The race for U.S. Senate is reportedly too close to call. I'm voting for Patrick Murphy, Democrat, and against MARCO ANTONIO RUBIO, a/k/a "LITTLE MARCO," the Gay-bashing lightweight from Mismi, former developer lawyer with BECKER & POLIACOFF, a crooked Republican legislator who misused his Republican Party of Florida credit card and sought state legislation to deny environmental groups legal standing in our courts and municipalities.
Patrick Murphy gains more from debate than Marco Rubio | Opinion
Rubio pledges to serve "six years in the Senate."
Andrew Abramson
Editorial writer and columnist
SUN-SENTINEL
Hours after Marco Rubio and Patrick Murphy clinched their respective Senate nominations, Rubio sent Murphy a letter challenging him to six media-sponsored debates.
Murphy balked and eventually agreed to two debates. Last week he said he’d debate a third time on Univision, if it’s conducted in English.
Typically it’s the challenger who wants more debates. It gives him name and face recognition and puts him on equal footing with the incumbent. But Rubio is an experienced debater — Murphy, a relative political novice.
After watching them face off for the first time on Monday night, you have to wonder why Murphy didn’t agree to all six.
Rubio was his usual slick self at the University of Central Florida debate which was aired across the state on local ABC affiliates. It doesn’t seem like that long ago Rubio was battling Donald Trump and Ted Cruz. Rubio, who has a history of sweating, barely broke a sweat against Murphy.
But Murphy gained the most out of this debate. He exceeded low expectations. And he had easy ammunition with Rubio playing an awkward game of Twister, giving Trump tepid support while also trying to distance himself from his party’s standard bearer.
About a third of the debate was a referendum on Trump, and it’s tough for Rubio to win that one.
Most importantly, Murphy introduced himself to voters. He’s no longer just the guy challenging Rubio. He not quite a natural debater like Rubio, but he stuck to the party line and presented himself well.
He hit Rubio hard several times, especially on gun control. The debate was held not far from the scene of the Pulse shooting massacre and Murphy ripped Rubio for voting against a bill that would have banned people on the no-fly list from buying guns.
‘You’re one of the most anti-gay senators in the country,” Murphy said in reference to Pulse, which is a gay nightclub. “You did nothing to prevent the tragedies from happening.”
Rubio said he supported a bill that would have stopped anyone who was investigated for terror in the last decade from buying guns, delaying the sale for three days with the potential for one extension while it was investigated. After that, it would be up to a judge to block the sale.
Murphy called that bill “a sham.”
Murphy routinely tried to bring the debate back to Trump. When Rubio criticized Murphy for supporting President Obama’s Iran nuclear deal, Murphy reminded Rubio that he once said he wouldn’t trust Trump with the nuclear codes.
It’s harder for Rubio to question the Iran deal, which made that country less of a nuclear threat, when he’s backing a presidential candidate he admitted could be risky around nuclear weapons.
Rubio said he doesn’t particularly like either presidential candidate but it’s an election between “someone I disagree with on many things and someone I disagree with on almost everything.” Murphy should keep returning to the nuclear argument because few outside of the extreme alt-right will question Clinton's competency around nukes.
Rubio mostly distanced himself from Trump, saying “this election is not being rigged” and that Trump should stop saying otherwise.
Rubio tried to turn the focus on Hillary Clinton and what he described as poor judgment during her time as secretary of state. But the conversation would inevitably return to Trump.
Rubio, 45, landed some of his own punches, portraying Murphy, 33, as an unaccomplished Congressman.
“After four year he does not have a significant achievement that he can point to,” Rubio said, after Murphy criticized him for his poor voting attendance record.
When they quarreled on immigration, Rubio said he lived immigration while Murphy learned about it four weeks ago from consultants who fed him lines. It’s strange to think of Rubio, the young upstart six years ago, as the veteran in this race. Exprerience is one of his best arguments even though Murphy had little opportunity to pass meaningful legislation as a member of the minority party. The GOP’s Freedom Caucus made it nearly impossible for moderate Republicans and Democrats to compromise.
If you read the PolitiFact debate breakdown, neither candidate escaped the fact checking battle unscathed. But it was Rubio levied more false allegations. Aside from Trump’s loyal supporters, voters are becoming more accustomed to checking the facts rather than letting politicians get away with baseless accusations.
Rubio, for the first time, said he would serve six years in office. He can use that to counter Murphy's argument that Rubio is already looking at a 2020 run for the White House. But Rubio earlier this year vowed not to run for Senate re-election, writing on Twitter "I have only said like 10,000 times I will be a private citizen in January." Don't buy Monday's big pronouncement that he's in it for a full term. If Trump loses next month and Rubio wins, Rubio will be an early frontrunner for the GOP nomination.
Monday's debate won’t move the needle much. Incumbents always have an easier path and Rubio, with a sizeable Hispanic following, is still the frontrunner — FiveThirtyEight.com on Monday gave him a 71.3 percent chance to win the race.
Even if Florida stays red, Democrats currently have a 74 percent of overtaking the Senate. If Murphy upsets Rubio, it could clinch the Senate for Democrats.
A close Trump win or a close Clinton Florida victory would likely keep Rubio in the Senate. There is certain to be some Floridians who vote against Trump but for Rubio. Murphy’s best chance at victory is a surprisingly big Clinton Florida win behind a huge outpouring of Democratic votes.
For now, Murphy needs air time and exposure. A recent Public Policy Poll revealed that a majority of Florida voters support Democratic issues like an assault weapons ban, increasing minimum wage to at least $10 an hour, barring those on terrorist watch list from buying guns and moving Merrick Garland’s nomination to the Supreme Court forward with hearings. This Republican-led Congress has been the most obstructionist in modern times. So while Trump is taking down his own party, Murphy has a chance to sneak in and take out a senator who months ago had a chance at the presidency.
Murphy didn’t necessarily win Monday’s debate but he gained more out of it than Rubio. And it makes you wonder why he didn’t agree to weekly debates as soon as he clinched the nomination.
Copyright © 2016, Sun Sentinel
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