Connie Mack wins, will face Bill Nelson in Florida Senate race

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Connie Mack IV won the Florida Republican primary Tuesday night and will take on Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson in what will be one of the most contested U.S. Senate races of the year.

Mack, a four-term congressman who is married to Rep. Mary Bono Mack (R-Palm Springs), handily defeated retired Army Col. Mike McCalister and former Rep. Dave Weldon in a Republican primary that was never much of a contest. With 35% of the vote counted, Mack had almost 60% of the vote, according to the Associated Press.

Mack had been the favorite to win the nomination, especially after former Florida Sen. George LeMieux dropped out of the race in June. LeMieux’s exit made the primary a formality, as neither Weldon nor McCalister had raised enough money to seriously contend with Mack, the son of a former Florida senator, Connie Mack III, whose name is well-known throughout the state.

Mack and Nelson will proceed to a general election contest that, by many measures, is already underway. Nearly $9 million has already been spent by the candidates alone – most of it by Nelson’s campaign – and that figure doesn’t count the ad war that began this month, when Nelson went up with a spot that drew an immediate rebuttal ad from Mack.

Both candidates’ political fortunes will be closely tied to the presidential race in this battleground state, so it’s no surprise that the campaigns have embarked on early and aggressive efforts to define their opponents.

Polls show the race essentially tied, and each candidate has weaknesses.

Nelson is the only remaining Democrat holding statewide office in Florida, and he will have to contend with a much more energized Republican base than he faced in 2006, when he defeated Rep. Katherine Harris, 60% to 38%. He has cast himself as a moderate Democrat, but Mack’s campaign says Nelson has voted 150 times to increase taxes.

Mack may have a famous Florida name, but his marriage to a California congresswoman opens him to charges of being a carpetbagger. (LeMieux tried this line of attack during the primary with a Web ad that claimed that Mack was a California resident, which Politifact rated false.) And there are some unsavory incidents in his distant past, including a 1992 altercation at an Atlanta bar and a fistfight on the side of the road.

Nelson goes into the general election with a major cash advantage over Mack – he’s raised nearly $14 million through the end of July to Mack’s $3.4 million – but Mack has the help of GOP-affiliated outside groups, which will dump many millions into the race.

American Crossroads, the “super PAC” co-founded by GOP strategist Karl Rove, plans to spend at least $6 million on ads linking Nelson to President Obama, and casino magnate Sheldon Adelson has sent $1 million to a super PAC that was formed to back Mack’s candidacy. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has already spent at least $1.6 million opposing Nelson.

Nelson made his first ad buy this month with a spot that casts Mack as an entitled rich kid with a shady past.

“Florida, meet Connie Mack IV,” the narrator says. “A promoter for Hooters with a history of bar room brawling, altercations and road rage. A big spender with a trail of debts, liens and unpaid bills.”

Mack fired back with an ad scolding Nelson for injecting “nonsense” into the campaign.

“Bill Nelson, like a typical career politician, wants to talk about Hooters and what I did as a kid,” Mack said.

Nelson’s ad – which surfaced just days before Mitt Romney announced his choice of Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan as his running mate on the Republican presidential ticket – also links Mack to the controversial Ryan budget, accusing Mack of having voted “to end Medicare as we know it” when he supported the Republican’s budget proposal last year.

That vote could hurt Mack with Florida’s seniors – a key voting bloc – especially since Ryan’s budget is now expected to take center stage in the presidential campaign. But Republicans expect the Medicare issue to be a wash since Nelson supported the Democrats’ healthcare bill, which makes cuts to Medicare Advantage, a program that is especially important to Florida’s seniors.

kim.geiger@latimes.com