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Iorio Is Considering A Bid For U.S. Senate Seat

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By WILLIAM MARCH wmarch@tampatrib.com

The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 28, 2009

TAMPA - Mayor Pam Iorio said Tuesday she is considering running for the U.S. Senate next year.

"I am analyzing it, and that's where I am right now," Iorio said in an interview. "I have not ruled it out."

If she ran, Iorio would enter a Democratic primary which already has two prominent, announced candidates - U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek of Miami and state Sen. Dan Gelber of Miami Beach - and more expected.

Gelber announced his candidacy in a news conference Tuesday at his home in Miami Beach. The 48-year-old former federal prosecutor and veteran state legislator said he wants "to do my part to help our state and our nation regain its footing and restore the promise of tomorrow."

Gelber, who also worked as an anti-terrorism investigator in the Senate in the mid-1990s, said he expects that the economy and the war on terrorism would be his highest priorities in the Senate.

Some Florida Democrats have speculated that Meek and Gelber may split up the huge Democratic voting bloc in Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties, leaving an easier path to victory in a Democratic primary for a candidate from the Tampa Bay area.

Iorio said her view on the race changed after state Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink, who's also from Tampa, announced recently that she won't run for the Senate seat and will run instead for re-election.

The Senate race "was not something I was considering when there was a possibility that Alex Sink might run," Iorio said. "since she bowed out, I have had people talk to me about it.

Incumbent Sen. Mel Martinez, a Republican, has announced he won't run for re-election in 2010.

Iorio said she has no self-imposed deadline for making a decision.

"I don't want to declare any specific timeline," she said. "I'm gathering info and facts and analyzing it."

She didn't want to say whom she's talking to about the race, but said there are no major family considerations in her way.

"Both of my children are in college, and my husband and I are empty-nesters," she said. Her husband, Mark Woodard, is an assistant county administrator in Pinellas County.

Iorio's second term as mayor would end in 2011, shortly after the 2010 election.

Although her Tampa Bay area base and her executive experience would be advantages, Iorio's biggest disadvantage is that she has yet to develop a statewide name, said Bob Buckhorn, a local Democrat who ran against her in 2003.

Reporter William March can be reached at (813) 259-7761 or wmarch@tampatrib.com.

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