Mitch Perry
Although many pundits are pontificating that Marco Rubio‘s pummeling of Donald Trump in Thursday night’s CNN/Telemundo/Salem Radio debate from Houston was entertaining, they still contend that it’s not going to matter on Super Tuesday or the subsequent elections to follow.
We’re not so certain about that. If anything, Rubio’s “kitchen sink” opposition research dump against the New York City business mogul surely had to give second thoughts to the strongest Trump supporters out there, right?
Trump was flustered in a way that he hasn’t been in the nine previous debates. On a host of issues, his answers have never made much sense, and Rubio (and to a lesser extent Ted Cruz) exposed him for those substance-free responses.
While much was made Thursday about a Quinnipiac poll that shows Rubio trailing The Donald by 16 points in Florida, now comes a Public Policy Polling survey out this morning shows that shows Trump has an even bigger lead in the Sunshine State over Rubio, 45 percent-25 percent.
Rubio did himself (and the Democrats) a tremendous amount of goodwill last night, but does it translate to a significant realignment of the race? We’ll find out soon enough.
Now on to the Democrats in Florida. Quinnipiac has a survey out Friday morning that shows that Florida is indeed, in Bob Buckhorn‘s words, “Clinton Country.” The survey has Hillary Clinton leading 59 percent-33 percent.
Interestingly, while Hillary dominates with female voters in the poll at 69 percent-24 percent, Sanders leads among men, 47 percent-43 percent.
Among likely Democratic primary voters who most want a candidate who cares about their needs and problems, Sanders gets 48 percent to Clinton’s 42 percent. He leads 49-37 percent among voters who most want a candidate who is honest and trustworthy.
Clinton leads 87-9 among Democrats who most want a candidate with the right experience and 53-44 percent among voters who most want someone who shares their values.
In other news …
Hillsborough County Commissioner Kevin Beckner strikes back at critics of his alternative plan to Go Hillsborough.
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Forget March 15, Floridians are voting every day in the presidential primary — and getting their ballots rejected every day, as well.
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Carlos Beruff is officially in the Florida GOP Senate race. One of his opponents, Congressman Ron DeSantis, didn’t exactly welcome the Manatee County homebuilder with open arms.
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Todd Wilcox thinks Congress has it too easy, so he’s put out a 5-point plan that he says he’ll try to enact if he wins the Senate race this year.
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We’re not sure they received the same memo, but Democratic challengers to Florida House Republicans Ross Spano and Ray Pilon issued similar statements blasting their opponents for opposing the removal of a Confederate Army General in Washington.
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And Bill Nelson spent a lot of time on the floor of the Senate Thursday to basically hope that Apple management and the FBI can sit down and work out their differences.
