State: McCollum: Clinton is driven to 'defeat me'

McCollum: Clinton is driven to 'defeat me'

A letter from Senate candidate Bill McCollum says President Clinton is driven by revenge for his role in impeachment.

By ADAM C. SMITH

Bill McCollum is hoping Bill Clinton might raise him some campaign cash.

After months of downplaying his role as a leader in President Clinton's impeachment, Republican U.S. Senate candidate McCollum is again tapping anti-Clinton sentiment to motivate supporters to contribute.

"I know that Bill Nelson's campaign is fueled by ambition for more power, bigger government, and higher taxes. Yet I'm aware that Bill Clinton's motivation is quite different; he's driven by revenge to try to defeat me. But in the face of an onslaught of vicious attack ads and the full weight and power of the White House behind the effort to defeat me, I must fight back with the truth," McCollum wrote in a Monday e-mail to supporters seeking to raise $340,000 over 10 days.

The letter comes amid an increasingly negative barrage of television ads launched on behalf of both McCollum and his Democratic opponent Nelson.

The latest: McCollum is attacking Nelson as a "failure" as insurance commissioner, and the Florida Democratic Party has a spot accusing McCollum of hiding from his own record and "lying" about Nelson's insurance commissioner record. Another McCollum spot says, "Liberal Bill Nelson taxes everything that moves and some things that don't."

McCollum, an Orlando area congressman who was among the higher-profile impeachment managers, cited his House manager role in a fundraising letter last May. But with polls indicating most Floridians opposed to impeachment, McCollum has shied away from bringing it up since he began campaigning for the general election and courting swing voters.

Even when Clinton flew to Florida to help raise money for Nelson in July, McCollum declined to say much. Instead, his anti-Clinton message has been more subtle, portraying Nelson as a flip-flopper in the mode of Clinton and Al Gore.

The latest fundraising letter, aimed solely at his base of conservative supporters, suggests that Clinton is "calling the shots" and practically leading Nelson's campaign against McCollum.

"While Bill Nelson and Bill Clinton relax aboard Air Force One, cracking jokes and trading stories, I'll be visiting the farms and ranches of Florida and stopping by senior centers, veterans groups, and factory gates," it says.

"With the exception of Hillary's New York race, my defeat is Bill Clinton's highest political priority."

In fact, Nelson was aboard Air Force One with Clinton just once this campaign, flying from Tampa to Palm Beach for a series of rallies and fundraisers. Nelson did not join Clinton in Miami Tuesday, where the president watched the Gore-Bush debate.

"That letter is really the essence of dirty campaigning," Dan McLaughlin, Nelson's campaign spokesman said. "It's a personal attack that's not based on any truth, and it's not based on any issue. All it's intended to do is inflame and polarize."

McCollum campaign spokesman Shannon Gravitte said the letter "speaks for itself," and noted that Clinton helped raise more than $1-million for Nelson.

Anti-Clinton sentiment has been a huge fundraising help to U.S. Rep. Rick Lazio's campaign against Hillary Clinton for a New York Senate seat, but its impact on the McCollum-Nelson race has been less clear. One political action committee set up to help the House managers had raised less than $87,000 as of June 30, and Gravitte said McCollum has received nothing from that PAC.

- Times researcher Kitty Bennett contributed to this report.