I think my mom drinks Kool-Aid because she loves this Martinez guy...

[devilgrrl]

and it worries me. Now, I don't live in Florida and I'm not following the senate race. What's the deal with this guy, what should I know about him? Because all I know is that he's a repuke and I don't want my parents voting for these assholes! :mad:

Thank you for any information.

[Flagius]

1. Hes not great.

But hes the best of the repukes running. He was a trial lawer I believe, and ran the Orange county commission before ditching them and joining Darth Chimps junta.

[FlaIndie]

2. He has Dumbya's support

That tells you everything you need to know. :D

He is currently running second, behind Bill McCollum, who got trounced by relative political newcomer Bill Nelson in 2000. McCollum is so conservative/unelectable that even conservative groups that supported him in 2000 endorsed Martinez or lesser candidates, saying McCollum can't win a statewide election. Needless to say, I hope McCollum wins the Repub nomination.

Martinez is Hispanic and could draw the usual Democratic-voting non-Cuban-Hispanic vote away from the likely Democratic nominee, Betty Castor. In a poll earlier this month, Castor was about 4 pts ahead of McCollum, but in a tie with Martinez. He also served as mayor of Orlando.

[Flagius]

3. He was never Mayor of Orlando.

He was the Orange County Commissioner. And Bill Nelson wasn't a political newcomer, he was a representative for years.

[FlaIndie]

4. whoops

Well, I was close on the Martinez. Orange County, Orlando... :)

I guess I was off on Nelson by a lot, though. I knew he was in the Cabinet before winning the Senate seat, but didn't know he had won elective office before that. I just went to his site and he'd been in elective office since '72. :shrug:

[Flagius]

6. I dont care for him.

I voted for him, but hes pretty much a DiNO.

[FlaIndie]

7. He ran as a moderate and won the nomination & seat

He still agrees with the party most of the time. It's not like he's Zell Miller. He's still very pro-enviroment, pro-medicare/aid/social security, in favor of a balanced budget, etc. He favors the right to choose, though is against late-term abortion.

He is more of a Lieberman, New Democrat, but I would be too if I were registered with a D on my voter registration card. So... I like him! :)

[Flagius]

8. Yeah, well

He voted with Chimpy on the prescription drug thing that everyone who wasn't paid off opposed.

[FlaIndie]

9. Hopefully we can scrap that when Kerry wins.

It's cheaper to us and the gov't to get drugs from Canada than having corporate welfare to pay their outrageous unnegotiated prices.

Man, that was a terrible bill, too.

[sidestreamer]

5. I'm rooting for Byrd in the primary

That evangelistic bullhead couldn't possibly win, and in the freak chance that he does, his my-way-or-the-high-way leadership style will arrange the party in a circular firing squad. This guy's going to screw his own party so badly I'm almost tempted to vote for him just to see him self-distruct.

As for Martinez, he's a Bush rubber-stamp just like Ginny Brown-Waite.

[TSIAS]

11. Read this article from the PB Post

It's about Byrd and his attempt to court the Christian right. Byrd would be downright scary as Senator. He was the Tom DeLay of the Florida Legislature.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/politics/content/news/epaper/2004/08/21/a23a_byrd_0821.html

[FlaIndie]

12. thank goodness for term limits

of course, some other Repug only took his place x(

[sidestreamer]

14. I'm aware of his similarities with Tom Delay

Two things though:

1) He's running for the Senate, not the House. If he was elected into a house seat, he'd be dangerous. As a senator, however, autocratic leadership goes nowhere regardless of party strength and control, which leads to

2) As I said, Byrd is such a dick that he even alienates his fellow Republicans, attacking them and stripping them of comittee seats when they vote differently from his will. Unless he changes himself radically, Byrd can potentially create enough in-fighting within the Republican Senate to slow down their leglislative agenda.

[TSIAS]

17. Unfortunately, we'll probably never see a Sen. Johnnie Byrd

He's totally out of cash and barely registering in the polls.

I do agree with what you've said. I've read where even Republicans have a hard time getting along with him.

[TSIAS]

10. I don't like Martinez

Of course, I would never consider voting for him. Pragmatically, he is probably the best candidate the Republicans could nominate. If the race is Castor vs. McCollum, it leans towards us. Martinez makes it a more probably GOP pickup. McCollum is already very conservative, and along with his loss in 2000 he's not that good a candidate.

[iamjoy]

13. Martinez Isn't Bad

I disagree with him on just about everything, and his politics scare me, but he comes across as a likeable man.

He fled Cuba when he was 15 and lived with foster families.

He was only Orange County Chairman for 2 years when he got tapped for HUD. I actually liked some of the stuff he did, standing up to builders and trying to advocate more responsible growth. So, Mr. Martinez seemed to be on the right track as head of our county, until he decided to campaign for Bush & become HUD Secretary. Now he is attacking McCollum as "not conservative enough."

Tell your mother Martinez does not want to expand stem-cell research and he is against hate-crimes legislation to protect homosexuals because it would interfere with "free speech." Martinez is an extremist; he is a Bush "yes man."

[FlaIndie]

16. I'd prefer not to think of someone being more con than McCollum

:puke:

[Pretty_in_CodePink]

15. Encourage those likely to vote republican to vote McCollum

That was the recommendation of a Betty Castor (the top Democratic candidate) supporter tonight at a Kerry Meet-up. A Latina she expressed that the Hispanic community will always vote for the Hispanic candidate. So Martinez would likely win that seat and also deliver more votes to Bush since he is Bush's boy.

Learn more about McCollum. There's lots of extreme conservativism to pitch to repugs. http://www.mccollumsenate.org/

[dryan]

18. Personally know Martinez....

and I'm still not voting for him.

Mother was right...if you can't trust a person with little things, you can't trust them with big things. Mel, Kitty, and their children go to my church. I taught their kids in Sunday School. When I was Parish Council president, Mel was also on the council. There was an issue that came up that he told me he sided with me on but when it came up for a vote, he sided against me. I would rather a person telling me the truth than saying they are for me and then voting against me. Also, when Mel ran for County Commission Chair, he ran as a moderate and openly courted the Democratic vote. Many prominent Democrats endorsed him, donated to his campaign, and worked for him. Then when the Elian Gonzalez debacle erupted, suddenly he was "Mr. Republican".