Betty Castor unveiled a prescription drug plan Saturday while Mel Martinez promised to support the president.
By ANITA KUMAR
Published October 10, 2004
HOLLYWOOD, Fla. - U.S. Senate candidates campaigned in opposite ends of the state Saturday, as Democrat Betty Castor unveiled a prescription drug plan and Republican Mel Martinez appeared at a fundraiser with Vice President Dick Cheney.
Castor, appearing before a group of retirees in Hollywood, pledged to cut prescription drug prices by at least 50 percent through reimporting medicine from Canada and allowing Medicare to buy drugs in bulk.
"Send me to the Senate, you will see someone who will work hard to get the cost of prescription drugs down," Castor said as she introduced a plan she said would distinguish her from Martinez.
Meanwhile, Cheney helped Martinez raise $400,000 in Jacksonville.
"America needs a United States Senate that's going to allow the president to carry out his policies so that the vision of the future is a clear one and that we stand up to terror," Martinez said. "No one is more acutely aware of that than our vice president."
Three weeks before the election, most opinion polls show the race is a toss-up between Castor, the former state education commissioner and University of South Florida president, and Martinez, the former federal housing secretary. Both campaigns are seeking to regain traction after four hurricanes in six weeks interrupted the political season.
Castor's four-point plan also calls for the loss of pharmaceutical companies' tax breaks for television advertising if they fail to offer discounts to Medicare recipients. The proposal also would increase the use of generic drugs by curbing the late-patent protections a drug company can receive.
"This is for some of you a different approach, a little more complex approach," she said, "but it is a common sense approach from my perspective."
Castor criticized the Bush administration for seizing prescription drugs from consumers who buy them from Canadian pharmacies, citing a shipment of medicine seized in Miami in July.
Martinez said he backs "carefully supervised" drug reimportation as a way to reduce costs for consumers. He also supports President Bush's new tax-free medical savings accounts and allowing small business owners to band together to purchase health coverage for their families and employees.
Castor unveiled the plan at a senior center in Hollywood, where about 100 seniors snacked on bagels and orange juice before playing bingo. Most were were Democrats, but many did not know her.
Castor said she created the plan, along with Florida's two Democratic senators, Bob Graham and Bill Nelson. Her campaign had expected Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts and Nelson to appear with her Saturday but both remained in Washington, where the Senate was in session.
In Jacksonville, Cheney praised Martinez at a fundraiser attended by 200 supporters.
"I got to know Mel during his time as HUD secretary, and he was an outstanding member of the president's team," Cheney said. "He led an agency dedicated to increasing home ownership among Americans of all backgrounds, and he did that job with commitment, with skill and with complete integrity."
Cheney told the crowd electing Martinez will help Bush win the war on terror, extend tax cuts and nominate judges.
Florida is one of a handful of states with contested Senate races that could determine whether Republicans maintain their narrow majority in the Senate.
"In a Senate as closely divided as it is today, every seat counts," Cheney said, noting Democrats have used filibusters to block Bush's judicial nominees.
"A good way to deal with a problem like the Democratic filibuster in the Senate is to elect a good Republican like Mel Martinez."
In recent weeks, Martinez has criticized Castor for not firing Al-Arian, a former professor who was under investigation for raising money for terrorists while she was USF president. Al-Arian was indicted last year on federal charges and later fired by Castor's successor.
Castor told reporters Saturday that she will air a television ad this week showing the Bush administration allowed Al-Arian to visit the White House in June 2001 for a meeting with Muslim activists and Bush political strategist Karl Rove.
"I'm going to push back and make sure he begins to talk about that," she said. "I want to see the outrage coming from him about this group being invited to the White House and having a front-row seat."
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
