New volleys fired as bitterness rises in Senate race
Martinez and Castor label each other failures in government positions they held previously.
By ANITA KUMAR and STEVE BOUSQUET
Published October 28, 2004
CLEARWATER - Both sides in the U.S. Senate race stepped up their attacks Wednesday, with Republican Mel Martinez criticizing Democrat Betty Castor's education record and Castor questioning Martinez's record as federal housing secretary.
Martinez teamed with a popular fellow Republican, Gov. Jeb Bush, who said Castor was a failure as state education commissioner because she didn't lower student dropout rates and allowed test scores and graduation rates to fall. "Her record is one where there is no passion for focusing on the achievement gap," Bush said. "Betty Castor's record is one of failure."
In contrast, Martinez said, as Orange County chairman he pushed for after-school programs that reduced truancy.
Castor and Martinez are battling to replace retiring Democratic U.S. Sen. Bob Graham in one of the few open races that could determine which party controls the Senate.
The increasingly bitter charges, six days before Tuesday's election, reflect the tense mood in both camps. Polls show the race is deadlocked and the Senate winner, pollsters say, will likely be determined by whoever wins the presidential race in Florida.
Several new ads also took a harsher tone.
Martinez defended a new ad that used footage from a recent TV debate to make it appear Castor opposes the war on terror. In fact, Castor said she would not have voted for Congress' war resolution if she had known there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
Castor plans to launch an ad today in response.
A pro-Castor group, the Human Rights Campaign, launched a radio ad criticizing Martinez for criticizing a former rival's support for a hate crimes law that included safeguards for gays. The ad drew a link between Martinez's opposition and notorious hate crimes, such as the case of James Byrd, the black man in Texas who was dragged to his death behind a truck.
"What kind of man would engage in this kind of bigotry?" the ad asked. "Not the kind we want in the United States Senate."
Full-page ads also appeared in some newspapers suggesting Osama bin Laden would want Castor and John Kerry to win. "Who do you think Osama bin Laden would prefer?" asked the ad, paid for by the Florida Leadership Council, an independent political group.
A Tampa TV news executive said Martinez's terrorism ad "egregiously" misrepresented Castor's stand on terrorism.
Forrest Carr, news director of WFLA-TV Ch. 8, which sponsored the debate that Martinez excerpted, said he worried that candidates would avoid future debates for fear their statements would be used in attack ads.
"It takes her comments egregiously out of context," Carr said. "It's not an accurate portrayal of what transpired at that moment."
As she campaigned with Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards in Tampa Bay, Castor defended her record, saying she improved dropout rates, graduation rates and other yardsticks in her six-year tenure as state education commissioner. Her campaign produced its own data showing favorable figures.
Martinez and Bush were using U.S. Department of Education statistics, which showed Florida had one of the worst dropout rates in the nation under Castor. Castor disputed the figures and used her own formula she said was more accurate.
As education commissioner, she called reducing the dropout rate a top priority, but on the campaign trail Castor downplays the figures.
"That's my record and I am proud of it," Castor said. "I'll hold my record up to Mel Martinez's any day of the week."
Castor also criticized Martinez for his record as Housing and Urban Development secretary, where she said he failed at his most important task: Allowing more minorities to own homes. She said loans to minorities fell from 41.7 percent in 2000 to 35 percent in 2003. Martinez has cited census data that show a steady increase in the percentage of blacks and Hispanics who own homes.
