Reading between the lines of the press coverage of the Senate race

There's been several in-depth articles published in the past few days regarding the Republican primary candidates competing to take on Senator Bill Nelson in 2012. Let's take a few moments to see what everyone is saying:

Politico | David Catanese | Florida Senate hopeful looking to follow Marco Rubio's lead

He’s a young, little-known former state lawmaker who is steadily piling up praise from the chattering class as the most authentic conservative candidate in the race for Florida’s Senate seat.

Adam Hasner announced his candidacy on Mark Levin’s nationally syndicated radio show Monday night, but even in this nascent stage of his campaign, there is ample evidence that his path is predicated on replicating the success of Sen. Marco Rubio...

...Hasner hasn’t reached Rubio-levels of fame yet. But he has earned glowing write-ups from prominent conservative publications like National Review, Human Events and NewsMax.

The article cites Hasner's support from members of what the author deems the "conservative illuminati," such as Erick Erickson, Mark Levin, and prominent GOP attorney Cleta Mitchell, and then mentions another name you may recognize:

Courting grassroots support is central to Hasner’s early strategy. Likely to be outraised in the early rounds by state Senate President Mike Haridopolos, Hasner is aiming for hearts and minds over pocketbooks, lining up many of the key on-the-ground players who signed on with Rubio when no one thought he had a chance.

“He’s already got a lot of the same supporters,” said Sarah Rumpf, an Orlando-area conservative activist who held one of the first fundraisers for Rubio in the early summer of 2009.

"Orlando-area conservative activist," yeah, I'll take that. It always cracks me up how I get described. Not gonna lie, my heart swelled with pride the first time I was called "Republican operative" in a blog post. Heh. Anyway, back to the awesomeness that is Adam Hasner: 

Rumpf just met Hasner two weeks ago, but said she is already convinced he’s the genuine article and is impressed that, like Rubio, he’s running as an unapologetic conservative.

“Marco proved you don’t have to moderate your message. The reality is that Hasner doesn’t have to reinvent himself as a conservative. He doesn’t have to look up the lingo and look up the slogans and figure out what he needs to say because that’s what he was in the legislature,” she said.

She said she also admires Hasner for being an early Rubio backer when most of the rest of the GOP establishment was lining up behind then-Gov. Charlie Crist.

“There’s a level of pride that we were openly supporting Rubio when he was at 5 percent,” she said.

You should read the entire article; it's really good.

There are also some enlightening little comments from a "Republican adviser to a rival campaign," who attempts to throw some false attacks at Hasner but is too chicken to be named.

Contrast that to this Miami Herald article from this past weekend:

Miami Herald | LeMieux can't shake Charlie Crist legacy in Senate bid

This article contains a laundry list of harsh criticisms of George LeMieux, especially regarding his long-standing role as Charlie Crist's "maestro." None of the sources slamming LeMieux felt it was necessary to be anonymous.

Sources may request anonymity in an article for a variety of reasons, but one of the main ones is when they know they're saying something they shouldn't, either because they're not supposed to be releasing the information, or because they aren't exactly being honest. Clearly plenty of people feel confident enough in their recollection of the past few years that they're willing to go on the record to criticize LeMieux. I think it says a lot that Hasner's attacker was not so forthcoming.

And finally, a little fun...my friend Apryl Marie Fogel sent out several tweets earlier this week after she was frustrated looking for an email address for the LeMieux campaign.

It's like an Easter egg hunt. Everyone join in. Find an email for the @george_lemieux campaign. Ready. Set. Look.Tue Apr 26 21:15:07 via webApryl Marie
aprylmarie

The twitterverse responded with its usual sense of humor:

@aprylmarie Did you try emailing him at George.LeMieux@CharlieCrist.com? Might still work...Tue Apr 26 21:16:50 via webEric Jotkoff
Eric_Jotkoff

Heh. RT @SaintPetersblog: I think @Reaganista has LeMieux's e-mail: George@Backstabber.com, right?Tue Apr 26 21:23:20 via ÜberSocialChristian Camara
Reaganista

Yep, as much as LeMaestro may try, he just can't shake that Oompa Loompa from his back. All three of the major Republican primary candidates for this Senate seat - Hasner, Haridopolos, and LeMieux - have marvelously unique names, and unless LeMieux figures out how to take down Google, he's not going to be able to escape his Crist connections.

FYI, in case you missed the reference, during the 2010 Senate race, @Reaganista would constantly refer to Charlie Crist using the hashtag "#backstabber." It was a brilliantly succinct way to describe how many of us conservatives felt about Crist's betrayal of all of his Republican principles and then finally the party itself.

[Cross-posted at The Minority Report and RedCounty]