MIAMI, Nov. 5 (UPI) -- Speaker Tom Feeney of the Florida House of Representatives easily won the seat in Florida's new 24th Congressional District Tuesday by defeating trial attorney Harry Jacobs.
Feeney had designed the district for himself when he was a Republican power in Tallahassee, Fla. It contains 45 percent registered Republicans and 36 percent Democrats.
With 77 percent of the precincts reporting, Feeney took 60 percent of the vote to 40 percent for Jacobs.
Jacobs made Feeney's ethics a campaign issue, but Feeney denied selling influence and says Jacobs was fighting dirty because he couldn't find any viable issues. He offered to make public his tax returns for the last 12 years if Jacobs would do that, but Jacobs ignored the challenge.
Estimates of Jacobs' worth range from $42 million and $154 million, and he was not shy about spending some of it on television attack ads.
Jacobs became known because of his high-profile personal-injury law firm, Jacobs & Goodman, and his suit to throw out Seminole County absentee ballots during the 2000 election battle between President Bush and former Democratic Vice President Al Gore.
The debate over issues followed conventional party lines. Republicans have tagged Jacobs as a tax and spend liberal, and Jacobs assailed Feeney for voting to raise telephone rates.
Feeney talked frequently about the support he receives from President Bush and U.S. Rep. John Mica, a Republican from the state's 7th Congressional District. He charged that Jacobs does not support the White House stand on Iraq.
Jacobs said Feeney supports investing Social Security funds in the stock market, a policy he said would lead to lower benefits and higher taxes.
