By STEVE BOUSQUET and LUCY MORGAN
Published November 14, 2003
TALLAHASSEE - The anticipated Senate candidacy of U.S. Housing Secretary Mel Martinez prompted Gov. Jeb Bush to promise that the White House would stay neutral in a crowded primary, trying to preserve a fragile Republican peace.
"If he runs, he's going to have to earn it," the governor said of Martinez. "I certainly am not going to endorse a candidate in the primary, and the White House won't either."
Bush said he contacted the White House Thursday morning to be sure his brother was not promoting Martinez's candidacy.
"The White House is not behind Mel Martinez's move to run for the Senate," Bush said in an e-mail response to a query by the St. Petersburg Times.
White House spokesman Taylor Gross characterized it as a personal choice for the Orlando Republican.
"That's a decision for the secretary to make," he said. "We respect whatever decision he makes."
Asked if President Bush will campaign for Martinez, Gross said, "The race is something Secretary Martinez is thinking about. It would be premature to speculate."
Martinez was with President Bush on Thursday in Orlando.
"It's a race that's evolved," Martinez told the Orlando Sentinel. "I've just decided that I should be open to the possibility."
Martinez said he was "very, very seriously looking at it," adding, "a lot of people are saying, you're the man who needs to do this."
Friends said Martinez will announce his plans in a couple of weeks, allowing time to calm tensions within the party and allow him to arrange his resignation from the Cabinet.
The Hatch Act bars federal employees from seeking partisan office. The government has extended that ban to include "any act in furtherance of candidacy," including soliciting support.
Martinez would be the third Orlando area candidate in a wide-open Republican Senate race, joining former U.S. Rep. Bill McCollum and state Sen. Daniel Webster. A fourth hopeful, House Speaker Johnnie Byrd, is from Plant City, and lawyer Larry Klayman of Miami also is running.
Supporters of other Senate candidates downplayed any White House involvement by describing Martinez's maneuvering as his own and not the president's. Other candidates insist they're in the race to stay.
"I believe Florida needed a new senator before Bob Graham retired," Webster, of Winter Garden, said in a statement. "Mel is a nice guy, and he's welcome to run, but this nomination has to be earned in Florida."
Martinez is the latest twist in a Senate race that has seen one well-financed Republican, U.S. Rep. Mark Foley, quit, followed by Graham's surprise decision last week not to seek another term.
The White House is caught between conflicting goals in Florida. It wants a candidate like Martinez, a moderate Republican well-liked by the president with special appeal to Hispanic voters. But entering a presidential election campaign, party unity is extremely important.
Martinez is not well-known statewide, and he would have to raise money in bundles to catch McCollum and Byrd. But he would be the only Hispanic candidate in a state where Hispanics are a growing force. Moreover, the White House is eager to win Florida's 27 electoral votes outright - without a repeat of the drama of 2000.
But Martinez, 57, would be formidable, and has a compelling story to tell on the campaign trail, which President Bush recalled at an Orlando fundraiser Thursday. Martinez arrived in Florida in a boat as a teenager in 1962 as part of Operation Pedro Pan, which put 14,000 youngsters in care of the Catholic Church until relatives got to the United States.
He won election as Orange County chairman in 1998 with solid support from Democratic voters.
But Martinez's background could pose challenges in a primary where conservatives are very influential. He's a former lawyer who lobbied the Legislature on behalf of trial lawyers in the late 1980s. The governor has battled trial lawyers since taking office.
During his race for Orange County chairman, his opponent, John Ostalkiewicz, ran TV ads calling Martinez a "personal injury attorney." Martinez won with 60 percent of the vote and later advocated limiting growth in areas until schools, houses and other services were in place, a position many Republicans would find objectionable.
Rival campaigns also moved Thursday to reaffirm their Hispanic support.
Martinez flatly ruled out a Senate campaign in June. His interest surfaced days after Republican U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris of Sarasota said she was pondering a candidacy. But a close friend said Martinez's timing was influenced largely by Graham's decision not to seek a new term.
Harris said Thursday she wanted to do some polling of Florida voters before making a final decision.
"Uniquely, I have the opportunity to take a little more time than most," said Harris. "We're going to let this percolate awhile."
- Times staff writers Thomas C. Tobin and Bill Adair contributed to this report, which includes information from the Orlando Sentinel and the Associated Press.
