After languishing in the shadows of the Republican presidential race, the U.S. Senate race just took center stage at Conservative Public Action Conference and the Republican Party of Florida Presidency 5 event this morning.
First up at CPAC: Adam Hasner, the former Republican leader in the Florida House, a post he was given by former House Speaker and current Sen. Marco Rubio, whom Hasner invoked to much applause in the first 30 seconds of his 15 minute speech.
"He called me the most partisan Republican in Tallahassee. He meant it as a compliment. The mainstream media tried to make it an insult. I made it a badge of honor," Hasner said.
Hasner soon took a subtle shot at opponent George LeMieux, the former right hand mand of Charlie Crist, the Republican-turned-independent governor who lost to Rubio last year. Before Obama took the reins of power, Hasner said, "the establishment in the Republican Party was saying the best way for Republicans to beat the Democrats was to be more like them. I didn’t buy into that philosophy."
Hasner,, however, made himself sound like more of an opponent to the establishment and Charlie Crist than he was. As this story of ours shows,Hasner also supported a watered-down climate-change law that the Legislature now wants to repeal. And he voted for a budget with $2.2 billion in tax and fee increases and billions more in federal stimulus money. He also favored high-speed rail and SunRail, which tea party activists came to abhor. Though he privately mocked and fought Crist behind the scenes at times, Hasner also boasted of working with the governor on the federal stimulus program.
Hasner spoke forcefully at CPAC, garnering wild applause for his shots at Obama.
"The Obama administration doesn't have a messaging problem. They have a policy problem. They are waging class warfare," Hasner said, noting he has been a lifelong Republican despite being the son of two liberal Jews from New York.
"Life as a Republican isn’t easy," Hasner said. "Being a pro-life pro-second amendment conservative from Boca Raton hasn’t made it any easier."
