Facing the prospect of losing against gazillionaire teabagger Rick Scott in the GOP gubernatorial primary in Florida, Attorney General Bill McCollum decided to go Arizona and demonize brown people.
The gambit seems to have worked, and he's now neck and neck against his primary challenger, with the momentum in his corner:
The problem is, Florida has lots of Latinos. And it's even got some of the rare kind -- the ones who vote Republican.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill McCollum sought damage control Thursday as prominent Hispanic supporters fumed over him spearheading legislation that's even tougher than Arizona's new crackdown on illegal immigration.
McCollum hastily arranged a conference call with his Hispanic leadership team late Thursday, calling them the "backbone'' of his campaign and acknowledging that they had concerns about his stance.
U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Miami, a co-chair of the team, said Thursday afternoon that she last spoke to the state attorney general on Tuesday -- one day before he called a news conference in Orlando to unveil the bill with Republican legislators.
"I'm disappointed and was blindsided by Bill's decision to promote this, and I encourage the candidates to focus on plans that will improve Florida's economy, bring jobs to our state and jump-start our tourism,'' Ros-Lehtinen said. ``I fail to see how promotion of this issue will accomplish that, and I was taken aback.'' [...]
Republican lobbyist and fundraiser Ana Navarro, who advised presidential nominee John McCain on Hispanic issues, said Thursday she could no longer back McCollum's campaign.
"I will not campaign against McCollum but will also not lift a finger or raise one additional dollar to support his campaign,'' she said. "Though I believe McCollum is far better prepared to be governor than Rick Scott, I cannot bring myself to cast a vote for either.''
McCollum, who began a statewide bus tour Thursday in Jacksonville, said he should have sought advice from members of his Hispanic leadership team, like Navarro, about the legislation.
White xenophobes outnumber Cuban Americans in the Florida GOP, so this blowback shouldn't affect him too much in the primary. The question is whether this rift will continue into the general election, should McCollum win the nomination.
The issue has also put Marco Rubio in great difficulty in the Senate race. He doesn't want to support McCollum's proposed law, but his teabagger benefactors are demanding it. As Armando said:
It's tough to be a Latino Republican - you can't endorse hating yourself, but you can't really reject it either.