Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez may be leading in polls and exuding an outward confidence that he will be re-elected in 2016, but it seems he 
is secretly sweating the challenge from Miami-Dade School Board Member Raquel Regalado.
Why? Well, because a whole 13 months from the election, there is a canvassing team going door to door in Little Havana, of all places, leaving this door hanger on at least one puerta when the voter wasn’t home.
It touts ” a plan for our future” and it rings with all the messages we’ll see in the mayor’s campaign — especially the fact that he hasn’t raised taxes.
“In his five years as mayor of Miami-Dade County, Carlos Gimenez has lowered his own salary by 50 percent and has reduced property taxes and unemployment in our community,” it says in imperfect 
Spanish with a photo of Gimenez at the cafecito window at Versailles. (Note to Freddy Balsera‘s staff: You cannot use Google Translate without really editing a lot.) (Editor’s Note: Freddy Balsera texted Ladra Monday morning to inform her that he had nothing to do with this door hanger. I recognized some of the same language and syntax and style used in other Balsera campaigns, but maybe they’re starting to all look the same to me. Said Balsera: “I have never done a Gimenez piece and I am not working for him.” )
“Now that Gimenez has succeeded in putting county finances in order, he is going to fight for a plan to,” says the hanger, with what looks like his four campaign messages: reduce crime, improve public transportation, create jobs and not raise taxes.
The PAC’s name, Miami-Dade Residents First, is featured on the front with Gimenez’s mug because it serves as a nice message, too (if it were true).
The door hanger, obtained by Ladra was reportedly left on a Little Havana door — in Regalado’s stronghold — between a week and two weeks ago, so it could have been during the poll done for the Miami Herald that shows Gimenez 23 points ahead of his only declared challenger.
Read related story: Poll results are nothing for Carlos Gimenez to brag about
It’s a little early to be seeing door hangers for an election in 2016. But I guess that doesn’t matter much when you have more than a million dollars to spend.
And I guess Little Havana and Miami is the best place to start, since that is where Regalado pulls the most.
Ladra has also heard of a push poll done with city of Miami voters, perhaps exclusively, that concentrated on Gimenez’s time and achievements when he was the city manager there. Sounds like the kind of work done by Gimenez pollster Dario Moreno, who has been paid $34,000 by the PAC in two payments since April ($15,300 last month and $19,000 in April), but no polls have been made public.
And it sounds like he is trying to beef up his profile and shore up support in Regalado’s ‘hood.
Tell me again how Carlos Gimenez isn’t worried?
Carlos Gimenez starts early street campaign — in Miami added by Ladra on
View all posts by Ladra →
