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Politics : Proof that John Kerry is Unfit for Command -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: GROUND ZERO™ who wrote (3579)	8/27/2004 5:22:36 PM
From: Andrew N. Cothran	Respond to of 27181

Bush Gets More Good News from Florida Mel Martinez Surges to Lead in Florida The latest Florida polls show former HUD Secretary Mel Martinez is surging and has taken the lead in the hotly contested Senate primary race, which will be decided this coming Tuesday. Martinez's campaign said the poll showed their candidate "is well-positioned to win the Republican Primary for U.S. Senate on Tuesday." Martinez had been vying for the lead for months with former Congressman Bill McCollum. But Martinez appears to have gained sizeable momentum after his recent TV ad blitz featured President Bush praising his former cabinet secretary. A statewide Mason-Dixon poll released on Friday shows that Mel Martinez now has a 6 percent lead over Bill McCollum among likely Republican primary voters, with Mel winning 33 percent and McCollum only 27 percent. This poll, which has a 4 percent margin of error, also shows Doug Gallagher at 12 percent. This independent scientific survey has been conducted several times since Mel got into the Senate race, and the trend is clear. Since November of 2003, Mel has surged 22 percent, and Bill McCollum has gained no ground. The Mason-Dixon poll also showed Mel leading the pack in every region of Florida. Another poll conducted in Miami-Dade County showed Mel with a commanding lead, winning 66 percent among all likely GOP voters and 75 percent among all likely Cuban-American GOP voters (Sample size of 600 likely Republican voters). All other candidates are in single digits. This poll, conducted by Univision/Scroth has a margin of error of 4 percent. Martinez's appears to have staved off a nasty effort to torpedo him by Doug Gallagher, a mult-millionaire businessman in the race who has released a negative attack against him. Martinez's success is coming at McCollum's expense. Social conservatives across the state have voiced anger that McCollum decided to oppose President Bush's ban on embryonic stem cell research. Also, McCollum had previously joined Sen. Ted Kennedy and Barney Frank in supporting legislation to include sexual orientation in the Hate Crimes Bill. Martinez's apparent success is good news for the White House that believes Martinez will help Bush carry the state in November. It's also bad news for the Democrats. Polls show that Martinez is the only Republican who can beat the likely Democratic candidate, Janet Reno's protege Betty Castor.