From the Miami Herald:
Raul Martinez, the charismatic but controversial former Hialeah mayor, is returning to politics to challenge one of the most powerful Republicans in the Cuban-American community: U.S. Rep. Lincoln Díaz-Balart.
Martinez’s expected announcement Tuesday in front of Hialeah City Hall pits two South Florida political titans — both admired by large numbers of Cuban Americans.
The campaign almost certainly will be deeply acrimonious with charges of corruption, and challenges of who’s tougher on Cuba. Martinez, 58, a Democrat, is the most serious challenger Republican Díaz-Balart, 53, has faced in his 15 years as U.S. congressman.
Diaz-Balart, of course, considers any challenge to him to be part of a pro-Castro conspiracy:
Díaz-Balart has told The Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald that Martinez’s return is part of a ploy by Fidel Castro sympathizers to lift or weaken the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba. Martinez insists he is not interested in changing the four-decades’ old embargo against Cuba, though he wants to ease the restrictions the Bush administration set on family travel to Cuba and on remittances.
“He’s muddying the waters,” Martinez said. “What is he afraid of?”
FL-21 is pretty Republican turf on paper (it has a PVI of R+6.2), but Martinez is a huge local name and should make this a marquee race. This should also be a strong test of the GOP’s endurance in the Cuban-American community. Mark this one on your lists of “top races to watch”.
I posted on this at dailykos too (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/1/21/22344/0709/535/440845).
I expect we’ll see announcements in the other two South Florida congressional districts within the next few weeks too.