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STEVE BOUSQUET and ANITA KUMARA new Mel Martinez TV spot muddies stances on terrorism and parental notification, she says.
MIAMI - Escalating his attacks in the deadlocked U.S. Senate race, Republican Mel Martinez aired a new ad Tuesday that Democrat Betty Castor contended misrepresents her positions on terrorism and abortion.
The ad features a tightly edited Castor response to a question about the war in Iraq during last week's debate. Asked whether she would have voted for the war, Castor answers, "no." But the Martinez ad cuts off her explanation, does not mention Iraq, and says she is against a broader war on terror.
The ad also notes Castor is against Amendment 1, which it inaccurately says would require parental consent for minors to receive an abortion. The amendment would require parental notification, a less strict standard.
"Wrong on the war on terror. Against parental consent," the ad says. "Betty Castor - how liberal? More liberal than most of her own party."
The Castor campaign complained that the ad inaccurately portrays her positions.
While she would have voted against the war in Iraq if she had known there were no weapons of mass destruction there, Castor says she supports fighting terrorism. She said she also supports requiring parents to be notified before a minor receives an abortion, but she opposes the constitutional amendment because there is no explicit exception for cases of rape and incest.
"Mel Martinez has reached a new low in the annals of political advertising in this state, and maybe anywhere," Castor said. "He has so distorted my comments, my feelings and my opinions. ... It is absolutely despicable, it is absolutely false, it is misleading, it is unconscionable."
Martinez defended the ad.
"It isn't a character attack," he said. "It's a comparative ad."
Both candidates are stressing their rival's opposition to ballot initiatives that have broad bipartisan support.
The race is tied, a new St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald poll shows, with both candidates at 44 percent and 10 percent undecided.
Castor campaigned in Miami's Little Haiti and spoke to members of the Service Employees International Union about raising the minimum wage. She supports a constitutional amendment that would create a Florida minium wage of $6.15 an hour, a dollar higher than the federal minimum wage. Martinez opposes the amendment.
"This is something I feel passionately about," said Castor, a former state education commissioner. "I think we've got to help the working people in this state. These dollars, new dollars they can earn, are going right back into the economy, and we're going to be better for it."
Martinez told the annual meeting of the Florida Chamber of Commerce in Fort Lauderdale that the minimum wage is "a pretty good wedge issue," but he opposes it because it will reduce jobs. He said job training and education are better escape routes from poverty.
"It's not really designed to create more jobs, that's for sure," Martinez said. "I think it's the wrong idea at the wrong time. ... Another dollar an hour is not going to take somebody out of poverty."
Earlier Tuesday, Castor visited Holmes Elementary School in Miami's Liberty City, where she was the first white teacher in 1966. Across town, Martinez received a warm welcome at a senior citizen center in Little Havana, another sign of his popularity with Cuban-American voters.
While Martinez chartered two private jets, one for himself and one for the media, Castor chose a cheaper alternative. She flew commercial from Miami to Jacksonville but was stranded at Miami International Airport for more than two hours.
Castor also had some new company: Alex Sink, a retired banking executive whose husband, Bill McBride, unsuccessfully ran against Gov. Jeb Bush in 2002, plans to travel with her for the rest of the campaign.
Castor and Sink had plenty of time to talk Tuesday: The Democrat ended the day by driving from Jacksonville to Tampa.