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TALLAHASSEE - Florida voters have an alternative to Mel Martinez and Betty Castor in the race for U.S. Senate, but they've probably never heard of him.
He's Dennis Bradley of Kissimmee, the Veterans Party of America candidate. The Army veteran and former Republican said he's fed up with both major parties.
"There's not a whit of difference between the Democrats and Republicans," Bradley said. "It's all money, on both sides."
The 63-year-old retired business consultant said he served 51/2 years in the Army before retiring from flight school in 1967 after a back injury.
His campaign Web site, dennisbradleyforussenate.com, shows a smiling Bradley in his Army uniform and explains his positions on veterans' benefits, the economy and taxes.
"I promise to raise hell in Washington, D.C., for the benefit of veterans and the common man," Bradley says on the Web site. Asked to name a preference for president, Bradley said: "That's a hell of a choice, isn't it?"
He said his first choice was Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf, a hero of the Gulf War of 1991. Reluctantly, he said, he'll vote for President Bush. He faulted Bush for not doing more to improve veterans' benefits.
"Kids are coming home from Iraq and not getting the health care they deserve," he said.
Bradley loaned himself $10,000 to pay the qualifying fee to get on the ballot. He planned to run as a Republican until he read a news article about a new Veterans Party chapter in Florida.
While working for a modular home manufacturer in Vermont in 1978, Bradley ran for state attorney general. He won the Republican primary but, as he put it, "got creamed" in the general election.
In that race, Bradley advocated legalization of marijuana. The Associated Press quoted him as saying he had never smoked pot, but the sale of marijuana through state-run liquor stores would permit the state to control its purity and bring "hefty revenues" to Vermont.
With most polls showing the Florida Senate race too close to call, a third-party candidate could be a spoiler. But if history is any guide, Bradley doesn't have much of a chance.
Five minor-party candidates combined for a paltry 2.8 percent of the vote in Florida's last U.S. Senate race in 2000.
Though only 1,502 voters are registered Veterans Party members in Florida, Bradley said he would win easily if most of Florida's 3-million veterans cast ballots for him.
"We're using the Internet and word of mouth. It will either work or it won't," Bradley said.
Times staff writer Aaron Sharockman and researcher John Martin contributed to this report.