Mitch Perry
No doubt some Florida Republicans must have scoffed about how “clueless” Donald Trump was when they heard his remarks regarding the relationship between Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio in New Hampshire on Wednesday night.
“They hate so much. They hate more than anybody in this room hates their neighbor,” Trump said, adding “It’s political bulls_”.
Now Politico’s Marc Caputo reports this morning that a tracker for Jeb’s Right to Rise PAC was busted at a Rubio campaign event in Cedar Falls, Iowa last night. “It was ill-spirited. Republicans shouldn’t be attacking other Republicans,” he quotes Chris Mudd, who was hosting the town hall meeting.
Good luck with that one, Chris.
This is catnip for political reporters nationally and especially here in Florida, and though we know that the two Miami area neighbors have enjoyed a warm relationship in the past, it dramatically changed when the young upstart stunned Team Bush and didn’t step away when Jeb made it known last December that he was going to commit to a serious run for president in 2016.
It’s not exactly like the gloves are coming off, But Bush has to do start doing something about the fact that he’s being eclipsed in terms of positive media coverage by Rubio of late, and he did exactly that on Thursday morning on MSNBC’s Morning Joe.
That’s where he took a shot at Rubio’s lack of leadership, comparing him unfavorably to Barack Obama in terms of a lack of experience to be prepared to become the commander in chief.
That’s a knock that’s been applied to Rubio for years – a “knock” in GOP circles anyway – that Rubio is perhaps the most potent political talent since Obama on the national stage. Whereas Obama is one of the great speechmakers of our time, Rubio’s adroit ability to think on his feet and articulate a coherent vision has always put him above most of his contemporaries.
And yes, like Obama, Rubio is young and untested. He’s also seen as somebody fresh and new, whereas Bush is not.
The most revealing part of Jeb’s interview on Morning Joe on Thursday was when he defended his low poll numbers by saying that he is only now beginning to invest in some serious television advertising, so he can get his message out about how successful his tenure in Florida was – which ended nine years ago.
If you study the GOP presidential polls going back to earlier this year, the only candidate next to Bush who more Republicans say they’ll never vote for is Donald Trump. A lot of Republican voters may not know about all his achievements in Florida, but they seem to have already made up their mind that for whatever reason, they’re not up for nominating another Bush as their presidential nominee.
Bush has a lot of talents as well in this not as impressive as advertised GOP field of candidates. And of course, he has the money. He’ll be around for awhile. But if he sincerely believes that the voters don’t know about him now, let’s check back at Thanksgiving to see where his poll numbers are at. Then his thesis that he’s only begun advertising is the reason he’s struggling now will be tested.
In other news..
In another move to show no hard feelings, the Hillsborough County Public Transportation Commission has opted to temporarily postpone litigation with Uber until after next year’s legislative session ends in Tallahassee before moving on those items; All fingers are crossed that Tallahassee can finally come up with a comprehensive solution that will end the legal battles with Uber and Lyft in Florida.
House Republicans have voted on a defense bill that busts the spending caps that Congress begrudgingly created four years ago to stop their own spending. However, the Obama administration wants an increase in domestic spending to go along with this surge of military funding that breaks the sequester. Obama says he’ll veto otherwise, prompting Tampa’s Kathy Castor to publicly lament what it might do to the readiness of our military over at MacDill AFB.
And speaking of MacDill, the Tampa City Council votes to have Senator Bill Nelson intervene to help them ask the Marines to move a facility of theirs out of a park in South Tampa and over to MacDill AFB so the city can build a waterfront park in the area.
