The Miami Herald's Beth Reinhard reports from the Rosen Shingle Creek in Orlando, where the RPOF is holding its annual meeting, about possible Republican U.S. Senate candidates.
Suspicious minds want to know: Who's running for the U.S. Senate?
Jim Greer, the musically inclined chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, did not break from tradition tonight. He yanked off his tie, hiked up his collar, and launched into Elvis Presley's "Suspicious Minds" at a party reception at the Rosen Shingle Creek hotel in Orlando.
Tomorrow the state party will hold its election, but there's little doubt about whether Greer will win another term. The suspense is over who will run for the U.S. Senate seat to be vacated in 2010 by Mel Martinez, now that former Gov. Jeb Bush has said he's not interested.
All the would-be candidates worked the room tonight: Attorney General Bill McCollum, former House Speaker Marco Rubio, and U.S. Reps. Vern Buchanan and Connie Mack. Rubio appears to be the most likely candidate in the bunch, and a fundraiser for former U.S. Rep. Ric Keller waited patiently to introduce herself.
If there's a frontrunner, it would be McCollum, since he has already run statewide. But he would have to give up his Cabinet post for an office that has eluded him twice before.
"I thought Jeb was going to run, and I was wrong,'' McCollum said. "I haven't done the examination I need to do yet ... Being attorney general is a great job, and that's part of the equation.''
Photo courtesy of Beth Reinhard, Miami Herald
