12th Congressional District: Hagenmaier, Putnam likely to square off
By SAUNDRA AMRHEIN
Published September 1, 2004
Voters in U.S. House District 12 appeared to chose a political giant over a lesser known and a social conservative over a social liberal.
Republicans voting in the primary Tuesday were close to handing victory to incumbent Adam Putnam, who had an enormous lead over over opponent Robert "Bob" Wirengard.
"I feel great about it," said Putnam, who has represented the district in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2000 after serving two terms in the Florida House. "We ran a real solid grass roots campaign. We knocked on a lot of doors." Putnam, a fifth-generation Floridian, raised more than $500,000 and rallied 500 volunteers.
District 12 covers most of Polk County, a sliver of Osceola and a U-shaped portion of southeastern Hillsborough that includes Plant City and Brandon.
Putnam was on his way to soundly defeating Wirengard, who barely raised any money, funding his campaign with a $10,000 loan to himself.
Wirengard, who admitted to running a frugal campaign, ran on a proposal to created a "living dividend" of $1,040 a month for every adult, including $290 a month for free-market health care.
He said he was happy with his campaign and hoped he educated the public and candidates on issues important to mainstream America.
During his time in the U.S. House, Putnam voted on the conservative side 98 percent of the time, according to Congressional Quarterly.
As for the district's Democrats, early returns had Bob Hagenmaier leading Jeffrey Siemer.
The two men agreed on fiscal issues, but Siemer thinks the gay marriage debate is a distraction from more important issues, and supports abortion rights.
Hagenmaier opposes gay marriage and the adoption of children into gay households. He also opposes abortion and has been endorsed by the Democrats for Life of American Inc., a national organization for antiabortion members of the Democratic Party.
Hagenmaier said he thought the numbers were too preliminary to make a comment.
But Siemer said he didn't expect to overcome Hagenmaier and was happy with the results he had, given he ran an openly gay campaign.
