Many local Republicans just simply cannot wait to vote for Marco Rubio again in the Aug. 30 primary. So the Miami-Dade GOP is having a straw ballot vote next week for that U.S. Senate seat.
Of course, the incumbent is the favorite. But all four Republican candidates — Rubio, Carlos Beruff, Ernie Rivera, and Dwight Mark Anthony Young — have been invited to speak or send surrogates on Aug. 11. Members of the Miami-Dade Republican Executive Committee will cast straw ballots for whoever they want to go to the general in November against the Democrat that wins, Patrick Murphy or Alan Grayson.
“A bunch of other RECs have done straw polls and the chairs of those counties have told me it has helped motivate members and was different and interesting,” said Miami GOP Chairman Nelson Diaz. “Some of our own members asked me about it, so I brought it up to the executive board, which unanimously requested it.”
He said the results would be made public.
Rubio is swamping Beruff, his closest challenger, in straw polls across the state. The Brevard County REC gave him 411 votes to 105 for Beruff. The developer did even worse in his own backyard of Sarasota, where only his campaign manager voted for him in a 50-1 showing.
Maybe the straw poll voters are looking at scientific polls, including a June Quinnipiac University survey that showed Rubio’s margin growing against both Murphy (50 to 37%) and Gayson (50 to 38%) while Beruff would lose (40 to 34%).
Is there somewhere Ladra can place a bet now?