What is going on in the U.S. Senate Race in Florida!?
Quinnipiac University released a new poll that shows Adam Hasner, despite several noted endorsements, including RS’s Erick Erickson, and a growing list of impressive financial backers, dead last among the key candidates with just 6% of the vote. Again.
This is not necessarily breaking news, most polls continue to show Hasner struggling to resonate with voters and having over all poor name recognition.
Former Sen. George LeMieux was second in the results with 12% and ex-CEO Craig Miller was third with 8%, having just entered the race a few weeks back.
What is shocking is that Mike McCalister is shown in the poll as leading the race with 15%! Really?
Allow me to be the first to say that should McCalister win the Republican primary, which he will not, you can bid any chance of defeating incumbent Bill Nelson adieu.
McCalister, who failed to release his financial statement when required, quietly slipped it in after the media attention had waned – leaving you wonder if that were the plan all along. Particularly when you see that he has only raised $12,170.75 for the entire year, as of the end of June!
This coming on the heels of his run for Governor last year where he only raised $8,200, which was in the source of a loan to his campaign.
So how is it that a man incapable of convincing folks to contribute to his campaign is able to entice them to vote for him? It just makes no sense.
In addition to this shortcoming, a statewide coalition of tea party groups issued a statement a few weeks back that did not name McCalister by name, although it was clearly directed at him due to several ads he placed proclaiming to be the “tea party star”. The statement rejected “individual candidates who crown themselves as a Tea Party candidate”.
And there is growing concern about just how ‘pro-life’ McCalister actually is, based on a passage in his book, ‘The Right Future for Florida…and You!’ where he states;
“I am pro-life, and though I don’t believe that government should interfere in the personal choices of its citizens, I believe that tax payers should not be responsible for paying for those choices.”
Yet, with all this, McCalister is in the lead?
It goes to show that you cannot put a whole lot of emphasis on polls. Keep in mind that Public Policy Polling had Alan Grayson leading Dan Webster by 13 pts in the D8 congressional race last year and Grayson lost the election by 18 pts!
It also shows that this race is wide open and that Craig Miller, the newest entry into the race, has a real opportunity before him to capture the Republican primary and go on to challenge Sen. Bill Nelson. A result that would be very pleasing to your humble correspondent.
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