Just days after taking to social media to mock Jeb Bush as a presidential candidate, U.S. Sen. Rand Paul confirmed he is coming to Sarasota — the heart of “Jeb Country” — to accept an award as Republican of the Year.
The Kentucky senator, considered a top-tier candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, is scheduled to attend a free rally, hosted by Sarasota County’s Republican Party at Dolphin Aviation on Feb. 14. It will be Paul’s first public speaking engagement in Sarasota since he won his Senate seat in 2010.
The visit comes at a time that Paul’s team is becoming increasingly aggressive in using social media to target Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor who won Sarasota County easily in all three of his campaigns for the state’s top office. On Wednesday, Paul’s Twitter account sent a picture of Mitt Romney, Bush and Hillary Clinton under the heading “The same old candidates running for President.”
A day later, Paul’s account put out a spoof audio recording of an actor posing as Jeb Bush and another as Hillary Clinton, both fighting over who should be the next president.
Not only does the spoof joke that both Clinton and Bush support bigger government and amnesty for illegal immigrants, but it includes a swipe at Bush’s father, President George H.W. Bush, and his infamous “read my lips” pledge not to raise taxes, which he ultimately broke. In the fake recording, the Jeb Bush character says “read my lips” in talking to Clinton about running for president.
Sarasota Republican Party chairman Joe Gruters said he’s trying to invite every one of the serious GOP contenders to the region so voters get a close look at them. Already U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Jeb Bush and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal have made stops in Sarasota over the last year.
And on Saturday, Mike Huckabee made his first appearance in Sarasota since quitting his Fox News television program to weigh running for the White House.
Rubio’s new role
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio is wasting no time using his new chairmanship of a key subcommittee to put pressure on the Obama administration to slow its efforts to normalize relations with Cuba.
In a press release announcing his chairmanship of the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee, Rubio said he would use his first meeting on Tuesday to focus on the implications on human rights that President Barack Obama’s policies related to Cuba will have on that island nation.
“The subcommittee will be a platform for bringing light and solutions to rising problems in the hemisphere, such as growing inhospitality for individual freedoms, deteriorating security environments, lagging competitiveness, ineffective regional organizations, the need for political stability and economic prosperity in Haiti, and the promotion and support of democracy in places where individual freedoms are all but a dream, such as Cuba and Venezuela,” said Rubio, a Republican from Miami.
Because Republicans won the majority of seats in the Senate in November, Rubio, for the first time since being elected in 2010, will be in the majority, which gives him a chance to be chairman of the subcommittee, which is part of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Rubio is also the third-ranking Republican on the full Foreign Relations Committee, which is chaired by Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn.
Animal rights
Just one Republican in the U.S. House has been a better ally to the U.S. Humane Society than Rep. Vern Buchanan over the last two years.
The Humane Society gave the Longboat Key Republican the highest rating of any Republican in Florida and the second-highest among Republicans nationwide.
“Congressman Buchanan has been at the forefront of federal policies to prevent animal cruelty and protect natural resources,” said Michael Markarian, president of the Humane Society Legislative Fund, which scores every member of Congress based on bills they sponsored and voted on during the last two years.
Specifically, Buchanan scored points for regularly co-sponsoring bills the Humane Society supports. Buchanan added his name as a co-sponsor to a bill to bar primates from being pets and another that would make it a felony for bringing a minor to an animal fighting event.
Buchanan received a score of 83. The only Republican in Congress with higher scores was Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., with a 91.
Buchanan, first elected to Congress in 2006, said promoting the humane treatment of animals should be a bi-partisan issue.
U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Okeechobee, scored a 25. Rooney represents part of Manatee County and all of Charlotte.
Buchanan did far better than either of Florida’s two U.S. senators. U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, a Democrat, had a score of 38 and Sen. Marco Rubio, a Republican, a 12.
Area political events
Monday: Former U.S. ambassador and 2012 presidential candidate Jon Huntsman speaks at the Ringling College Library Association’s annual townhall lecture series starting at 10:30 a.m. at the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall. The event is sold out.
Thursday: The six candidates running for a pair of Sarasota City Commission seats face off at a Sarasota Tiger Bay meeting. The event starts at noon at Michael’s on East, 1212 East Ave., S., Sarasota. To attend call 925-2970.
Friday: The Republican Women’s Club of Sarasota meets at noon at Michaels On East, 1212 East Ave. S., Sarasota.
