LeMieux's tour signals future bid

WASHINGTON -- All eyes will be on Florida's new U.S. senator the day after Tuesday's election. But at a Marriott in Palm Beach Gardens, the man currently occupying the office will be seeking some attention of his own.

For $25, members of the local Chamber of Commerce can hear George LeMieux give his take on the election, tout his support of small business legislation and deliver a ``review of his experience in the U.S. Senate.''

LeMieux was not elected to the seat and he's not on the Nov. 2 ballot, but for the past month he's been engaged in a campaign-like sprint across Florida, talking to Republican and civic groups, touring businesses and presenting military medals.

He's attended dozens of events, logged thousands of miles by air and land. ``I'm just doing my job,'' he says.

But LeMieux, 41, is also working to elevate his profile and lay the groundwork for a potential run for office.

He has not only turned his back to the man who put him in this fairy-tale position -- Gov. Charlie Crist -- but is now working to keep Crist from getting there himself.

If the 2010 election cycle is recorded as one of the most fascinating and unpredictable in decades, LeMieux's story certainly belongs in the footnotes.

It began improbably when Mel Martinez quit the Senate last summer. Crist had to pick someone to serve the final 16 months. He had a menu of well-known figures, some with significant congressional experience, such as U.S. Rep. C.W. Bill Young of Pinellas County. Instead Crist picked his former chief of staff and 2006 campaign manager, ignoring charges of cronyism.

GOP LOYALIST

By all accounts, LeMieux threw himself into the job, proposing legislation, playing the loyal Republican soldier with attacks on the Democratic agenda and the president yet still managing to win friends on both sides of the aisle.

LeMieux relentlessly promoted his efforts, stoking talk he wanted a full-time place in the Senate. He has not denied suggestions that he'll challenge Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson in 2012. Any number of Republicans will step up, some with more name recognition than LeMieux, who lost the only political race of his career, a 1998 run for state House.

Which makes LeMieux's recent travel notable. He has been making the rounds since he was appointed but with the end nearing, he has embarked on a schedule that rivals that of current Senate candidates Crist, Marco Rubio and Kendrick Meek.

St. Petersburg, Tampa, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, Miami, Sarasota, Doral, Daytona Beach, Jacksonville, Naples, Hollywood, Hialeah, Palm City, Stuart . . .

He's been to Rotary clubs, bemoaned government spending at the Chamber of Commerce, toured VA hospitals and colleges, and dropped by an elementary school in Miami.

When early voting kicked off, there was LeMieux at a news conference in Jacksonville. Since he is traveling in his capacity as senator, taxpayers pick up the tab, same as when Nelson hits the road.

LeMieux insists he's only doing his job, but the volume of travel -- and his status as a placeholder -- show he's seeking something else, too.

``None of us had really known him before. It was like, `LeMieux, who the heck is he?' '' said Carol Caprio, a Republican activist in Sarasota, where LeMieux spoke Oct. 15. ``He's not a dynamic speaker like Rubio, but he said all the right things. I liked him.''

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