The Tampa Pirate is going to try and make sense of the current races in this mid-term election. We are starting at the U.S. Senate race because the candidate pool is very murky. So don your wetsuit and scuba gear and let’s start looking.

Here is our rating system, 1 Skull - Poor, 2 Skulls - Fair, 3 Skulls - Good, 4 Skulls - Good, 5 Skulls - Excellent:

The Ticket is:
Katherine Harris (REP)
Bill Nelson (DEM)
Floyd Ray Frazier (NPA)
Dr. Belinda Noah (NPA)
Brian Moore (NPA)
Roy Tanner (NPA)

1) Katherine Harris (REP) - Website
The one time golden girl of the Republican Party is trying hard to beat Bill Nelson for the Senate seat. She has had a very rocky campaign, including allegations of mistreating her staff on many occasions. The Republican Party didn’t back her in the beginning and her record leaves a lot to be desired. She is also involved in a major scandal, but the press has pretty much ignored it. Apparently, she had received campaign donations from company called MZM, Inc. MZM, Inc. was lead by Mitchell Wade who in a plea bargin was found guilty of funneling over $1 million to Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham and others for their help in getting him defense contracts. As a member of the House Homeland Security Committee, Harris received $10,000 from MZM, Inc. and $32,000 from MZM employees, most of them written on the same day. She later attempted to get MZM a $10 million contract for a U.S Naval Criminal Investigative Services project but failed to procure the funding.

Harris claimed that she was not aware that the contributions were illegal. However, Wade has said that he and Harris spoke over dinner about getting funding for MZM, Inc. for the Naval counterintelligence program. The dinner according to his receipt for the dinner, presented in court, came to $2,800.00. (The monetary amount information came from a second source that I could not verify.)

Her platform is party line all the way and her voting record reflects it. She is a typical career politician, and as such I am opposed to her.

If I had to describe her in three words they would be “politics as usual.”

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2) Bill Nelson (DEM) - Website
Bill Nelson is a Florida Democrat that has an impressive resume. He has been a relatively quiet Senator until the offshore drilling issue came along. He has been very aggressive in his opposition to it and, instead, thinks more funding needs to go to alternative fuels. He has never been the center of any major controversies and is considered to be fairly moderate.

However, his stand on the issues is just like Harris’, straight down party lines. He is a backpeddler on his vote to go into Iraq. Nelson, as well as the other members of Congress, saw the same intelligence the Bush Administration did and believed the war was required. As the war became unpopular at home, Nelson tried to pull the same stunt many other Democrats have. It’s the tired mantra, I was led astray by the Bush Adminstration so I incorrectly voted for it. That is very comforting to the men and women fighting the war, as well as their families at home, to know that he voted to send their sons and daughters to war without 1st knowing all the facts.

For this main reason, and to a lesser degree his support of gay marriages and his pro-abortion stance, I would not recommend a vote for Bill Nelson.

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3) Floyd Ray Frazier (NPA) - Website
He is a vocal civil-rights advocate who is one of the “it’s all America’s fault” crowd. He has some interesting positions on health care reform, marijuana legalization, and income tax abolition. He is way off the mark when it comes to human rights, slavery reparations, and civil liberties for ex-cons.

He would be a very bad choice for the Senate.

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4) Dr. Belinda Noah (NPA) - Website
This is a candidate who has a good grasp on what is going on. I don’t agree with her on everything, but I definitly agree with her on the FairTax Plan that is currently stalled in the Senate. She believes in protecting the rights for Americans to bear arms. She believes that the NAFTA treaty and other FTA’s have to be held up to the Treaty Provisions which are outlined in the constitution. She is pro veteran and believes in strong national security and defense and that our borders need to be secured by whatever means necessary.

She is not a career politician, she is an attorney, law school adjunct professor & ex-Republican. She has a very Republican platform, but where it counts she has Libertarian and Reformist views. If you are looking for the best candidate, not just the lesser of the evils, then Dr. Noah is your best bet.

The Tampa Pirate endorses Dr. Noah and thinks she is the best candidate for Florida and the United States.

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Here is a video that explains more about the FairTax:

4) Brian Moore (NPA) - Website

Brian Moore is the reason no one takes Independent candidates serious. He is executive recruiter, anti-war activist and a frequent candidate. He is endorsed by Ralph Nader and the Florida Green Party. He was not allowed in the Senate debates, as were no independent candidates, so in protest he went to Cuba to “underscore his opposition to U.S. trade sanctions” according to the AP.

His platform is basically the blame America stance. He believes we should never have been in Iraq and should now get out of Iraq within 6 months and replace our troops with U.N. peacekeepers. He believes we should not impose sanctions on Iran. Instead, we should try to work with them with international help. He feels we should repeal most of the PATRIOT Act and worst of all, he holds America responsible for the immigration problem because we are rich and they are poor and, therefore, encourage them to come here.

He is the worst candidate on the ticket by far.

Rating (note-if there was lower rating I would have given it.:

5) Roy Tanner (NPA) - Website

Tanner seems to be a fairly decent candidate. He is a conservative and believes that morals and values need to be returned to government. He is endorsed by the Constitution Party, and believes in a strong national security, tough immigration laws. He is pro choice and believes in the sanctity of marriage. He is a Christian and makes no bones about his faith. If he supported the abolition of the IRS and supported the FairTax Act, he would be my second choice for the seat.

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So there you have it. The Tampa Pirate believes that Dr. Belinda Noah is the best choice for Senate and Roy Tanner a close second. It is time to show the big two that they are too laden with corruption and are too powerful. Their stranglehold on the political process must end.