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Myriam Márquez

July 8, 2004

Both men have that down-home charm and populist appeal. They came from humble beginnings, worked hard and achieved. And both are seen by many in their respective political parties to be the key to the White House in at least one pivotal state -- Florida.

But that's where the similarities end between Florida's Republican Senate candidate Mel Martinez and North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, the Democrats' new golden boy.

John Kerry's pick of Edwards to be his running mate promises to energize that party's ticket, particularly among blue-collar folks in the South and the Midwest. Unlike the blueblood Kerry, Edwards, the son of a mill worker and a shopkeeper, attended public schools.

Edwards likes to describe himself as an outsider, since he has only served one term in the U.S. Senate. His decision to run for public office was cathartic -- a way for a well-off trial lawyer to make a difference after an accident killed his teenage son.

During the Democratic presidential primary, Edwards focused on two Americas -- those who benefited from Republican tax cuts and trade policies and those who are losing ground as their pay lags the cost of living and competes with dirt-cheap wages for jobs shipped abroad. In the wake of the Enron scandal and those of other greedy corporations, Edwards' message resonated with many working stiffs.

For his part, Republican Mel Martinez also sees himself as an outsider and not a politician for life. The Cuba-born Martinez is shooting as high as the U.S. Constitution will permit -- the U.S. Senate, to replace retiring Democrat Bob Graham. Martinez has his own compelling story of struggle and grit against tough obstacles, beginning with his arrival as a teenager without his parents to a country that he passionately embraces as the best in the world.

When President Bush picked Martinez to serve in his Cabinet as secretary of Housing and Urban Development, there was no doubt that his loyalty to the GOP had paid off. It's little wonder that Bush's political operatives virtually pleaded with Martinez to run for the Senate. Not only can he attract Hispanic voters; Martinez has the political connections and a Horatio Alger story to appeal to voters of all stripes.

His conservative credentials on tax-cutting and right-to-life issues are solid -- though they may not be a plus for him in a general election. But his common-sense stands during his short term as Orange County chairman on managing unplanned growth and helping fund after-school programs for latchkey kids surely show he takes the time to study issues and doesn't knee-jerk into positions.

Though Edwards and Martinez are like night and day when it comes to their political beliefs, Senate Republican hopeful Bill McCollum has no compunction in linking the two. He has trotted out the GOP bogeyman: The Trial Lawyer.

On the McCollum campaign's Web site, Edwards and Martinez are compared as two trial lawyers who have contributed to Democratic candidates in past congressional campaigns. (For Martinez, that was almost two decades ago, but, hey, there's no political gain for McCollum to put into context such things. Apparently, all those Democrats Ronald Reagan inspired to switch parties, among them Martinez, don't count in McCollum's estimation.)

Here's the curious part: McCollum was among only five Republicans to join the Democrats to try to maneuver against a $250,000 cap on punitive damages in product-liability lawsuits when he was a member of the House. He voted to send the bill back to committee, a tactic to kill any chance of passage. This was after the 1994 Republican takeover of Congress when Speaker Newt Gingrich's "Contract With America" was all the buzz.

That McCollum's own voting record during his decades in the House strayed from the GOP line on tort reform four or five times should matter. Not because he voted the "wrong" way -- that's debatable. But if he's going to attempt to liken the moderate-to-conservative Martinez to a liberal like Edwards, then surely McCollum has to be prepared to explain his own "liberal" voting record to benefit lawyers, of which he is one.

And McCollum should have to explain, too, why it was perfectly fine to accept tens of thousands of dollars from the Association of Trial Lawyers of America PAC from 1981 to 1998, and cast votes in their favor.

Back to Edwards and Martinez: The only similarity that counts is that both can argue passionately for their own White House candidate -- and it may come down to which one's oratory skills and populist political instincts can take Florida.

Myriam Marquez can be reached at mmarquez @orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5399.

 

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