Keep state's credibility; return Nelson to Senate
2006-10-09
Source: Palm Beach Post
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rss feedTo support Bill Nelson's reelection bid, you don't have to be a Democrat seeking political revenge for 2000. You just have to be a Floridian who wants a competent, sensible, productive United States senator, not the embarrassment that Katherine Harris would be for the state.
On the first point, it's hard to find any state politician with a wider background. Sen. Nelson spent six years in the state House and 12 years in the U.S. House. He spent six years as the state's insurance commissioner before his election to the Senate six years ago.
On the second point, Sen. Nelson has voted with his party on many big issues - against President Bush's tax cuts, against the constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, and against the Part D Medicare prescription drug benefit - but is able to work with Republicans when it benefits Florida.
On the third point, Sen. Nelson is coming off two victories for Floridians. Working with Florida's junior senator, Republican Mel Martinez, he defeated efforts to drill for oil and natural gas too close to the state's coastline. Working with other Republicans, he stopped the Customs Service from seizing low-cost drugs on their way to Americans from Canada.
Sen. Nelson's most noteworthy vote with the administration was in support of the 2002 Iraq war resolution. In 2004, he called that vote a mistake. Explaining it today, Sen. Nelson says, "The information we got from the Bush administration was incorrect, incomplete and massaged." He claims that White House officials warned in 2002 that Saddam Hussein had the capability of attacking East Coast cities with chemical and biological weapons delivered by "unmanned aerial vehicles," even though "Air Force intelligence disputed that." He does not favor a timetable for withdrawal, but he backed John Kerry's plan to add 40,000 troops to the Army. If Democrats take control, Sen. Nelson hopes that the party then can call hearings with the idea of getting truthful assessments about Iraq and new ideas on how to improve things.
One very good reason to keep Sen. Nelson is his knowledge of insurance. Floridians would be much better off if Congress created a national disaster insurance program, modeled after the federal flood insurance program. It will be tough work persuading senators from non-coastal states to go along. As Sen. Nelson notes, though, if the plan includes earthquakes, tsunamis, floods and terrorist attacks, suddenly you've got a majority.
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