GOP's darling boy to challenge Rep. Alan Grayson

[ngant17]

Miami real estate developer Armando Gutierrez Jr. now appears to be the GOP's darling boy to challenge Rep. Alan Grayson in 2010.

Apparently the GOP believes it can put another Cuban-American in office like Mel Martinez by duplicating their success with this young upstart ideologue of Cuban heritage.

Gutierrez Jr. is the son of Armando Gutierrez, a Cuban-born lawyer and banker operating out of Miami. His family's alliance with the Batista regime and their hostility to the 1959 Cuban Revolution resulted in exile to the United States.

Father Gutierrez is most well known for acting as the official spokesperson of the Miami terrorist mafia when they used the child Elian Gonzalez for their political ambitions. As you might recall, the Cuban boy was kidnapped and forcibly withheld from his father until US federal agents rescued him and reunited him with his family on the island.

Son has so far followed in father's footsteps, he has started an organization aimed at electing conservatives in Washington and Tallahassee.

This is perhaps a desperate gamble. He's never served public office before and he lacks the name recognition of Martinez. And Central Florida is not a bastion of the kind of radical right in which young Gutierrez was raised.

[Freddie Stubbs]

1. He would be an interesting candidate

The fact that he has never held public office before has its advantages, as he has no record to attack. He is disadvantaged by this as well, because he will have to spend a lot of money building up name identification.

As for his politics, we don't know if he is going to run as a conservative or a moderate. Just because his father is a right-winger involved in the Elian Gonzalez mess doesn't necessarily mean that he will run as a right-winger. Manny Diaz worked with the elder Gutierrez and hasn't exactly governed Miami in a right-wing manner.

[ngant17]

2. his mold has already by set IHMO

If he is running an organization that helps elect conservatives, it is reasonable to assume that Guitierrez Jr. will be a conservative himself.

There is a trend among young Cuban-Americans to migrate toward the Democratic Party, and Pres. Obama has relaxed rules on family visits to the island.

Mr. Guiterrez is out of touch with the Cuban-Americans in his age group. And even more out of touch with the average American.