RSS Feed of the blog

Contributors:

Reporter William March has covered state and national politics since 1994. Email


Reporter Mike Salinero has covered Hillsborough County government since 2007. Email


TBO RNC 2012 Section
Florida Political Blogs:
Most Recent Entries
More
Monthly Archives

Mack: I’m not finished

Posted Feb 19, 2013 by William March

Updated Feb 19, 2013 at 07:13 PM

Since the November election, when former U.S. Rep. Connie Mack IV lost his race for the U.S. Senate, his backers along with political reporters have continued to receive news releases under his “Connie Mack” campaign logo with a baseball for the “o.”

What’s up with that?

In an interview today, Mack said he’s not through with politics, and that his wife, former California Rep. Mary Bono Mack, will be leaving her California residence and will live either in Florida, with him, or in Washington, where he also plans to spend time.

“I may have lost the last election, but I’m not done in politics,” he said. “I very much want to continue to fight for the things I believe in,” particularly federal budget issues, he said. “We’ve got this charade going on in Washington right now about debts and deficits and cuts that the American people are very tired of. I’m going to continue to stay involved.”

Step one of his continued involvement is an invitation to speak at the upcoming Conservative Political Action Conference, a showcase for conservative leaders.

Mack supporters also noted that Sen. Rand Paul, delivering the Libertarian or tea party response to the State of the Union Address, mentioned Mack’s “Penny Plan,” a proposal for cutting the federal budget 1 percent a year, though without mentioning Mack.

As for the future, Mack said he’s going to have a political action committee, but had no other specifics about how he’ll re-enter politics.

“I don’t have any designs on a next run for which office. Those things will present themselves when they happen,” he said. “In the meantime I’ll continue to build an organization around the state – you’ll see me engaged in the political process around the state.”

Both Mack and his wife lost elections in November—she lost her re-election bid to her Palm Springs congressional seat.

Asked about her political future, he said, “I don’t know that she’s made any decisions.”

Mack said he doesn’t see the margin of his own loss to Sen. Bill Nelson, 55-42 percent, as a hindrance to a political future.

“Every election is different, every election cycle is different, and what we think we know now won’t be true in the next one,” he said. “What we thought would be the turnout model (in the 2012 election) didn’t develop.”

Asked what he regrets or wishes he’d done differently in his Senate campaign, Mack pointed to only one thing—he said he wishes he’d started the campaign earlier.

Mack initially backed former state Senate President Mike Haridopolos for the GOP Senate nomination, and didn’t get in until Haridopolos dropped out.