(Continued from previous page)
out with it sooner than he had hoped. DeSantis announcement pressured him — well, all of them really — to fish or cut bait.
Certainly there are others mulling it over, and that includes some big names like Bill McCollum, the former state attorney general who Rubio beat to get the Senate seat, 
former Sen. George LeMieux and Don Gaetz, current senator and former Senate president who is termed out this year could steal votes from C-Lo. Congressman Jeff Miller — who recently met at Graziano’s in Coral Gables with a bevy of Republican honchos, a lobbyist and two political consultants — or David Jolly, who just got elected and Ladra does not believe will jump in, may take votes from DeSantis.
But already the race — which promises to be as closely watched as the Congressional contest in District 26 — feels like a head-to-head.
On the one side you have DeWho DeSantis, a Navy vet with movie star looks who will likely get much support from Florida’s large base of active and retired military personnel voters and their family members and who already has the endorsement of three Tea Party groups. Some observers believe he was recruited to run for the seat by those same groups, who don’t want to lose their hard-earned Marco Rubio seat to a “squish,” their pet name for moderate Republicans.
Read related story: Help Carlos Lopez-Cantera make his move
On the other, you have a Cuban-American and former House Majority Leader and a sorta “squish,” in comparison, who just happened to land in the N. 2 spot in Tallahassee by sheer luck and is fresh off a statewide campaign tour for his boss’s re-election. Sure, he has the financial backing of Miami millionaire car mogul Norman Braman. But this is a race with national money, in the tens of millions, at least. Meddling Norman hasn’t invested more than a couple mil at a time, and he hasn’t meddled in a few years.
DeSantis, whose district stretches from New Smyrna Beach to St. Augustine, has already painted C-Lo as a GOP lite candidate, not ultra conservative like he is. And wait for the RINO mailers because it seems like this is going to be the gist of DeSantis’ campaign. It’s not like either has a lot of dirt to sling in this race, said Barry University political science Professor Sean Foreman.
“Both appear to have clean backgrounds and on issues they are likely going to agree,” Foreman told Ladra. But the Tea Party endorsements give DeSantis “an early advantage with activists.”
Ladra thought that, quizas, Lopez-Cantera would kick some DeWho derriere in the I-4 corridor where the Latino vote really matters, but how much can the Latino vote in an August Republican primary matter? Not much. That doesn’t happen until November. And then DeSantis has his military experience in an era where homeland security is becoming a bigger issue than even immigration, which is growing tired, and in a state with no fewer than 21 military bases.
I suppose Ladra shouldn’t discount DeWho just because I never heard of him. I’m just a little provincial with my 305 pols and, naturally, they get the advantage until they lose it.
“Nobody knows who DeSantis is in South Florida, but not many people know who Lopez-Cantera is in North Florida,” said Foreman, who has spotted C-Lo at his local Coral Gables Publix with his daughter and notices that nobody knows who he is.
“They couldn’t pick him out of a line-up,” he said.
Though you could probably say that about all the candidates most of the time.
But they have a year to change that. And Ladra bets they will.
Pages: 1 2
Coveted Marco Rubio Senate seat makes for mad primaries added by Ladra on
View all posts by Ladra →
