01.18.2004
Broward's Deutsch woos voters far from home base
Rep. Peter Deutsch, who represents some of the most liberal turf in Florida, works on courting the Panhandle's conservative Democrats in his run for the U.S. Senate
By LESLEY CLARK, The Miami Herald
lclark@herald.com
BRISTOL – Peter Deutsch is wrapping up his standard stump speech to a crowd of local Democrats at the Collard Green Corner in this tiny Panhandle town when the inevitable happens.
"Where are you on gun control?" the questioner wants to know.
The Broward Democratic congressman, who represents some of the most liberal turf in Florida but will need some of the Panhandle's conservative Democrats to advance to the U.S. Senate, hesitates only for a moment.
Deutsch, on a three-day tour of North Florida last week, tells the man he believes in a constitutional right "to own guns," but voted for the Brady bill, saying he believes loose gun laws will lead to armed criminals. But, he adds, he's not looking "to take your longarms."
The man, nods, apparently satisfied.
But this is the voluble Peter Deutsch, not known for timidity or brevity, and he's only getting started. He turns the tables, asking the man, ''Is that the end of my opportunity to get your vote?
COMMON THREAD
"If antigun control is the central core of your life, you're probably not going to vote for me," Deutsch said. "But what about the other issues we agree on? What about the Americans who have to work three jobs to survive? The 45 million Americans who wake up every morning with no health insurance?"
And that is one key element of Deutsch's approach to voters who some strategists say look skeptically at whether a fast-talking, New York-raised, Yale-educated Jewish lawyer can play beyond the Broward County line: You might not love him or agree with him on every issue, "but we've got a lot more in common than whoever is running on the Republican side," Deutsch says.
"Not everyone is going to love me. I'm not going to get 100 percent love rating," Deutsch, 46, tells activists at a Gainesville union hall. "But I don't think there is anyone who will be smarter, who will be more honest or who will work harder."
Before he can go up against the GOP, Deutsch faces a three-way primary fight against former Florida Education Commissioner Betty Castor of Tampa and Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas.
Though polls show Castor with a lead over her rivals based on her name recognition, the supremely confident congressman is all but convinced he will prevail.
Castor, he says, hasn't been able to raise the money to compete in a state as big as Florida.
"At some point we have to view ourselves as a commodity and the market has responded positively to me," said Deutsch, who has raised $4 million for the race -- about twice as much as his nearest money rival, Penelas.
He sees Penelas, whom he has accused of breaking campaign finance laws, as a nonfactor -- also saddled with the "can he play outside of South Florida?" factor.
"I believe I fit Florida better than any candidate,'' Deutsch tells the union members. ''This is about electability."
CAREER SERVICE
Deutsch has been running for office since he was 25, fresh out of college. He won a state House seat in 1982 and 10 years later parlayed it into a congressional seat.
Along the way, he developed a reputation for hard work on issues dear to his Broward constituents: healthcare and nursing home reform. He is also known for combative politicking, and some question whether that will translate outside of Broward.
Deutsch insists he has mellowed.
"Let's just say back then I wanted to change the world, that day," Deutsch said.
The bellicosity, though, stunned luncheon attendees at a Democratic event last August in largely bucolic Lake County that Penelas also attended. As Penelas sat stone-faced next to him, Deutsch accused him of breaking the law and of ceding the 2000 presidential election to George W. Bush by failing to campaign for Al Gore. Deutsch bored in, even as some in the audience hissed their disapproval of his attack.
Deutsch said he simply wanted to set the record straight, to let people know about Penelas' record. The mayor has denied Deutsch's accusations.
But that confrontational Deutsch has become all but invisible on the campaign trail. He doesn't bring up his rivals, and when questioned -- generally about Castor -- he says only that she "has a different view" of the job and hasn't raised as much money.
DEFENDED CLINTON
His tenacity has its appeal. Front row at a Gainesville Democratic Executive Committee meeting is a man sporting a "Deutsch for Senate" campaign button. He tells Deutsch he became a fan when the congressman stuck up for President Bill Clinton during the impeachment proceedings.
"Where did you get the guts when the others didn't?" he asks Deutsch.
That provides Deutsch with the perfect opportunity: He tells the man he was sticking up for a "friend" and manages to mention that he talked campaign strategy with his friend -- the former president -- the day before.
NO APOLOGIES
Deutsch himself is unapologetic for his "aggressive representation" on behalf of his constituents.
"The reason people respond to me is because I'm straight up, a fighter," he tells a reporter. "When the voters hired me they didn't want me to win Miss Congeniality. They want me to be effective."
His fans agree.
"I don't know anyone who's going to work any harder on the issues than Peter," said U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown, a Jacksonville Democrat who in 1992 become one of the first black politicians from Florida elected to Congress.
But as hard as Deutsch works, the north-south divide was a constant refrain during his three-day "listening tour" last week across northern Florida.
"How is someone from South Florida going to campaign in North Florida?'' Lydia Brooks, 20, a University of South Florida political science major, asked of Deutsch. ''Even the Democrats here in Gainesville are much more conservative."
And at the union hall, a labor organizer suggests to the congressman, clad that day in a dark blue suit, monogrammed shirt and black tasseled loafers: "It's hard to picture you at a Democratic fish-fry with a pickup truck."
"I've been at fish fries and I've driven a pickup truck," Deutsch offers.
He's the first to admit to a Tallahassee audience that he isn't the "ideal" candidate for North Florida, a region that, though more Democratic than Republican, leans conservative.
But Deutsch suggests he's more of a centrist than his background would suggest.
NEW DEMOCRAT
"I was a New Democrat before New Democrat was cool," he repeatedly tells audiences, adding that he voted for conservative measures like welfare reform and a presidential line-item veto, but favors abortion rights and has a perfect Sierra Club voting record.
"That dichotomy is really where Florida is," he says in an interview. "I might be Jewish, I might have grown up in New York, but I fit Florida better than any other candidate in the race."
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