TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- When Bill McBride came out of nowhere to win the state's Democratic gubernatorial primary, he owed much of his success to the Florida Education Association.þþCalling the November election the most important in 50 years, the teachers union spent at least $1.5 million on ads designed to give voters background on the Tampa lawyer.þþThe union acknowledges that McBride's position on education wasn't the only factor in endorsing him. It also wanted a candidate with the best chance to beat Republican Gov. Jeb Bush.þþNow Republicans are trying to turn one of McBride's largest assets in the primary election against him, saying he is simply a puppet of union bosses who are more concerned about labor issues than education.þþ``I don't think I have ever seen a gubernatorial candidate so draped in a special interest group,'' said Lt. Gov. Frank Brogan, a Republican. ``Bill McBride is a classic FEA candidate in that he will be a wholly owned puppet for the FEA.''þþMcBride quickly dismissed the idea.þþ``That's about as silly as anything I've ever heard,'' McBride said. ``That's just politics ... They need to raise the level of their game.''þþEducation has become one of the top issues in the governor's race, one of 36 being decided across the nation this year.þþBush has rankled some teachers by emphasizing standardized testing for students and letting students at failing public schools use vouchers to attend private schools.þþMcBride is proud of the endorsement and sees it as a testament to his commitment to improve schools. The union's support certainly helped him emerge from relative obscurity to beat former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno by 4,794 votes out of more than 1.3 million cast in the primary.þþ``If you want to stand with someone in an election, I'd choose to stand with the public school teachers, cafeteria workers, crossing guards and bus drivers,'' McBride said. ``Standing with the working men and women of Florida is important. It's the right group to be with and it's the people the governor of Florida needs to pay a lot of attention to.''þþThe union collected more than $60,000 for McBride by asking its members to write out checks for $20.02, said union President Maureen Dinnen. She said more probably contributed directly to the campaign.þþIn addition to the $1.5 million spent on boosting McBride's name recognition, it backed McBride in newsletters it sends out to each of its 122,000 members.þþRepublican Party of Florida Chairman Al Cardenas believes the amount spent to help McBride win is much higher.þþ``They spent over $5 million in the primary -- something that never happened in Florida's political history before,'' Cardenas said. ``They essentially bought themselves a candidate for the general election lock, stock and barrel. They have literally taken over the McBride campaign.''þþUnion President Maureen Dinnen said the talk is campaign rhetoric from a party that has a long history of bashing the union.þþ``It's a very strange attitude among the Bush campaign that teachers should not be active in politics, as if we were second-class citizens,'' Dinnen said. ``We think this is the most important election in the past 50 years in Florida and we also think education is on the chopping block.''þþAubrey Jewett, a University of Florida political science professor, said the union's support will no doubt help McBride, even as Republicans try to criticize the association.þþ``It's the most powerful labor organization in the state as far as how much money they can raise and how many people they can mobilize,'' Jewett said.þþThe union's role in the race and how Bush responds to the efforts to unseat him could very well be a factor in the election, Jewett said.þþ``They both realize that how they present the debate could be the difference between winning and losing,'' Jewett said.þþ
Source: NY Times
