Only two Miami-Dade 2020 mayoral candidates so far turn to campaign mail

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The third or fourth mailer from Miami-Dade Commissioner Daniella Levine Cava landed in an otherwise lonely East Kendall mailbox last week. Because none of the other county mayoral candidates had sent a mailer to the three voters at this address until Wednesday, when we got our first piece from Commissioner Esteban “Stevie” Bovo.

So, a little more than a month before absentee ballots drop, nobody else is doing mail? What are they waiting for? Oh, that’s right: Absentee ballots.

Sure, DLC is targeting Democrats likely to vote in August. But this is a nonpartisan race and, anyway, there is one other high profile Democrat who has wider name recognition and more money than Levine Cava. So why isn’t former Mayor Alex Penelas doing any mail?

Penelas seems to be sticking to phone banking. Ladra doesn’t know anyone his campaign hasn’t called, while Commissioner Xavier Suarez hasn’t sent any mail yet, but he’s had two pretty funny Spanish language radio commercials and a huge billboard in Miami.

Could it have anything to do with the fact that people, especially older high-performing voters, are not happy about unessential mail when they don’t know where it’s been and they have to touch it with their hands?

Read related: Daniella Levine Cava’s first Miami-Dade mayoral 2020 mailer hit last week

Bovo reportedly mailed at least one other piece earlier on, seeking signatures to qualify by petition. But that likely went to Hispanic Republicans of a certain age among his base in Hialeah. He apparently never got enough signatures and qualified by paying he $2,800 fee instead.

The new mailer — also apparently targeting likely Republican voters over 65 — has an endorsement from Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez, calling Bovo the “lone conservative mayoral candidate for our county,” as well as a photo of Bovo shaking President Donald Trump‘s hand (probably pre coronavirus). It is paid for by Bovo’s political action committee, A Better Miami-Dade.

The flip side is the same, but in Spanish, and with a photo of his blended family in place of the address block. He also replaced the Trump hand-shaking photo with a shot of him and Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Still, they all make it look like Daniella is working harder — or spending harder on mail.

Her latest piece was paid for by her Our Democracy PAC, which picked up $570,000 in contributions last month alone (more on that later) but doesn’t have any postage or mailer expenses, so it must be wrapped inside one of the many consulting or voter outreach costs. It is a huge, four-page 9X12 piece — even though the address page is almost blank and a complete waste of space — that sorta capitalizes on the COVID19 pandemic and the community’s consequential increased dependence on government.

It even debuts a new tag line: “Because Everyone is Essential.”

Or is it “Proven Leadership Through Times of Crisis?” (Bovo’s is “Leadership to take Miami-Dade Forward” and Suarez has already touted “two generations of leadership” on his billboard with his son, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez).

In the mailer, DLC compares her actions during the pandemic — which includes calling early on for a stay at home order and fighting for unemployment and small business assistance — with her help after Hurricane Andrew in 1992, when the former legal director for the Guardian Ad Litem program was tapped to create a new intake system for child abuse cases with the Departmet of Children and Families, concentrated on the neighborhoods of District 8.

It’s like she’s still stuck in the South end of the county. This is not where you need the most promotion, Dani dear.

“She’s never stopped working for frontline workers, calling on local, state and national leaders to fund our healthcare system, give doctors and nurses the protective equipment they need, and ensure that everyone can stay home when they’re sick without losing a paycheck,” the mailer says.

Read related: Miami-Dade’s Esteban Bovo: ‘Close streets for post COVID-19 reopening’

“At food distribution events around Miami-Dade, Daniella has seen firsthand the economic devastation of COVID19. That’s why she’s been fighting to fix our unemployment system, to pass an earned leave plan, and to ensure that Miami-Dade is guided by medical and data driven decision that depend on adequate testing, contact tracing and isolation for those exposed.”

Isolation for those exposed? Yeah, Gov. Ron DeSantis also wanted concentration camps for those who test positive. It’s weird to see a Democratic Party darling and self-proclaimed progressive on the same side as “Disastrous DeSantis.”

There’s also another new slogan. “This is how Daniella spells SECURE: Support vulnerable families; Expand testing; Confront our affordability crisis; Unemployment assistance; Rebuild our infrastructure; and Economic relief.”

That’s a pretty big wishlist. And nada about traffic, which is what Bovo, Penelas and Suarez are making the race about.

Ladra expects to see more mailers toward the middle of next month, when absentee ballots start arriving in the mail.

  Daniella Levine Cava, Esteban Bovo, Miami-Dade Mayor 2020