Replies

Florida and National Media Call Debate for Jeb

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

OCTOBER 23, 2002

McBride’s Performance, “Dramatically Abysmal” Prompting “Laughter from the Audience”

“Bill McBride bumbled a big opportunity Tuesday night.” (Miami Herald)

“Bush's poise holds off McBride's final charge” (St. Pete Times headline)

“The onus was on McBride, as a challenger who polls show remains largely unknown to nearly one in three Florida voters, to pull off a dramatic performance. At times his performance was dramatic -- dramatically abysmal.” (Miami Herald)

“For 18 months Bill McBride has been pining to debate Jeb Bush one-on-one. Over and over, the first-time candidate predicted he would win the comparison between a governor born of privilege and the folksy ex-Marine vowing to fix Florida schools. But McBride underestimated his opponent.” (St. Pete Times)

“Despite saying his education proposal was the ‘most detailed plan in the history of Florida politics,’ McBride not only couldn't specifically answer how much he thought it would cost. He also wasn't sure where the money would come from.” (Palm Beach Post)

McBride’s “vagueness at one point prompted laughter from the audience.” (St. Pete Times)

“In their high-stakes, final televised debate Tuesday, Bush showed why he's poised to be the first Republican governor ever reelected in Florida. Looking relaxed and confident, the governor calmly brushed off barbs by McBride and tossed them back without looking defensive or smug. Bush is the seasoned politician in this race, and it showed.” (St. Pete Times)

“With latest polls showing McBride narrowly trailing Bush, most pundits believed McBride needed a knockout punch last night to overtake the governor. That didn't happen, said Jeff Butler, associate professor of communications and longtime coach of the UCF debate team.” (Florida Times-Union)

“McBride lost the chance to make case” (Miami Herald headline)

“Bush exposed McBride's inexperience with the budget when the Tampa attorney spoke of boosting spending for local law enforcement. The state doesn't pay for police and sheriffs, Bush replied, pointing out that most of the state's sheriffs are endorsing his re-election.” (Orlando Sentinel)

“But a flurry of questions from the debate's relentless moderator, NBC's Tim Russert, flummoxed McBride and laid bare an agenda lacking in specifics.” (Miami Herald)

“Across the Meet the Press-style table, Bush appeared relaxed and in command. And, most important, the governor offered an artful argument for voters to reelect him on Nov. 5. He called serving as governor ‘the most joyous experience of my life’ and spoke with emotion about his ‘passion’ for education, and his ‘hopes and dreams’ to increase standards.” (Miami Herald)

“Turning to McBride, Russert asked him to specify how he would pay for the class-size amendment. ‘Will it be higher sales taxes, yes or no?’ ‘No.’ ‘Higher property taxes, yes or no?’ ‘No.’ ‘A state income tax?’ ‘No.’ ‘So where will you find the money?’ McBride still offered no specifics.” (Palm Beach Post)

“If McBride hoped this final faceoff would give him the big shove he needs to for the final two weeks of the campaign, he would have to be disappointed. The latest polls suggest he is still behind the governor and struggling to close the gap, and Bush turned in his strongest debate performance of the campaign.” (St. Pete Times)

“By the debate's end, viewers were left with far more questions about McBride's agenda than answers and little more than a vague understanding of why he is running.” (Miami Herald)

“When pressed by Russert, McBride couldn't say how much the constitutional amendment that he backs would cost taxpayers if adopted. It would be ‘somewhere’ between various estimates, which range from $8 billion to $27 billion, he said, eliciting laughter from spectators inside the university ballroom.” (Los Angeles Times)

“McBride, on the other hand, looked slippery…It took the moderator several tries before McBride conceded that the amendment might cost as much as $15 billion -- more than one-fourth of the entire budget -- and even then McBride fumbled through an answer referring to ‘across-the-board’ cuts to services.” (Miami Herald)

Bush, who at times can appear haughty in debates, portrayed himself as a confident and bold leader in ‘the most joyous’ job of his life. He told viewers that he has earned a second term to continue to ‘build on the progress we've made.’” (Palm Beach Post)

“McBride did himself no favors Tuesday night in wooing…undecideds.” (Miami Herald)

“McBride's eagerness to engage Bush produced some missteps. To a question about crime, McBride offered no specific solutions while accusing the governor of failing to listen to law enforcement. A bemused Bush noted that every major law enforcement group is endorsing him, and then ticked off three specific steps he would take if reelected, including targeting domestic violence. To win, McBride needs to convert Bush supporters to his side and it's hard to see how he did that Tuesday night.” (St. Pete Times)

“As hard as moderator Tim Russert tried and as much as Gov. Jeb Bush goaded him, Democrat Bill McBride refused to tell a statewide television audience Tuesday night specifically how he would pay to reduce class sizes.” (Palm Beach Post)

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Debate Fact versus Fiction

Fiction: McBride says Florida needs no more gun laws.

Fact: Corporate lawyer Bill McBride is again trying to be all things to all voters, telling different groups around the state only what he thinks they want to hear. This habit has caused the Miami Herald to write that McBride has "a propensity to shift his message depending on the audience." (9/9/02) The latest example involves the issue of gun control. Voters in St. Petersburg have read stories in the St. Petersburg Times, not once, but twice, that state that McBride favors closing the so-called "gun show loophole." McBride’s more liberal views on gun control may come as a surprise to the more conservative readers of the Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville, which has reported not once, but twice, that McBride has said he is not in favor of any new gun laws. McBride is saying today that he is in favor of no additional gun control laws, which is contrary to what he has told the St. Pete Times. Advocates of the second amendment know where Governor Bush stands on this issue.

Fiction: McBride says Florida needs a more serious effort to reduce crime.

Fact: Bill McBride has no plan to reduce crime. His own website doesn’t even address this important issue, and his campaign spokesperson said crime "is not a burning issue." The law enforcement community knows who the better candidate is. Governor Bush has been endorsed by the Police Benevolent Association, 38 Florida Sheriffs, and the Fraternal Order of Police, among others. Tough sentencing laws such as 10-20-Life and Three-Strikes-and-You’re-Out have led to the lowest crime rates in the state since 1972. Furthermore, Governor Bush has proposed further strengthening of crimes against elders and victims of sex crimes. That is real leadership.

Fiction: Governor Bush doesn’t support smaller class sizes.

Fact: Governor Bush supports smaller class sizes. As part of his Blueprint for Achievement, the Governor has proposed Classrooms for Kids, which will bond the growth of the Communication Services Tax (CST) sales tax revenue over the next five years to provide $235 million, yielding $2.8 billion in school construction and renovation funds for Florida’s 67 local school districts. This translates into 12,000 new classrooms.

On the other hand, according to Florida Tax Watch, the class size amendment supported by corporate lawyer Bill McBride could cost the average Florida family as much as $3,300. Like most of his spending promises, McBride refuses to say how he would pay for the amendment he supports. As Tax Watch points out, the only option is to raise taxes and/or cut spending to other critical services. Stating the amendment "would do more harm than good," Tax Watch points to a study that found the single most important factor in student performance is teacher quality. This amendment would hurt teacher salaries, making it more difficult to recruit quality teachers to teach our students.

Fiction: Bill McBride says a new cigarette tax is the only new tax he supports.

Fact: On repeat occasions, Bill McBride has had the opportunity to explain how he will pay for the $27 billion class size initiative that he advocates, among his other spending promises totaling $29 billion. He has chosen to be evasive with Floridians. In his short time as candidate, Bill McBride has already created the largest state budget deficit in our state's history. His massive spending commitments will require new and expanded taxes in Florida and deep cuts to programs vital to our senior citizens, children and educators. He has already stated his intention to raise taxes on cigarettes as well as small and large businesses that are creating jobs in Florida. His own education plan states that he will close tax loopholes on several businesses. In addition, he has said he will repeal the seniors and savers tax, taking more from the retirement investments of senior citizens and middle class families. McBride's spending commitments will cost Florida families dearly. According to Tax Watch, his class size initiative alone will cost each household in Florida an additional $3,300. So we ask again, how will you pay the bill, Bill?

Fiction: Per capita income in Florida has gone down every year under Governor Bush.

Fact: The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis tells a different story. Florida's per capita income for the last four years is as follows:

2001 - 28,947

2000 - 28,286

1999 - 26,951

1998 - 26,161

Fiction: McBride says Florida’s economy hasn’t been doing well.

Fact: Bill McBride has recommended no plan to promote economic growth except for a 92-word paragraph. Last month, a nationwide survey ranked Florida’s business climate third in the nation. While other states like California, Michigan, and Ohio are raising taxes or drastically cutting services as a result of budget deficits as high as $23 billion, Florida’s budget is balanced and our economy is strong. Our continuing commitment and efforts to strengthen and diversify Florida’s economy have paid off – Florida is a national leader in job growth with 600,000 more jobs since 1999. In August, Florida led the nation in job growth, and of the 10 most populous states, Florida was the only one to receive positive job growth. Florida also ranks 5th in the country in the creation of high-tech jobs. Our economic growth is due in no small part to broad-based tax relief. Since 1998, we have cut taxes by $6 billion – reducing the state tax burden to its lowest point in a decade, while continuing to fund Florida’s priorities, such as education, child welfare, developmental disabilities at record levels. With this tax relief, Floridians can choose how to best spend their own money, and boost the economy at the same time.

Fiction: McBride says everything in this state has suffered because of budget cuts.

Fact: Over the last four years, education funding has increased by $3 billion, more than his predecessor's first term and his second term. Per student funding has increased 15%. At the same time, child welfare funding has doubled over four years. As well, funding for the developmentally disabled has increased by 94%. Funding for nursing homes has increased by 52% and for community based care and aging in place programs for the elderly by 59%. More importantly, student achievement is rising, Florida is the only state among the ten most populous that has seen positive job growth, and Florida's tax burden is at its lowest level in a decade.

Fiction: McBride says we haven’t heard anything from my campaign criticizing increased federal spending for Florida.

Fact: In last Friday’s New York Times, "Bob Poe, the Florida Democratic Party chairman, said, ‘They’ve used the treasury as their own political piggy bank.’"

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