Former Florida AG Bill McCollum Calling Around About 2016 Senate Seat

by: Javier Manjarres (@thesharktank1)
 

The Republican Senate primary race to replace outgoing U.S. Senator Marco Rubio continues heat up, as more former and present elected Republican officials begin to dream about walking the halls of the U.S. Senate, and taking that little choo choo train ride between the Senate office buildings and the U.S. Capitol.

Rep. Ron DeSantis is expected to announce any day now, and Rep. Tom Rooney has inched closer to throwing his hat into the ring. Lt. Governor Carlos Lopez-Cantera is also said to be meeting with key Florida and D.C. folks to discuss what appears to be an imminent run for his friend Marco Rubio’s Senate seat.

Yes, Rubio and Lopez-Cantera are close. Lopez-Cantera was standing next to Rubio’s immediate family during his much anticpated presidential announcement this past Monday at the Freedom Tower in Miami

Even former Speaker of the Florida House Will Weatherford is considering a possible Senate run in 2016.

So with all these newer faces looking to replace Rubio in the U.S. Senate, could there be room for a not-so-new, but very capable former 5-term Florida Congressman and Attorney General Republican to jump into this soon-to-be contentious Senate race?

Bill McCollum is making calls. 

From what several sources have told the Shark Tank, Bill McCollum is not calling around and  telling his statewide  supporters and donors that he is considering a third run for the U.S. Senate, rather asking them what their thoughts would be about him possibly getting in the 2016 Senate race.

McCollum is a foreign policy hawk. Because of growing threat of radical Islamic terrorism, and President Obama’s weak foreign policy, national security and foreign policy issues are at the top of concerns that Americans have regarding the direction in which the country is going.

This could play well for McCollum, but also for Rooney and DeSantis, who are both big on foreign policy and intelligence.

 Rooney recently told the Shark Tank the following about foreign policy and this Senate race:

Making a decision like this is a big deal, but what concerns me more is whether or not there is going to be a national security dialogue part of this campaign and who the candidates are that are getting involved, because its the number one issue, its the issue I care most about.-Rep. Tom Rooney

So does McCullum have what it takes to mount an effective challenge to the new blood of Republicans like Lopez-Cantera, DeSantis,and Rooney?

McCullum was  the very first Attorney General to file a lawsuit against the federal government’s Obamacare law, as well as being one of the many members of the U.S. Congress who voted to impeach President Bill Clinton.

McCullum’s hawkish foreign policy bona fides and lawsuit against Obamacare will score him political brownie points with the conservative base of the GOP, but the problem the former Congressman and Attorney General may have is that he will be considered to be “leader from yesterday.”

Read more about the upcoming Senate race here.