“Fuera, fuera, fuera de Miami.”
“Hey, hey. Ho, ho. Romney’s got to go.”
It may have been all sunshine and cupcakes inside Vicky Bakery in West Kendall Monday, where one-time Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney campaigned with congressional hopeful Carlos Curbelo, a Miami-Dade School Board member, who is desperately trying to cling to his self-proclaimed frontrunner position in the congressional race to face Rep. Joe Garcia in November.
But outside in the sweltering heat, about 20 people brought by the Miami-Dade Democratic Party shouted at the two political wannabes and stood with signs that expressed their innermost thoughts.
“Romney believes in self deportation. Curbelo, do you,” asked one sign directed at Curbelo’s shifting immigration stance.
“Curbelo and Romney — 2 peas, 1 pod,” read another.
“Capitol Gains = Bain Capital,” said another, referring the business Curbelo put in his wife’s name so he could avoid disclosing his clients and Romney’s own private global investment firm.
“First day of school. Do you know where your school board member is,” read another that questioned Curbelo’s priorities, which are clearly the campaign right now.
Read related story: Did Carlos Curbelo pay for Mitt Romney’s endorsement
The protesters shouted as Curbelo and Romney, who officially endorsed Curbelo a couple of weeks ago, arrived. One of Curbelo’s people tried to block this video camera’s shot with a yard sign, but gave up, I guess, because he couldn’t block the mic.
Ladra’s first reaction, I gotta admit, was why on Earth would the Dems give these two nobodies — a guy who lost and a guy who is about to lose — so much credibility by default. Could it be that Garcia secretly wants to face Curbelo because he has polled better against him than against others?
While “nobody is betting the house on Curbelo,” according to one Democratic operative, they still see him as the front runner — if only because he has the most money to beat up Garcia with — so they slam him every chance they get. A few weeks ago, they confronted him at a School Board meeting. And the Romney event Monday provided an opportunity they could not pass up, said Juan Cuba, executive director of the Miami-Dade Democratic Party.
“We’ve had a deeply growing frustration with the Republican policies and I think that Mitt Romney really embodies that,” Cuba said, adding that Curbelo “sounds a lot like Romney.
“He was moderate at the beginning, but we’re now seeing a more hard right position,” Cuba told Ladra, referring specifically to immigration reform that Curbelo seems to have about faced on, telling Michael Putney and Glenna Milberg on WPLG’s This Week in South Florida that the unaccompanied minors who crossed the border in recent months must be reunited with their families in their country of origin in a humane manner. In other words, he now says they should be deported.
“He’s trying to have it both ways,” Cuba said. “Those are the policies that didn’t resonate with Romney in 2012 and will not resonate with the voters again.”
Read related story: New campaign ad questions Carlos Curbelo’s GOP loyalty
But, wait, aren’t you getting ahead of yourself Juan? Because he still has to win the Republican primary. Of course Carlitos changed his tune after he was characterized as a RINO with Democratic leanings. It seems he is not as confident as he was months ago, as other candidates in this five-man contest chip away at what was supposed to be a very easy coronation.
Several political observers — both red and blue — say that Curbelo seems increasingly nervous. And Mitt Romney Day was supposed to relax him.
But then came the loud and obnoxious protesters and Curbelo must have realized this was just a taste of what is yet to come in the next few months if he were to pull this off on Aug. 26.