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House race is worthy of name

After the retirement of popular U.S. Rep. Michael Bilirakis, the fight for his seat should be intense.

By ROBIN STEIN
Published July 14, 2006

After months of courting big donors nationwide, the frontrunners to replace Michael Bilirakis in Congress are turning their focus back to the home front.

The candidates are buzzing across the Tampa Bay area, going door to door, doling out bumper stickers and lining up campaign appearances. And that level of activity is unusual for this unwieldy district, which spans northern Pinellas, western Pasco and suburban Hillsborough counties.

It has been decades since the House seat has been the object of a serious contest.

But now, with 24-year incumbent Rep. Michael Bilirakis set to retire and flagging approval ratings for the Republican-controlled Congress, both parties have designated the District 9 seat an important battleground for building a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.

And both parties have familiar names in the race.

For the Republicans, it's Gus Bilirakis, the congressman's son, who will face political newcomer David Langheier in the Sept. 5 primary.

For the Democrats, it's Phyllis Busansky, a former Hillsborough County Commissioner.

One sign of the campaign's intensity is Vice President Dick Cheney's scheduled appearance at a July 21 Bilirakis fundraiser in Tampa.

Another is that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has named Busansky one the party's 22 "Red-to-Blue" candidates, making her race a priority for national fundraising.

Between the national attention and an eclectic field, the race promises to be the most suspenseful showdown in years:

'My own person'

From the start, Gus Bilirakis has enjoyed advantages that made him the frontrunner.

His father, Rep. Michael Bilirakis, has been re-elected 13 times with big margins since his first victory in 1982. In 2002, he won 71 percent of the vote. In 2004, the Democrats did not even field a candidate.

Among the district's approximately 400,000 registered voters, Republicans increasingly outnumber Democrats. President Bush, who won 54 percent of the district's vote in 2000, increased his margin to 57 percent four years later.

There is little ambiguity about Rep. Bilirakis' ideology. A major proponent of the Bush administration's Medicare prescription drug plan, he has also firmly advocated school vouchers, tax cuts, and bans on same-sex marriage and partial-birth abortion.

Gus Bilirakis, who has represented state House District 48 for eight years, said he is not just his father's son.

"I encouraged my father to run," he said. "I think it's up to the people to decide. But I've proven in the Legislature that I am my own person."

A jovial, mild-mannered man, Gus Bilirakis has the political sensibility of his father. He was only 7, he said, when he was stuffing envelopes for Louis "Skip" Bafalis' run for governor in 1970.

Gus Bilirakis said his top priority in Congress would be to bolster support for community health centers that treat the uninsured, such as the Clearwater Free Clinic - a long-standing issue for his father as well.

Besides ideological consistency and name recognition, Gus Bilirakis has also stockpiled a powerful cache of endorsements.

In May, Newt Gingrich came to town and Rudy Giuliani wrote a letter on his behalf. His campaign staff says plans for a visit from Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert are in the works.

Bilirakis had raised $1.2-million in campaign contributions as of March - nearly triple the amount amassed by the other candidates combined, according to Federal Election Commission records.

Despite Bilirakis' financial advantage, his opponents say they firmly believe that the seat is up for grabs.

'People are frustrated'

Last week, Busansky gathered volunteers to celebrate the official opening of her campaign office, a second-story suite over a fitness center on N Dale Mabry Highway.

Taped to the walls were rainbow-colored balloons, T-shirts and bumper stickers that simply read "phyllis!"

"Aren't my voters wonderful?" Busansky said.

Busansky, who has lived in the same house in Old Carrollwood for 27 years, said voters are not happy about the war in Iraq, offshore drilling, Terri Schiavo and no-bid contracts.

"People are frustrated, they're fed up," she said. "I'm running against this Congress."

Busansky said there are several factors that make a Democratic upset a realistic possibility: Forty percent of voters are newcomers since the 2000 redistricting, she said. Twenty percent of the district's voters are registered as independents, and 40 percent live in Hillsborough, her home county.

Urging her to join the fray was U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel of Chicago, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

To win, Busansky said, it will take $1-million to overtake Bilirakis.

"He is going raise millions," she said. "I don't need as much to stay competitive."

As of the end of March, Busansky had collected about $390,000 in contributions, but her campaign staff said fundraising exceeded expectations in the quarter that ended in June.

Now, Busansky said her plan is to hit the streets.

It is sure to be a long, hot but wonderful summer, she said, recalling a day from her first run for the Hillsborough County Commission. It was the summer of 1988, Busansky said, and so hot that at one point she stood still, staring at a dandelion growing through the sidewalk.

"I said, 'If you can do it, so can I.' "

Underdog takes to the road

To compensate for his modest campaign treasury, GOP newcomer David Langheier and his family are on a relentless door-to-door campaign.

Every evening, the entire Langheier clan piles into its two Chevrolet sport utility vehicles and visits 75 to 120 homes.

To Langheier, it is not just a campaign strategy but also a means for returning the party to its populist roots.

Going door to door is less lucrative than fundraising tactics he has seen over the years working on other Republican campaigns.

But these, he said, cater to special interest groups.

"At the end of a 35-minute lunch, the guy has $20,000," he said "And there are 20 people sitting at the table - hello!"

He also favors securing the borders with Mexico and Canada, which he thinks will both mitigate the threat of terrorism and stem the flow of illegal immigrants.

Langheier is a member of the Florida chapter of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps but has not participated in the group's border patrols.

For his children, ages 9 to 21, he said the nightly ritual has generated more fun than complaints.

"I highly recommend it for a family project," he said.

Robin Stein can be reached at rstein@sptimes.com or 727 445-4157.

[Last modified July 13, 2006, 13:01:06]