Backroom Briefing: Hell or high water in U.S. Senate race

BY BRANDON LARRABEE AND JIM TURNER
THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

THE CAPITAL, TALLAHASSEE, February 25, 2016……After weeks of flirting with a run, homebuilder Carlos Beruff has decided to enter the crowded Republican field for Florida's open U.S. Senate seat.

Beruff, who has served on appointed boards overseeing state universities and a water management district but has never run for office, is trying to snag the GOP nomination in one of the most closely-watched Senate races in the country. Florida could decide whether Democrats are successful in their drive to retake the Senate majority they lost in 2014.

His campaign released an online video Thursday, entitled "Come hell or high water," to formally mark his entrance into the race. In it, Beruff puts the issue of a growing "culture of dependency" up front.

"Government doesn't create jobs," Beruff says. "It creates dependency. It just takes. The problem is that the government keeps taking more of our money from us. Obamacare is a disaster...It just flat doesn't work."

The video also provides a soft-bio introduction for Beruff, from Sarasota, and features him speaking with voters and occasionally letting loose some Donald Trump-esque language. "Because we believe in creating our own damn jobs, man!" he says in one scene.

Beruff is set to more formally kick off his campaign Monday with events in Miami, Jacksonville, Orlando and Sarasota.

There might be room in the race, since no one on the GOP side has run away with it yet. A Florida Atlantic University poll in mid-January showed Republican Congressman David Jolly with a sizable 20-point lead over fellow GOP Congressman Ron DeSantis and Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera. Businessman Todd Wilcox, who is also a candidate, wasn't included.

But Jolly had just 28 percent of the vote, and half of Republican voters were undecided. The poll also had a margin of error of 5.2 percentage points.

In a sign that Beruff could be a formidable candidate, some opponents wasted little time ripping into him. DeSantis's campaign set up a website --- CharlieCristRepublican.com --- to try to tar the newcomer with his support for former Gov. Charlie Crist, a hated figure among party faithful since he bolted the GOP in 2010.

"Florida conservatives won't forget that when it mattered most, Carlos Beruff supported liberal Charlie Crist even after he'd embraced Obama's failed stimulus plan, and appointed multiple liberals to Florida's Supreme Court...The last thing Florida needs is a Charlie Crist Republican in the U.S. Senate," DeSantis campaign manager Brad Herold said.

The Florida Democratic Party also got in some shots with questions about Beruff's activities on state boards.

"When Floridians think of political outsiders, mega-donors who've received nearly a half-dozen political appointments generally aren't what comes to mind," party spokesman Max Steele said.

DON'T PRINT THE 'TRUMP-SCOTT' BUTTONS YET

Gov. Rick Scott deflected inside-the-media-world buzz Wednesday about the possibility of being GOP presidential frontrunner Donald Trump's running mate.

"What I'm focused on is my job here," Scott told a television reporter after speaking at the Take Stock for Children breakfast at the Double Tree Hotel in Tallahassee."I've got three years left in this job."

Scott has strongly praised, but not endorsed, Trump, the billionaire real-estate magnate who holds significant leads over his Republican opponents in the presidential race.

Questions about Scott joining the Trump ticket were spurred by Washington Post writer Chris Cillizza, who created an online flutter Tuesday after listing the Florida governor as one of five potential VP candidates for Trump, who won the Republican Nevada caucus on Tuesday.

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, Sarah Palin, former GOP presidential candidate and businesswoman Carly Fiorina, and a "businessman to be named later" were also on Cillizza's list.

Cillizza's inclusion of Scott fueled tweets from the Florida Capitol press corps, whose talk soon turned to what-ifs, such as the likelihood of Attorney General Pam Bondi sliding into the Governor's Mansion for the next two years.

The murmurs continued Wednesday afternoon, when reporters peppered Scott with questions after a bill signing in the governor's office.

"What do you think of being mentioned for vice president?" one asked. "Would you endorse Mr. Trump at this point?" another wanted to know.

Scott was also asked if he felt Trump had the GOP nomination in the bag, and whether the governor would endorse a presidential candidate before Florida's March 15 presidential preference primary. Spoiler alert: Scott said he "hasn't decided" on the endorsement issue.

The governor --- criticized by the media for rigidly staying on point --- reiterated that he is focused on the on-going legislative session, before diverging from his message.

"I'm not involved in presidential politics. I'm involved in trying to get, have a good end of session. But I know, there are people…He's fun to watch," he said.

TWEET OF THE WEEK: "Media needs to chill. The FL Q poll #'s are way wrong. We are going to win Florida. Period. Take it to the bank."---Todd Harris (@dtoddharris), an adviser to Marco Rubio, after a Quinnipiac University poll showed the U.S. senator badly trailing Donald Trump in the presidential primary in Rubio's home state.