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In one way, Bilirakis already on top

He's not in Congress, but state Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Palm Harbor, has already emerged as a national leader - in fundraising.

By TIMES STAFF
Published October 25, 2005

No candidate for an open U.S. House seat has more money on hand than the son of outgoing Rep. Mike Bilirakis, R-Palm Harbor, CQ Politics Weekly found.

In fact, four of the top 10 best-financed open seat candidates are Floridians, and two of them are Republicans running to succeed Katherine Harris in Florida congressional District 13:

Gus Bilirakis-R (District 9): $567,779 cash on hand ($741,000 raised). First on the list.

Vern Buchanan-R (District 13): $471,812 cash on hand. Third on the list.

Tramm Hudson-R (District 13): $310,466. Sixth on the list.

Kathy Castor-D (District 11): $300,924. Seventh on the list.

Meanwhile, Democratic state Sen. Ron Klein tops the list of candidates nationwide challenging incumbents, with $839,816 cash on hand to take on Republican U.S. Rep. Clay Shaw.

Gus Bilirakis, 42, raised $194,000 between July and September. Compare that to the account balances of other candidates in the race: Republican David Langheier of East Lake finished the quarter with $66; Democrat Greg Rublee of Oldsmar had $50,222; and Democrat Bill Mitchell of Tampa had $8,787. Democrat Fred Taylor of New Port Richey jumped into the race after that quarter ended, and Democrat Phyllis Busansky was expected to announce her candidacy today.

FIREFIGHTERS BACK NEHR: It appears Tarpon Springs firefighters are fighting for Peter Nehr these days.

The city's firefighters association formally endorsed the sitting city commissioner this week in his race for House District 48. Nehr, running for the seat vacated by Rep. Gus Bilirakis, faces Republicans Robin Borland, Brian Flaherty and Ken Peluso in the primary. Carl Zimmermann is so far the lone Democrat in the race.

OUR WATERGATE?: St. Petersburg mayoral candidate Ed Helm is beefing up security after an attempted break-in to his campaign headquarters. He announced he is posting Web security cameras to guard his campaign signs to ensure they don't get stolen.

According to his Web site, www.edhelm.com Helm plans to prosecute anyone who steals his signs, using video from the Web cams as evidence. No word on what will happen if the Web cams are snatched.

A campaign worker arrived at the storefront, 3914 Sixth St. S, Friday and noticed that a small panel in the building's wooden back door had been cut out. A mesh screen covering the back door also was slashed.

It did not appear anyone entered, nor was anything tampered with or stolen, Helm said. Helm is running against incumbent Mayor Rick Baker in St. Petersburg's Nov. 8 city election.

SPENDING HIS MONEY: Aside from getting Web cameras installed, Helm also is making good on his promise to spend $50,000 on his quest to unseat Baker.

According to the most recent campaign finance reports, Helm loaned $32,500 to his campaign coffers in the past month. In all, he has raised $59,776. Baker has a war chest of $149,683, none of it from his own pocket.

DOWN TO THE WIRE: In other campaign finance news, three St. Petersburg City Council candidates have broken the $20,000 mark.

Darden Rice, who is running for the District 6 seat, has the largest war chest with $32,829. Incumbent Earnest Williams isn't far behind with $25,653. District 2 council member John Bryan has raised $31,161, more than twice as much as challenger Eve Joy, who is reporting $13,822, including $9,500 of her own money.

In District 4, council member Virginia Littrell raised $14,795, while challenger Leslie Curran has $10,851. In District 8, Jeff Danner has $10,740, and Jamie Mayo has $1,138.

-- Times staff writers Carrie Johnson, Nicole Johnson, Aaron Sharockman and Adam C. Smith contributed to this week's Political Junkie. Contact the staff at politicaljunkie@sptimes.com

[Last modified October 25, 2005, 19:47:56]