Independent Spending Propping Up Mack

Connie Mack IV is an intellectual lightweight whose election to the United State Senate would further embarrass our state, which is already the butt of so many unkind jokes. Mack still has to get through a primary with former Congressman Dave Weldon and an assorted cast of other characters, but if he is nominated, as expected then things will get interesting.

Despite holding a 6 to 1 advantage in cash in hand, Senator Bill Nelson is facing an onslaught from GOP supporting superpac’s. Some of these organizations have already begun their media buys up and down the I-4 corridor and in the critical West Palm Beach media market. The idea is to increase Nelson’s negatives before the GOP Convention in Tampa and to clearly define him as a liberal aligned with President Obama.

Connie Mack IV’s election as Senator would be a further blight on Florida’s already stained political landscape. Marco Rubio is a right-wing ideologue but a capable and intellectual leader. Katherine Harris and Mel Martinez were the very definition of lightweights. But even they pale in comparison to Congressman Connie Mack IV.

The Florida Governor & Cabinet are the dimmest lights in the post New Deal history of this state. Our website has repeatedly editorialized about Rick Scott, Pam Bondi and Jeff Atwater’s hypocrisy and ineptitude. Only in Florida’s cabinet would Adam Putnam look reasonable. But Mack appears weak and clownish even when compared to the cabinet.

The fact that Mack is taking on the last elected Democrat from the Bill Gunter line of “traditional institutional Democrats” as we call them on this website gives the incumbent an advantage to win what are defined as “swing” (but are actually Republican leaning) voters.  It is true that Nelson’s voting record has drifted leftward through the years to the point where his recent scores from leading liberal interest groups are virtually indistinguishable from most national Democrats. But Nelson has continued to serve and understand the needs of his constituents better than any statewide elected official in Florida. While Rick Scott push ideology, Marco Rubio forgets Florida as he tries to become an international right wing leader, and Pam Bondi demonstrates a continuously hypocritical streak, Nelson has worked to serve Florida.

The superpac ads however do jeopardize Nelson’s reelection and force up his negatives while leaving Mack largely undefined to the majority of Florida voters. It is imperative that once this wave of “independent” spending on Mack’s behalf runs its course that the Democrats define Mack for what he is: An intellectual lightweight committed to following rather than leading.