The  race in Florida’s 18th congressional district is turning bitterly sweet, as Democrat Randy Perkins has decided to hit Republican Army veteran Brian Mast over his acceptance of sugar industry campaign donations.

Perkins has decided to “pour” it (sugar) on Mast.

Receiving sugar industry money is perfectly ok, but  because the industry has been unfairly blamed for the spread of toxic-algae that is affecting Florida waterways and hurting local economies, taking campaign donations from this industry is a big no-no.

Mast took a whole lot of sugar money.

Remember that late 80’s song “Pour some sugar on me” by the band Def Leppard, well, Mast has taken a shower in sugar, receiving over $100,000 from the industry.

Again, there is nothing wrong with sugar money. At the time Mast took the money, the algae outbreak had not yet reached the level that it is right now, and a few of his Republican congressional primary opponents would have taken the money as well.

Instead of keeping all the sugar money and standing his ground. Mast decided to only return the money donated to him by the Fanjul family. The Fanjuls own Florida Crystals.

More on Mast’s sugar connection here.

If you are going to denounce sugar, send back all the money and not just a select amount from a few people. Mast was advised to keep the money anyways because he was going to get attacked by detractors regardless of whether he returned the money or not.

Team Mast, specially his finance director Zach Burr, is said to have been pushing Florida Crystals for bigger dollars for the campaign and for the Valor Fund Super PAC supporting Mast.

Sounds shady, but Burr, who parted ways  in the most unceremonious way with Senator Marco Rubio, is legally allowed to fundraise for both the Mast campaign and the super PAC.

All in all, Mast burned his bridge with the Fanjuls and the sugar industry.

If Mast would have kept the sugar cash, surely the sugar industry would have come to his defense and ponied up big bucks to counter the “sweet” attacks that Perkins and the Democratic Party are currently waging on the double-amputee veteran.

We have learned that his defense was already in the works.

But wait, could there be a bit of hypocrisy tied to these attacks against Mast?

Over the past several election cycles, both Republicans and Democrats have taken money from Florida Crystal’s federal PAC.

From the most conservative Republican members of Congress to the most liberal of Democratic members, Florida Crystals has spread the sugar love. The same can be said other sugar industry giants like US Sugar and the American Crystal Sugar cooperative.

Here is a comical attack video Perkins has put out against Brian Mast. Its funny. Really funny.