For quite some time, I was feeling as if the Republican Senate primary race in Florida to replace Senator Marco Rubio was going to be some boring, low-intensity contest between four (possibly five) virtual no-names candidates.
First of all, this 2016 Senate race is nothing like the 2010 race between now-Senator Rubio and then Republican-turned-Independent Charlie Crist, let’s make that clear.At this point in the 2010 race, Rubio had all but caught up to Crist, which led to Crist jumping the GOP ship, and run as an Independent.
The four current Senate candidates-Rep. David Jolly, Rep. Ron DeSantis, Todd Wilcox (pictured), and Lt. Governor Carlos Lopez-Cantera- all have very low statewide name recognition.
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While Jolly has been making news by going after Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump, the rest of the field has been dormant.
But all that seems to be changing, as Lopez-Cantera opened up on Jolly for joking that he has pressed Veterans issues simply to help the Republican-led Congress bolster its dismal overall approval numbers and poll ratings.
Here what Jolly said:I joke that “with congressional approval ratings so low, I’ve had to turn to bringing Veterans back to life just to try to up our poll ratings in Congress and increase our approval.”-Rep. David Jolly (R)
Here is Lopez-Cantera’s jab:
“I am appalled by David Jolly’s statement, and words like these show the disconnect between Washington and the rest of us. His claims of using Veterans to raise his poll numbers is disgraceful and insulting to those who have served. Veterans are our nation’s heroes, not poll numbers.”- Carlos Lopez-Cantera
And here is Team Jolly’s counter-punch to “CLC”:
“His comments are as inconsequential as his candidacy.”
For someone like me who follows politics, there is nothing like a good old fashioned mudslinging campaign to make the Christmas season all the more merrier.
Meanwhile, former Secret Service agent Dan Bongino, who we first reported is considering a Senate run in Florida, jumped into the mix, saying that Jolly’s comments were “grossly inappropriate.”
Bongino has not definitively stated that he was going to announce a Senate bid, but from what I am hearing, a Bongino candidacy for the U.S. Senate could be etched in stone.
Could a Bongino candidacy be a game-changer in this race?
Maybe.Even though Bongino has vast national grassroots support, it would remain to be seen how much of that support is actually here in Florida.
Let the political mud continue to fly.
Feliz Navidad! (Merry Christmas in Espanol)
