Backroom Briefing: GOP candidates converge on Florida

By BRANDON LARRABEE
THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

THE CAPITAL, TALLAHASSEE, November 12, 2015..........Fresh off the fourth set of debates, most of the Republican presidential candidates will converge on Florida during the next two days for the Sunshine State Summit. The cattle call, at the Rosen Shingle Creek resort in Orlando, will serve as a sort of kickoff to the race for Florida's share of delegates in the GOP primary --- not to mention the state's trove of 29 electoral votes in the 2016 general election.

In all, 14 of the 15 declared candidates who are still in the race and have been on at least one of the eight debate stages this year --- there have been two debates each night --- will be at the event. (Only former New York Gov. George Pataki, who's been having trouble getting traction in the polls, won't be speaking.)

That means Florida's two favorite sons --- former Gov. Jeb Bush and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio --- will join bombastic tycoon Donald Trump, neurosurgeon Ben Carson and 10 more candidates in vying for attention.

The March 15 primary in Florida, which will award all of the state's delegates to the leading candidate, could end up playing a major role in who gets the nomination. Florida has the third-largest number of delegates to the Republican National Convention, behind California, which won't vote until June, and Texas, which votes March 1 and will allocate its delegates proportionally.

Unlike the old Presidency events hosted by the Republican Party of Florida, the straw poll at the end of the event has been jettisoned. A 2012 straw poll was best known for beginning a boomlet for pizza magnate Herman Cain, who ended up dropping out of the race a few months later. But the chance to schmooze with a large group of party activists in a key state has still proved too much for the campaigns to pass up.

The summit comes little more than a month after a Quinnipiac University poll found Trump and Carson leading the field in Florida despite Bush and Rubio's perceived home-field advantage. In that survey, Trump was supported by 28 percent of registered Republicans, compared to 16 percent for Carson, 14 percent for Rubio and 12 percent for Bush. No other candidate got out of single digits.

Rubio, who will be the first Republican candidate to speak Friday morning, is looking to build momentum after being seen as one of the winners at this week's televised debate. Bush is also trying to show strength; some reviewers said he was better during the last debate showdown between the candidates, but his performances have generally been panned. He will speak Friday afternoon.

Also speaking on the first day of the summit: U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Trump and Carson. The cast for Saturday includes former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore, outgoing Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Ohio Gov. John Kasich and businesswoman Carly Fiorina.

MEDICAID EXPANSION IN THE CONSTITUTION?

As she blasted away this week at the Florida Supreme Court following oral arguments on a contested congressional redistricting plan, Democratic Congresswoman Corrine Brown also talked about another campaign: adding Medicaid expansion to the Florida Constitution.

Brown and a group known as "Florida Health Solutions" are handing out petitions that seek to tap billions of dollars in federal funding to expand Medicaid eligibility in the state. Expanded eligibility, part of the Affordable Care Act signed into law by President Barack Obama in 2010, has been fiercely resisted by many Florida Republicans, particularly those in the state House.

"In the next three weeks, we're going to do 68,000," Brown said, referring to the 68,314-signature threshold that would trigger a review of the ballot language by the Florida Supreme Court. "We're going to move it forward. Why are you elected? You're elected to do something."

But the initiative, which started Nov. 3, faces a struggle to get onto the 2016 ballot. Supporters would have to gather 683,149 valid signatures by Feb. 1. To be added to the Constitution, the amendment would need the support of 60 percent of the voters during the November election.

TWEET OF THE WEEK: "Wait wait what? Trump dissed me by name? Yesssss."---Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson), a GOP political consultant who has hammered presidential candidate Donald Trump, on Thursday.