Church services are a balm to U.S. Senate campaigns that have been riddled by attack ads.
By STEVE BOUSQUET, DAVID KARP, CURTIS KRUEGER and ANITA KUMAR
Published August 30, 2004
On Sunday, the Senate race went to church.
But it was hardly a day of rest.
Republicans Mel Martinez and Bill McCollum, locked in a close race two days before Tuesday's statewide primary, began the day by praying at Baptist churches at opposite ends of the state.
A confident Betty Castor courted Democratic votes at an African-American church in south St. Petersburg while her chief Democratic rival, U.S. Rep. Peter Deutsch, did the same at two black churches in Fort Lauderdale.
Martinez and McCollum turned away from the harsh attacks of the previous two days and stuck to themes that appeal to the Republican base.
Castor, buoyed by a new poll Sunday showing her ahead of Deutsch by 2-to-1, did her best to avoid making waves just two days before she expects to become the Democratic nominee.
While Deutsch campaigned through the night, ending with a scheduled 12:15 a.m. stop today at a landmark Fort Lauderdale diner called Lester's (known for its bottomless cup of coffee), Castor spent a couple of hours Sunday afternoon relaxing alone in her hotel room in Jacksonville.
Still, Deutsch did his best to disrupt Castor's calm by going on the offensive against attacks from a shadowy political group he suggested was tied to Castor.
The fliers were mailed to voters in South Florida by the Alliance for Protecting Seniors, which registered with the IRS about a week ago. The group's address is a UPS store in Washington, D.C. Its treasurer, Carla Bartz, is tied to five other political action committees in Tallahassee that also mailed attack ads this election. Bartz does not appear to live in Florida.
The ads attacked Deutsch for taking money from pharmaceutical companies and doing favors for some of them, an issue that has surfaced before.
Jerry Wattenberg, 80, asked Deutsch about the flier when the candidate knocked on his apartment door. "Who sent out that bad stuff?" Wattenberg asked.
"Bad people," Deutsch said. "I assume it is my opponent."
"I think it's terrible - and whoever is doing it should stop," Castor said.
Deutsch's campaign even put his 78-year-old mother, Billie, in a telephone message to seniors. "They said some nasty thing about my son - and I said it wasn't true," Mrs. Deutsch said in an interview.
Castor denies her campaign is behind the ad and she said she would be shocked if EMILY's List, a political fundraising group with a huge stake in her campaign, had anything to do with them. She said she has been the victim of similar attacks by Deutsch's friends.
"It's been done to me," she said. "He's never been so outraged by them before."
Castor began her day with hundreds of others at Mount Zion Progressive Baptist Church in south St. Petersburg. "I'm going to be fighting for you and your families," she said.
While she was attending the service, car windshields in the parking lot were covered with Deutsch fliers specifically aimed toward black voters saying "He's got your back."
Castor met with local elected officials in St. Lucie County, some of whom were meeting her for the first time but had been supporting her for months.
"Betty is the most sincere candidate," said Jack Kelly, a City Council member in Port St. Lucie. "She's a real Democrat. You don't hear about her flip-flopping like other candidates."
Although a St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald poll showed Castor far ahead of her three opponents, including Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas, it showed the Republican race too close to call.
Martinez has mounted a late surge to catch McCollum, who led polls throughout much of the campaign but now finds himself outspent by the better-organized Martinez campaign.
Martinez spent $1.5-million in the past week, and McCollum said he spent $800,000. Martinez also has the trappings of a well-financed modern campaign. His two-day "American Dream Tour" began in a 45-foot motor coach used by rock groups and country music stars, and switched to a DC-9 charter jet owned by Skyway Global, a Clearwater security firm whose owners are Martinez supporters.
The jet has leather seats that recline horizontally and can show movies on demand on passengers' laptop computers.
McCollum rides in rented SUVs, though he flew around Florida Sunday on a Learjet. His bid for free media has been a struggle. When McCollum toured the Port of Palm Beach Sunday, he attracted no TV cameras, just three reporters who had traveled with him.
Martinez, in storm-damaged Charlotte County, and McCollum, in Jacksonville, both visited Sunday services attended by hundreds of conservatives who are likely to vote.
At South Biscayne Baptist Church in North Port, where the recovery from Hurricane Charley is in its third sweltering week, Martinez was invited to speak at two services.
Standing on a large stage next to his wife, Kitty, and with the choir seated behind them, Martinez stressed his faith and his opposition to abortion and gay marriage.
"Life is very precious and ought to be protected, and abortion is wrong," Martinez said. "I believe that marriage ought to be between a man and a woman, and we ought to honor that."
Martinez spoke at length about his childhood in Cuba and being forced from the island and separated from his parents. His strong Catholic faith enabled him to deal with adversity as a teenager, he said. "I always thank the Lord that I have the freedom to worship, and no one can take that away from me," Martinez said. Several hundred worshipers gave him a standing ovation.
Despite a weekend controversy over an anti-McCollum TV ad that Martinez pulled, and polls showing the race a dead heat, Martinez exuded confidence. Aides are planning for Martinez to fly to New York City, where he's tentatively scheduled to speak in prime time on Thursday, the final night of the Republican national convention.
McCollum began the day in a pew in the sanctuary of Trinity Baptist Church in Jacksonville, with about 4,000 active members. He was introduced at two services by the Rev. Tom Messer, who did not endorse a candidate but told members: "If I get you to vote, you'll vote the right way."
Many greeted McCollum warmly and said they recognized his face from TV ads. But a woman who had received a mailing from Martinez was puzzled about McCollum's stand on stem cell research and questioned him about it. McCollum explained that he supports research only on cells from fertilized eggs that have been discarded.
Despite McCollum's explanation, "I'm 99 percent sure I'll vote for Martinez," said Virginia Arends, 75, a retired schoolteacher.
Martinez supports the president's ban on federal funding for stem cell research.
In Miami Sunday, McCollum tried to undercut Martinez's support among Cuban-American voters by campaigning in the heart of Little Havana.
At the Versailles Restaurant on Calle Ocho, McCollum was introduced to a gathering of about 65 people by Rafael Diaz-Balart, patron of one of Miami's most influential political families. He said McCollum has a long record of opposing Castro.
