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Conservative jihad coming Pasco's way?

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By TOM JACKSON

Published: November 15, 2009

LAND O' LAKES - No one ever lost an election or a vote in the Legislature overestimating Mike Fasano's charm. Whatever other skills the veteran lawmaker and current state senator brings to a political showdown, he packs them in a velvet glove.

Hey, you try growing up in Holiday Lake Estates. Anyone who does learns there are two ways to win a battle: Overwhelming physical force or sweet persuasion. The advantage of the first is expedience, but the latter can produce satisfying results while being less risky to the nose.

So it was Thursday night that, commanding the lectern in a Suncoast Crossings hotel conference room, Fasano brandished that old Mike magic, alternately kidding, cajoling, enticing and entertaining. His goal: Convince this small group of committed conservatives, representing the Faith and Family Values Republican Club of Pasco County, that there is yet space among their core principles - smaller government, lower taxes, more personal responsibility, less regulation, more liberty - for compassionate policymaking.

That the audience of 14, nearly one-third comprised of declared office-seekers, stifled its harrumphs was tribute not simply to Fasano's charisma, but also to good manners and, according to Carlos Saenz, "proof of God in heaven."

Biting their tongues

Well, after all, Fasano himself began by declaring he would happily entertain questions and comments after his talk, but added with a wink, "If you have criticisms, please wait until I have left the room."

Mind you, the particular brand of Republican in the room - if reports in newspapers and the network news can be trusted - has embarked on a jihadist cleansing operation designed to rid the party of all but pure of heart and deed.

Their failure to bolt the door at Fasano's approach puts at least a bit of a lie to Big Media's conventional wisdom. Fasano is, after all, a Charlie Crist surrogate, a pragmatist who resists government's iron fist right up until the moment it can be wielded - in the name of compassion - on behalf of a favored constituency.

Walk the walk

Fasano defended his (and, by extension, Crist's) governing philosophy as being rooted in seeking solutions. As we move deeper into the 2010 campaign season, he told them, "You're going to be hearing a lot of great rhetoric," but that they should seek candidates who "don't just talk a good talk."

Though it arrived in a veil, no one in the room missed this reference to Marco Rubio, the former state House speaker and Crist's chief rival for the GOP nomination for the U.S. Senate. Fasano's difficulty with voters such as these is that they regard Rubio's free markets/anti-regulation positions as solutions in themselves.

And, as he begins to consider his future post-state Senate, he terms out in 2012, Fasano most likely will require the efforts of these and similarly hard-nosed conservatives - emerging as the dominant force in Republican politics - for any future elective success that involves Pasco's GOP electorate.

As Crist's plummeting poll numbers readily attest, sometimes more than personal charm is required to carry the day.

Keyword: The Jax Files, for Tom Jackson's bonus insights.

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