Bill McBride, the Democratic nominee for governor, has bagged the biggest endorsement of his campaign: Republican Gov. Jeb Bush.
"He really is one of the great Floridians of our time," Bush says of McBride -- the same opponent the governor has been attacking as a "reckless corporate lawyer" in ads for months.
Bush's high praise, videotaped for an awards ceremony at McBride's former law firm in 1999, begins airing today statewide. The McBride campaign has made Bush's remarks the centerpiece of a new TV ad challenging the governor for running attack ads against McBride.
"Does Jeb Bush believe his own negative ads? " the McBride spot asks. "You be the judge."
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"I know Bill from his leadership at Holland & Knight," Bush said in the interview taped for the awards ceremony. "Back when I was in the real world, we used the services of his law firm, and met him then. And almost in every civic endeavor with a statewide focus you'll see Bill McBride involved."
This year, Bush and the Republican Party of Florida have been selling a different image of McBride, accusing him of "reckless management" at Holland & Knight. The GOP this week also launched a ground-attack, mailers dispatched to targeted voters statewide slamming "Corporate lawyer Bill McBride: We can't trust him."
