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STEVE BOUSQUETRep. Peter Deutsch treads cautiously across North Florida as he seeks a seat in the U.S. Senate.
GULF BREEZE - As golfers strolled the greens outside, U.S. Rep. Peter Deutsch told a crowd at a country club that he could feel "the elephant in the room."
Abortion. Gun control. Gay rights. Deutsch supports all three.
On a two-day campaign trip last weekend, Deutsch ventured into treacherous territory for a Florida Democrat: the western Panhandle, where Democrats are unfailingly friendly but remain suspicious of liberal, big-government solutions.
Finding enthusiasm and skepticism, the congressman from Fort Lauderdale insisted he was the best candidate to replace Democrat Bob Graham in the U.S. Senate. But it will take a lot of convincing in North Florida, and Deutsch knows it.
"If the swing voters in this community were creating the ideal candidate, they probably wouldn't pick me. I'll be honest with you, okay?" Deutsch told 100 Democrats from Santa Rosa and Escambia counties at Tiger Point Golf and Country Club.
Deutsch polls second, behind Betty Castor and ahead of Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas, in the three-way Democratic primary. A tenacious, tireless campaigner, he plunges from one 18-hour day to the next.
He's little known outside South Florida but has raised $4.6-million, more than any other candidate. The total includes more than $2-million from his congressional re-election fund and $750,000 of his own money.
Deutsch, one of the most relentless fundraisers in Congress, says he'll collect $6-million by August to pay for a sustained TV ad campaign leading up to the Aug. 31 primary.
A Yale-educated lawyer, Deutsch, 47, displayed political skills early. He won a state House seat at 25 by outworking all of his opponents. Despite occasional criticism of his intense, combative style, he has never lost an election.
"If I were really this arrogant, ultra-liberal, I can't win," Deutsch said. "But if I was really as bad as people say, I probably couldn't have gotten elected in the first place, and I've won 11 elections."
He went to Congress in 1992 and has been very popular in a district that includes liberal retirees, affluent suburbanites and growing numbers of Hispanics. His 20th District stretches from Miami Beach to the Everglades in west Broward and includes such liberal bastions as Aventura, Hallandale and Hollywood.
He figures 40 percent of the voters in the Democratic primary live within an hour of his Hollywood home. But it's a long way from Broward's condominiums to the Panhandle's sprawling military bases, white clapboard churches and roadside barbecue stands.
The question is whether Deutsch can project his popularity to a bigger and more diverse stage. He's also Jewish in a state where few Jewish candidates have won statewide.
"I might be Jewish and I grew up in New York, but I fit Florida better than anyone else, Democrat or Republican, in this campaign," Deutsch says, driving a rented SUV through such Panhandle towns as Liberty, Blountstown and Bristol.
Casting himself as a New Democrat in the mold of Bill Clinton, Deutsch sought to soften his liberal image in the Panhandle, reminding audiences of his votes for a balanced budget, line-item veto and welfare reform.
He also boasted of 100 percent ratings from the Sierra Club and abortion rights groups, which he says will find favor with suburban voters who will decide the election.
While he voted for the Brady gun-control bill, Deutsch told the crowd in Gulf Breeze, "The truth is, no one wants to take away your longarms."
As Deutsch analyzes it, 30 percent of the voters in November will support the Republican nominee and 30 percent will vote for the Democrat. The remaining 40 percent of "swing voters" who live in the suburbs will decide the outcome, he said. Deutsch believes their priorities include education, jobs, abortion rights and the environment.
He supports a universal health care system and opposes school vouchers, and accused President Bush and Gov. Jeb Bush of trying to "destroy" public schools.
On his North Florida trip, Deutsch got to Tallahassee on a Sunday morning after sleeping all night in a sport utility vehicle. He had spoken to Democrats in Stuart the night before, and an aide drove all night to stay on schedule.
The punishing pace left Deutsch with a scratchy speaking voice.
During his two-day swing from Tallahassee to Pensacola, Deutsch prayed with black state legislators and met with Florida A&M student leaders, Bay County Democratic activists, and labor organizers in Panama City and Pensacola.
"I know I like his record," said Anne Bennett of Pensacola, who knew about Deutsch's opposition to offshore drilling.
Statia McNeese, an Eglin Air Force base employee, liked Deutsch and agreed with him on most issues. But he was not convinced that Deutsch was the ideal candidate to appeal to the moderate swing voters who will decide the election. In a question-and-answer session, McNeese asked Deutsch about his "really liberal positions."
"The Democratic nominee is going to have to appeal to voters in this state who are on the cusp," McNeese said later. "And with a really liberal view, my question is, can he do that?"
The same questions arose when Deutsch met with Bay County labor leaders in Panama City. At a plumbers and steamfitters union hall, he heard some candid advice about the political risks facing a Senate candidate from South Florida. "They're going to ask your record on guns, and whether you oppose gay marriage," Scott Hollis, a paper mill employee, warned Deutsch. "That sinks anybody."
Facing a dozen labor activists at a plumbers' hall, Deutsch told the group that in Congress, he voted for the Brady Bill to keep guns out of the hands of felons but that he supports the Second Amendment. He opposes gay marriage, but supports civil unions.
Union members listened closely, a few frowning, others crossing their arms. Deutsch held his ground.
"That's the perspective that I have," Deutsch said. "I realize some people aren't going to vote for me because of it."
Democrat Naomi Melvin from Chipley said later she wished Deutsch were more like Bill Nelson, Florida's other senator, who wore jeans and boots on campaign visits to North Florida and used his family roots in Washington County in his 2000 victory.
"Nelson is a home boy," Melvin said. "My fear with Rep. Deutsch is that he's not the farm boy. You need to come out here, see what the trees look like, see what the ponds look like."
Dressed in a Navy blue suit, monogrammed shirt and black shoes, Deutsch often gave long answers, using lots of hand gestures, seemingly without pausing to catch a breath. He reminded Panhandle audiences about his friendship with Bill Clinton, who was not nearly as popular here as he was in South Florida.
Evalyn Narramore, a Pensacola nurse and Democratic women's club president, has heard all three Democratic candidates. Once a Castor supporter, she isn't so sure.
"She hasn't been here recently, so the momentum is swinging away from her at this point," Narramore said. "All three sound wonderful. I don't know what I'm going to do."