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Republican attack ads may be bolstering McBride
By ADAM C. SMITH and STEVE BOUSQUET "People are remembering the name McBride," one observer says, questioning the GOP tactic. Those dancing feet ads, aimed at derailing Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill McBride, may be having the opposite effect. In fact, they seem to be elevating McBride's stature in his primary race against Janet Reno and Daryl Jones. "People are remembering the name McBride. In fact some people thought it was a McBride ad," said Dom Cabriele, Hernando Democratic chairman. He said McBride supporters staffing a phone bank in Hernando keep reaching Democrats who like McBride and remark on the dancing feet ad. "Whoever in the Republican media department authorized this did McBride a favor," Cabriele said. McBride, a previously little-known Tampa lawyer, has trailed well behind Reno in the Democratic primary for a year. But as the Sept. 10 vote approaches, the Jeb Bush campaign has targeted McBride, convincing Democrats and Republicans alike that Bush would much prefer to face Reno in November than McBride. Now, in an e-mail to Bush supporters, the campaign acknowledges that they may face McBride despite their efforts against him. "Over the next several days you may see survey data in newspaper reports that indicate the Democratic primary race for governor is in a dead heat, or that Bill McBride has actually passed Janet Reno in the polls," Bush campaign manager Karen Unger wrote to supporters Thursday. "This is not surprising to anyone given the millions of dollars of advertising spent by Bill McBride, coupled with Janet Reno's lackluster campaign." The McBride campaign is expecting another barrage of negative ads aimed at him, noting that the state GOP has dramatically increased its purchased TV time for the Labor Day weekend. The TV time could just as easily be for positive ads about Bush. But McBride campaign spokesman Alan Stonecipher said Republicans are on a mission of "attack TV, and the subversion of the Democratic primary by any and all tactics they can use. They've gotten to where they are because they think they can bully people, and we're not going to be bullied." A spokesman for the Republican Party, Towson Fraser, said he would not discuss ads that may or may not appear, but he dismissed the notion that the party is worried about McBride. "The more we learn about Bill McBride, the more we welcome him in November," Fraser said. McBride, who used to run Florida's biggest law firm, proposes raising cigarette taxes to better fund public schools. The Republican ads have called him a tax increaser and pointed to layoffs at his old firm as evidence that he was a "reckless" manager. "If Bill McBride wins the primary, then we didn't want to be in a situation where we were running against someone who had been on the air for two months running ads unopposed," said Todd Harris, spokesman for the Bush campaign. But some Republicans question a strategy of spending millions of dollars on TV against a man many Democrats had never even heard of until recently. "I was taught many, many moons ago that you didn't mention the other person's name unless you absolutely had to," said longtime Republican Ken Plante, a lobbyist and former state senator. "I would have to think there are a lot smarter people running that campaign than me."
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From the Times state desk
From the state wire
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