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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Rivera victory caps contentious race

Republican David Rivera decisively staved off a challenge to win a Miami congressional seat Tuesday, as a conservative current swept Florida GOP candidates into office.

Rivera, an eight-year state representative who quickly rose to prominence in Tallahassee, ran on his experience as Florida House budget chief to defeat Democrat Joe Garcia.

``Tonight, the people won, the voters who wanted positive change -- real change -- won,'' an exultant Rivera said late Tuesday during his campaign party at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables. ``The residents wanted a campaign based on the issues, on the economy.''

The high-profile contest, targeted by both parties vying for the swing 25th congressional district, was characterized by mud-slinging between the two candidates, both well-known Cuban Americans with longtime ties to local politics.

Rivera's clear victory -- despite a slew of character attacks against him during the campaign -- reflected the national mood of an electorate angry about the economy and willing to overlook candidates' questionable actions in the past if they promised to stand up to Democrats in Washington.

RECORD ATTACKED

Garcia relentlessly attacked Rivera's record in past campaigns and his source of income outside of lawmaking -- and the message seemed to resonate even among voters who picked Rivera.

``It was a vote for the lesser of evils,'' said Mercy Gonzalez, a self-described conservative who voted for Rivera Tuesday morning at a heavily Republican precinct at Belen Jesuit Preparatory School in West Miami-Dade.

To win, Rivera also had to overcome the deep pockets of national Democrats pouring money into a seat they targeted as a rare pickup opportunity.

As with Republicans across the country, Rivera's message of fiscal restraint proved popular with voters in the GOP-leaning 25th, a district almost evenly split among Democrats, Republicans and independents that reaches from western Miami-Dade to eastern Collier County.

The district has always been represented by Republican Mario Diaz-Balart, who helped draw the seat for himself and is now moving to a neighboring, more GOP-friendly seat being vacated by his brother, Lincoln. Mario Diaz-Balart was automatically elected to the post when he drew no opposition.

Rivera, a hard-working movie buff and baseball fan known for his astute political eye, successfully tied Garcia, a former Obama administration official, to divisive Washington policies and to now-ousted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

PARTY-LINE STANCES

Each candidate mostly followed his party's line, with Rivera emphasizing his budget-balancing years in Tallahassee, hard-line stance on Cuba and support for a Colombian free-trade agreement that Garcia also backed, breaking with national Democrats.

Democrats held out hope for a win by Garcia until late Tuesday, foraging for last-minute volunteers to call supporters and urge them to vote. Two years ago, Garcia narrowly lost to Mario Diaz-Balart in an election that strongly favored Democrats.

This time around, Garcia went on the attack early, bringing up an accident Rivera was involved in with a truck carrying campaign mailers on the Palmetto Expressway during his first campaign eight years ago.

Garcia's campaign also jumped on news reports about Rivera claiming for years to have received income from the U.S. Agency for International Development, though the agency has no record of him as a contractor.

Rivera later said he worked as a subcontractor -- without naming who he worked for -- and amended his state financial disclosure forms to remove any mention of USAID. Allies of Garcia sued Rivera to disqualify him from the ballot over the disclosures, but a judge threw out the suit.

Garcia conceded the race late Tuesday at his campaign party in West Kendall: ``I don't think we could have done anything different,'' he said, blaming his loss on higher GOP turnout.

At the Biltmore, Rivera basked in his presumed win by introducing his close friend Marco Rubio, who was celebrating his triumph in a bruising, three-way Florida Senate race.

Miami Herald staff writers Lesley Clark and Ana Veciana Suarez and El Nuevo Herald staff writer Melissa Sanchez contributed to this report.

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Voters in Miami-Dade flock to early-voting polls

Voters across Miami-Dade County took advantage of the last day of early voting Sunday, waiting in hours-long lines to avoid having to cast a ballot on election day.

At Miami City Hall, Sharon Rumph was one of several people who showed up at about 4:30 p.m., just ahead of the 5 p.m. closing.

``I was hoping for a shorter line,'' said Rumph, who purposely waited until after the Miami Dolphins game ended, thinking the crowd would be thinner. ``But it's worth waiting.''

As of Sunday evening, Miami-Dade was still tabulating numbers of early voters. In Broward, where voting ended on Saturday, a total of 85,737 people cast their ballots during the special two-week period, the elections department said.

The busiest poll proved to be the Northwest Regional Library, where 10,742 people voted.

Now, anyone who did not vote early must go to their assigned precincts on Election Day.

``We ask all voters review their sample ballot and make their decisions prior to going to the polls in order to accommodate everyone as swiftly and smoothly as possible,'' Miami-Dade Supervisor of Elections Lester Sola said.

Arne Themmen had to vote on Sunday. He said he couldn't wait until Tuesday because of work. He waited about an hour and 10 minutes at City Hall to cast his ballot. ``I actually think you get through regular voting quicker,'' he said.

Jackie and Rick Zelman said the process was long, but smooth. ``We had nothing going on and we wanted to make sure we got our votes in,'' Jackie Zelman said.

Ted Hartshorn, who lives near City Hall, said he had checked earlier on the line, but it was longer. At 4:30, he knew he didn't have a choice but to wait out. ``It's a shame the line is so long,'' Hartshorn said .

``But what are you going to do?''

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Tense moments for Sink, Scott camps as votes were tallied

As Florida's Election Day came to a close, hopeful Democrats gathered at the lavish Marriott Waterside on Tampa's dockside marina, anticipating a victory party for Alex Sink, their candidate for governor. Sink looked confident and happy.

``It could be an early night. It could be a late night,'' she said. ``I'm just going to enjoy every single minute. It's a once-in-a-lifetime experience, certainly for me.''

``Late night'' turned out to be an understatement.

Results started pouring out of Tallahassee after polls closed in the Panhandle at 8 p.m. Tuesday. By 8:03 p.m. Marco Rubio's Senate victory was all but official, and by 8:30 the new Florida Cabinet was all but cast.

The new governor -- a different story.

EARLY LEAD

While Sink's camp watched from a bank of hotel suites in Tampa, Rick Scott and his party gathered in the Hilton Fort Lauderdale Marina. The numbers ratcheted up and up, and Scott never trailed Sink. But his lead was precarious. And there were some inklings of trouble.

In an 8 p.m. briefing, a spokeswoman for the state Division of Elections said Hillsborough County had run into a problem with early voting ballots, and had to re-scan 38,000. Reports surfaced of delays in West Palm Beach.

By 9:15, Sink trailed Scott by more than 150,000 votes.

With so few votes separating the candidates, no network or wire service would declare Scott the winner.

The Scott family remained inside a suite at the Hilton, delaying their victory party. A first-time candidate still figuring out the political ropes, Scott learned ritual of Election Night: The winner doesn't declare victory until the loser concedes defeat.

hour after hour passed and Scott didn't show downstairs, as the crowd dined, drank and waited.

Just before 11 p.m., Sink spokesman Dan McLaughlin took the stage. ``There are about 600,000 votes outstanding. Alex trails by 100,000,'' he said. ``Those are our counties so stay with us.''

The crowd appeared unfazed. Some started line dancing

Sink pollster Dave Beattie said Sink was down 90,000 with thousands of votes still uncounted in Democrat-heavy counties of South Florida.

The vote gap between the two candidates kept shrinking.

At 12:15 a.m., Sink finally addressed the crowd. This had been a ``classic Florida election,'' she said, that was ``coming down to the wire in what looks to be a dead-even race.'' With an estimated vote gap of about 75,000 votes at this point, she was not ready to concede.

``We're Floridians, so we know what it means to count every single vote,'' she told the crowd of about 300. ``So, this is what we're going to do. We're going to let the people of Florida -- all the people of Florida -- have their voices heard.''

ed

DELAYED VICTORY

Ever so often at the Scott party, a public-address announcement would hint the celebration was about to start, but it didn't.

By 1 a.m., 15 percent of precincts still hadn't reported, and the spread was down to about 72,000.

At 2:08 a.m., Scott gave a brief, upbeat speech predicting victory.

``I apologize this has taken so long. Thanks for your patience,'' he said. ``Based on the numbers we're seeing now, after all of the votes are counted, I am absolutely confident I will be the next great governor of the state of Florida. We'll have more to say maybe even later tonight, probably tomorrow.''

Upstairs, Scott's legal team kept a close eye on fluctuating vote counts.

GROUND ZERO

By 4 a.m., Palm Beach had finished counting. The Democratically heavy coastal county had become ground zero in determining the election. With all 789 precincts reporting, Palm Beach reported that Sink had netted only about 2,600 more votes over Scott.

At 10:30 a.m., in a room crowded with staff and supporters, Sink calmly conceded.

At noon Wednesday, Scott claimed the victory he had waited for all night.

``Starting today, I work for every Floridian,'' he said. ``I'm giving you my word: Better days are coming.''

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Obama news conference Wednesday

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama will address the election results with a news conference Wednesday afternoon at the White House, where he is expected to call for both parties to put aside the vitriol of the past several months and work together to restore the nation's economy.

The president spent Election Day in the White House, closing out the campaign season with a last-minute flurry of radio interviews on stations in selected urban markets, including Chicago, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Jacksonville. On a Las Vegas station, he made a direct appeal to Latinos.

He is scheduled to leave Washington on Friday for a nine-day trip to India, Indonesia, South Korea and Japan, and aides would like to get the election behind him so that he would not be dogged by domestic concerns while overseas.

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Rivera, Garcia forage for votes

More than 100 miles from their homes, Republican David Rivera and Democrat Joe Garcia waded for votes over the weekend in what seems like an unlikely locale for a Miami congressional election: the annual, ``world famous'' swamp buggy races in Naples.

It seemed the appropriate setting for what has been an ugly battle for Florida's 25th Congressional District -- a race largely played out in television attack ads.

But Garcia, a former Obama administration official, and Rivera, a four-term state representative, spent the final days of early voting appealing in person to their political bases -- groups that will be crucial in determining who replaces Republican Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart in Washington.

For Rivera, that meant two days rallying conservatives in Naples, who make up about 10 percent of the voters in the GOP-leaning district that stretches from West Miami-Dade into Collier County.

``2day is the big day,'' Rivera told a Miami Herald reporter in a text message Sunday. ``Swamp buggy queen gets thrown in the swamp.''

For Garcia, the trek to Naples on Saturday was an effort to reach out to independent voters, who make up a sizable chunk of the district. He spent Sunday looking for votes among two key Democratic constituencies: African Americans and non-Cuban Hispanics.

``Did I get lucky and get your vote?'' Garcia asked outside the West Kendall Regional Library.

POSSIBLE PICKUP?

Trying to capitalize on one of their few pickup opportunities in a year when they are widely expected to lose control of the House, Democrats poured money into backing Garcia and attacking Rivera.

``Though most people aren't talking about it, it's one of the few Democratic opportunities,'' said Nathan Gonzales, political editor of the Washington-based Rothenberg Political Report, who called the race ``extremely competitive.''

Yet, despite a slew of TV and radio ads accusing him of ``a pattern of lies and cover-ups,'' Rivera can keep the district in GOP hands if independents -- who make up about one-third of the district's likely voters -- break for Republicans in a year of widespread public anger toward Washington politicians.

Few polls have been carried out in the district. One by Sunshine State News, a conservative-leaning publication, had Rivera 1 percentage point ahead of Garcia -- a statistical tie -- with 5 percent of voters undecided. Rivera, however, had a wider, 7-point lead among ``the most likely voters.''

A New York Times analysis of the contest based on polls, expert forecasts, fundraising, past election returns and other indicators gave the edge Sunday to Rivera by about 5 percentage points.

Rivera raised about $1.7 million for his campaign; Garcia about $1.4 million through Oct. 13. Garcia had more cash on hand for the home stretch -- though both candidates have received additional donations in the past few days.

The close race might be decided by turnout: If GOP voters come out as enthusiastically as they did in the August primary, when almost twice as many Republican voters than Democrats cast ballots in the district, the results would almost certainly swing in Rivera's favor.

To counter some of that fervor, Garcia, with deep-pocketed help from national Democrats, has launched character attacks against his opponent. News reports have questioned Rivera's income outside of lawmaking and an accident he was involved in on the Palmetto Expressway during his first campaign eight years ago.

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Amendments appear doomed come Election Day, poll shows

TALLAHASSEE -- Every major constitutional amendment on the ballot looks doomed and so do each of the three Democrats running for Florida's Cabinet, according to a new poll of likely Florida voters.

In another sign of the rightward shift of the electorate, this Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Survey shows independents are throwing crucial support behind the GOP candidates.

So Pam Bondi will likely be the next attorney general, Jeff Atwater will likely be the next chief financial officer and Adam Putnam will win the race for agriculture commissioner.

But in a year of anti-incumbency and political shakeups, the poll also shows that the status quo will be preserved when it comes to the Constitutional amendments seeking to change the way politicians draw political districts, manage growth in local communities or pay to reduce class sizes.

The biggest eye-opener: The so-called ``Hometown Democracy'' amendment that would allow citizens to vote on changes to local growth plans. More than a month ago, a majority of voters favored the amendment. Now they oppose it 58-26.

``Support for Amendment 4 has totally collapsed in the face of a strong advertising campaign by the measure's opponents,'' Mason-Dixon pollster Brad Coker said. ``By almost owning the airwaves, opponents have effectively flipped the numbers.''

Detractors, heavily financed by developers, describe Hometown Democracy as a job-killing idea. Supporters say they want more local citizen control -- and less developer influence -- over City and County Hall.

Two other proposed constitutional amendments --the so-called called ``Fair Districts'' plan -- would also tie the hands of politicians. The amendments would prevent state legislators from favoring or disfavoring incumbents or political parties when they redraw congressional and legislative seats after the census.

Funded by liberal millionaires and Democratic-leaning unions, the Fair Districts plan directly challenges the power of the Republican-led Legislature. Republicans are the only bloc of voters who oppose the measures.

Independents - and especially Democrats -- favor the two amendments by double digits.

Amendment 5, concerning legislative districts, is favored by 48 percent of likely voters and opposed by 32 percent. Amendment 6, concerning congressional districts, is favored by 46 percent and opposed by 27 percent of voters. But that's probably not enough support to garner the 60 percent of the vote needed to pass a Constitutional amendment by Election Day.

The third major constitutional amendment, concerning scaling back a class-size limitation, won't pass, either, even though it garners a narrow plurality of the vote: 45 percent. About 43 percent oppose it.

That's a big shift since September, when the last Mason-Dixon poll showed 53 percent were opposed.

The Cabinet races are a little more consistent. Republicans have steadily locked up support for months amid a conservative awaken and voter anger over the direction of the nation under Democratic control.

The poll shows:

• Bondi is ahead of Miami Beach state Sen. Dan Gelber, 44-37.

• Atwater, the outgoing senate president, leads former Tallahassee Rep. Loranne Ausley. 39-28.

• Putnam leads former Democratic party boss Scott Maddox, 44-33.

Marc Caputo can be reached at mcaputo@MiamiHerald.com

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