Tampa Bay fundraiser boosts GOP

The celebration for John McKay raises a record amount for Senate Republicans at a single event, the senator says.

By LUCY MORGAN

© St. Petersburg Times, published October 25, 2000

TALLAHASSEE -- Republican state Senate candidates raised a record $750,000 at a Monday night fundraiser at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.

The event was arranged by former Gov. Bob Martinez of Tampa and Gov. Jeb Bush as a Tampa Bay celebration for state Sen. John McKay, a Bradenton Republican who will be president of the Senate if Republicans retain a majority Nov. 7.

"We aren't popping bottles of champagne yet," McKay said Tuesday. "But we did really well, and I feel really good about where we are."

Republican senators from the Tampa Bay area led the fundraising effort, which attracted about 400 donors who paid $500 to attend a reception, $1,000 to attend the reception and a pre-dinner event, or $5,000 for an evening that included dinner.

McKay said he has been told that the Tampa event took in the most money ever raised by Senate Republicans at a single event.

Sen. Jim King, R-Jacksonville, said the event, attended primarily by business people from the Tampa Bay area, was to pay tribute to an incoming Senate president who has lived in Tampa and St. Petersburg. McKay's grandfather was clerk of the court in Tampa, and his great-uncle served as mayor of Tampa in the early 1900s.

"There is no question we'll keep the Senate," King said. "The question is how big the majority will be."

Democratic Party spokesman Tony Welch said Tuesday that Democrats will make gains in both houses. Welch said he thinks the party has an excellent chance of winning Senate races in Gainesville and Tampa.

During the past two years, Republicans in the Senate outnumbered Democrats 25 to 15, but several Republican candidates are running against widely known Democrats in areas like Gainesville that traditionally support Democrats.

McKay said recent polls taken in most of the races for open Senate seats indicate the Republican has a comfortable margin. In the race expected to be the tightest, a North Florida contest between Rep. Bob Casey, R-Gainesville, and State Attorney Rod Smith, a Democrat from Gainesville, a recent poll shows Smith only 3 percentage points ahead, within the margin of error, McKay said.

The race between Rep. Victor Crist, R-Temple Terrace, and Tampa lawyer Kathy Castor for the District 13 Senate seat being vacated by John Grant also is expected to be close, but McKay said polls indicate Crist is running about 9 points ahead.

In the only tight South Florida Senate race, Rep. Debby Sanderson, R-Fort Lauderdale, faces opposition from Democrat John Gillespie in an area where the Gore-Lieberman ticket is expected to draw a heavy Democratic vote.

But McKay said Sanderson is polling about 8 percentage points ahead of her Democratic opponent for a seat being vacated by Republican Jim Scott, who left because of term limits.

Other polls in hotly contested Senate races indicate the Republican is ahead by about 10 points, McKay said.

McKay credited the widespread support of the governor. "He is overwhelmingly popular," McKay said. "We tested Bush, his One Florida and A-Plus plans."

In one Central Florida area, Bush's positive ratings were 93 percent, McKay said. "I make more than 7 percent of the people mad just by the color of my tie," McKay joked.

A recent St. Petersburg Times poll found the governor to have a favorable rating of 51 percent.

McKay said he expects a last-minute attack from trial lawyers against Republican candidates but is prepared to respond.

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