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STEVE BOUSQUET And CURTIS KRUEGERMeanwhile, Bill McCollum fires back in the Republican Senate race. Both Gov. Bush and President Bush intervene.
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mel Martinez abruptly ordered a controversial TV ad off the air Saturday as Gov. Jeb Bush and the White House intervened in an increasingly contentious race.
The disputed ad ran for about 24 hours in North Florida, and accused Bill McCollum of supporting a bill in Congress "granting homosexuals special rights." Martinez said he agreed to pull the ad because he was concerned it would make it harder to unite the Republican Party if he wins Tuesday's primary.
After first defending the ad as a fair comparison, Martinez pulled it after a phone conversation with the governor. Martinez said he had decided to do so before speaking with Bush, and rejected his staff's advice keep it quiet.
Martinez said Bush urged him to announce his decision in an effort to heal the party.
"Given where the race was, it wasn't bringing us to where we want to go, which is a unified party," Martinez said. "It's an effort to try to bring us together."
A new St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald poll found McCollum, who had led the crowded field of Republicans from the start, in a deadlock with Martinez.
Martinez's ad was part of an aggressive strategy in the final days to raise doubts about McCollum with conservatives on stem cell research and hate-crime laws with tougher penalties for crimes against gays.
It aired even as McCollum objected during a televised debate Friday night about similar attacks in a Martinez flier.
The TV ad links the hate-crime issue with a law to ban gay marriage, which both men support. The ad said: "... And while traditional marriage is attacked, McCollum co-sponsored legislation granting homosexuals special rights."
McCollum said the ad "appeals to bigotry."
Bush stepped in at the urging of McCollum's campaign chairman, former U.S. Sen. Connie Mack, who called Bush and e-mailed him the ad.
Mack called the Martinez commercial "not the kind of thing that our party or our state ought to allow to go unchallenged."
"I asked Mel Martinez to take the ad off the air and he agreed to do so. Jeb" Bush wrote in an e-mail received at 6:38 p.m. by McCollum's campaign manager, Matt Williams.
However, ordering an ad off the air is not as easy as it sounds. Many TV stations are short-staffed on weekends, and it is not simple to switch ads.
"He will have to go to extra efforts to keep his promise to the governor and we expect him to do so immediately," said McCollum spokeswoman Shannon Gravitte.
While criticizing Martinez's tactics, McCollum launched a new radio ad of his own, calling Martinez a "a housing secretary who mismanaged programs and wasted millions."
The McCollum camp said the charge was based on a 2003 HUD inspector general report that said the agency hired 300 more people than needed, and "wasted $20-million of taxpayer money."
The White House, injecting itself into the race for the first time, said McCollum's ad was untrue.
"Mel Martinez was an outstanding secretary of Housing and Urban Development. His effective leadership has resulted in record levels of home ownership," White House spokesman Trent Duffy said. "The charges are simply not true. The president appreciates Mel Martinez's service, to his administration and to his country."
Martinez is widely viewed as the favorite of the president's political advisers, but the White House has remained publicly neutral.
"All I can say is, that radio ad is quoting from an inspector general's report at HUD," McCollum said.
The tone of the campaign has spiraled downward in the closing days, with McCollum calling his rivals' tactics "despicable" in a statewide TV debate Friday.
The air war didn't stop there.
A third Republican, self-made millionaire Doug Gallagher, is airing an anti-Martinez ad on Spanish-language radio in Miami that seeks to undercut Martinez's appeal as a Cuban immigrant. The 60-second ad says Martinez never lived in Miami, did not fight for affordable housing in Miami and Hialeah, and once said he was glad he lost his Cuban accent.
The hard-hitting ads were a sharp contrast to what voters saw on the stump.
At Doris' Restaurant, a Niceville institution in the Panhandle that takes pride in being called a greasy spoon, every table was filled and McCollum seemed well known as he moved from customer to customer. The region, a haven of conservative voters, is considered crucial to McCollum's chances for victory Tuesday.
"I am the candidate who doesn't need on-the-job training," McCollum said as he shook hand after hand. Earlier, he attended a commissioning ceremony in Panama City for the USS Momsen, a destroyer, and reminded people he is a retired Navy officer.
Several TV crews covered the ship commissioning, but McCollum never got close to the cameras. Only one reporter was with him at Doris' Restaurant, which was brimming with the kind of local color that can help candidates draw media attention.
"He did a good job when he was up there," Jack Mott Sr., 74, said of McCollum, a former U.S. representative whose district covered suburban Orlando.
In contrast, Martinez campaigned across the Interstate 4 corridor with reporters in a plush, 45-foot motor coach with signs on the side reading "All American Dream Tour." He traveled from New Smyrna Beach to Sarasota, holding three rallies along the way and walking a precinct in a northeast St. Petersburg neighborhood. He drew 50 to 100 at each stop, unusually large for a campaign that has been overshadowed by the presidential contest.
Along the way he was joined by Attorney General Charlie Crist, Brevard County Sheriff Philip Williams and state Sen. Mike Haridopolos, R-Melbourne.
Times staff writers Joni James, Marilyn Garateix and Steve Thompson contributed to this report.