Communications Director Douglass Mayer issued the following statement in response to today's Florida Family Policy Council candidate debate:

"Every campaign is going to declare victory on behalf of their candidate. We don't have to - others who haven't endorsed in this race are doing it for us."

Adam Hasner clearly has the best grasp of the social issues especially stem cell research...strong, clear and passionate. Most dynamic of the panel.

- John Stemberger, President Of The Florida Family Policy Council, via Twitter

"George LeMieux's wholesale reinvention on values and economic issues will not stand up to scrutiny from voters and fact-checkers. While some candidates feel the need to exaggerate their resumes - or keep entire portions of it hidden from Florida voters - Adam has a consistent conservative record he's ready to take to Washington. That is why he won today's debate, and why he will win this election to take back our country."

------------------------------------

Stemberger also posted this about McCalister's answer on the pro-life issue: "[McCalister] consistently gets 10th Amend issues wrong and confused. Constitutional and policy positions two different animals."

I'll post more later when I can get in front of a computer again...including some great video from after the debate...stay tuned!

UPDATE: Here's the links to Stemberger's tweets referenced above if you are curious: here, here, and here.

Florida Senate Debate August 20th

On Saturday, August 20th, the Florida Family Policy Council and the Central Florida Tea Party are sponsoring a debate between the candidates for the Florida Republican nomination for the 2012 United States Senate election.

Saturday, August 20th, 2011

10:00 am - 12:00 noon

Howard Middle School Auditorium

800 East Robinson Street

Orlando, FL 32801

(click image to enlarge)

Adam Hasner, George LeMieux, Mike McCalister, and Craig Miller have all confirmed that they will attend. Find this and other great events on the "Events" tab on the top right corner of this website.