¡Que arroz con mango!

The Senate 40 race has become a total telenovela in the final weeks, with a five-year old, out-of-state misdemeanor arrest record surfacing at the last minute, implicating something selatious and improper between former Sen. Alex Diaz de la Portilla and the daughter-in-law of the county mayor, who were taken into custody together in a Boston non-smoking hotel room where they were chainsmoking, despite repeated warnings, on a late rainy night.

Shortly after the 2012 incident was first reported in the Herald last week, Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez withdrew his support for The Dean’s opponent, former State Rep. Jose Felix “Pepi” Diaz. Gimenez will not be the guest star, after all, at a fundraiser planned next week at the Biltmore Hotel (which Ladra assumes will be cancelled), citing the negativity of the Diaz campaign.

“He believes that the tone of that particular race has been unnecessarily negative and will not be endorsing any candidate in that primary,” said Gimenez spokesman Michael Hernandez, because, apparently, the mayor’s political life and endorsments is part of Mike’s job now, too.

Also, btw, the race has been unneccessarily negative for weeks and it wasn’t until his family’s dirty laundry started to come out that G found the campaign offensive.

But what if the information didn’t come from Pepi Diaz? What if it came from ADLP himself? Wait for it… wait for it. I know! Brilliant, right? The guy’s a genius!

If Pepi Diaz — or any of the Tallahasee ghosts who are supporting him (more on that later) — wanted to expose this embarassing episode (forget the girl, the behavior is atrocious enough), they would have spilled the Boston beans before the absentee ballots went out on June 27 . Not weeks after people have already voted.

And ADLP isn’t hurt by this. He is not the married one. In the eyes of most Cuban-American Westhchester super voters, he has done nothing wrong. Heck, some of them will want to high-five him. It may pain Ladra to say it, but this doesn’t resonate. Sure, ella es una sucia, azqueroza. But she is not running for office. And him? He’s a charming, womanizing, fast-talker who has women throw themselves at him all the time. El no tiene la culpa. He’s not to blame, they’ll say.

Ahora, el sinverquenza que saco los trapos? Yep, this actually hurts Pepi, who is seen as the desperate villain who besmirched a woman’s name to get elected and, to boot, won’t have the extra dollars that he expected to have for the end game from a Gimenez anointment. Notice that the news of the arrests came only a couple days after the announcement that the mayor — who should have stayed out of the primary out of loyalty to ADLP for his 2011 win — would headline the Biltmore event for Pepi.

This must have irked The Dean. After all he’s done for that cardboard box! It’s not completely unreasonable to think that he put this arrest info out himself to get the cancellation and also a little bit of free publicity as the smeared former Senator trying to defend “the mother of two young girls,” as he said in the Herald story. Another thing: Tania Cruz, the daughter-in-law in question (and this is the good one), gave a long and impassioned statement as well — which there is no way she would have done without ADLP’s consent. In fact, Ladra suspects he wrote her comments.

Then, boom! Gimenez canceled on Diaz.

Then, boom, boom! His lobbyist son and the presumed tarrudo, CJ Gimenez, also lashed out at Pepi Diaz on Facebook Thursday.

“For those of you that did not receive the latest email from the Jose Felix Diaz campaign due to limited circulation, my father, Mayor Carlos Gimenez is no longer involved with the Rep. Jose Felix Diaz event at the Biltmore on July 18th citing the negative tone of the campaign,” wrote CJ, who celebrated an anniversary with his wife only weeks ago.

“My position (me, CJ Gimenez, not the Mayor) is that I am utterly disgusted with the actions of the Jose Felix Diaz campaign and their pathetic personal attacks against me and my family. So I ask you, do not reward Jose Felix Diaz with your support. Please share this post with your friends and family! I thank you!”

Ladra was told that his other sister-in-law (the bad one) also posted something on Facebook about it.

But what if they’re being played by one of the best in the business? Yes, it would be somewhat Machiavellian to have orchestrated this wag the dog scenario right in front of our eyes.

But look who we’re talking about here.

Brilliant!

And the hits just keep on coming against former Sen. Alex Diaz de la Portilla in the Republican primary for Senate District 40, a special summer election brought to you by the arrogant, drunken, racist rants of former Sen. Frank Artiles, who was forced to resign.

That the attacks are coming from or on behalf of Artiles’ best friend and Tallahassee roommate make this offended morality campaign somewhat ironic. But you have to admit, Alex, as the OG Repulican bad boy, makes an easy mark.

Former State Rep. Jose Felix Diaz has waged an almost entirely negative campaign against Dean DLP. It has overshadowed the earlier question of who is more Republican (which one of Pepi Diaz’s operatives took issue with on my Facebook page, without disclosing she was a paid operative). He sent two bland pieces early on — a bio intro with a family portrait and a “jobs, jobs, jobs” piece that seemed like a cut and paste from insert Republican candidate here — and two more last week, when absentee ballots came out. They are unmemorable except for the one that makes it seem like he is for raising the minimum wage. “Bigger salaries for our community,” the headline says in Spanish. The fine print explains that it is about allegedly creating jobs by cutting regulations to businesses.

Other than that, Pepi’s campaign has been all about Alex. Even the two TV commercials that Ladra has seen have been mostly about not voting for Diaz de la Portilla. Don’t get me wrong, DLP is not without faults. There are reasons not to vote for him. But are there any reasons to vote for Pepi other than voting against Alex? You can’t tell from his campaign.

Diaz will swear he has nothing to do with the multiple attack mailers and, now, a new, anti-DLP website paid for by Making A Better Tomorrow, a Venice, Fla-based political action committee. But he knew it was coming. And he uses the same language and images in his TV commercials.

He could stop it if he wanted to. Don’t be fooled, dear reader, by the aw shucks Gomer Pyle smile. Remember, Mr. Amicable Pepi Diaz is the same guy who allowed a campaign against former State Rep. Ana Rivas Logan to question her Cuban roots and cast her as an unfit mother simply because she wouldn’t move out of the district they were drawn into together. And it’s not like Diaz has to hit him. The mainstream media is doing its part, most recently with a surprise report days ago about a 2012 arrest in Boston for smoking in a hotel room, despite repeated warnings not to, with Tania Cruz, the wife of CJ Gimenez, son of Miami-Dade mayor Carlos Gimenez (more on that later). Although some might believe the tip came from the Diaz camp.

But with DLP’s name ID and poll numbers so high, Pepi Diaz can’t take any chances. The mailers against DLP have been almost daily since the absentee ballots went out last week. They pretty much have the same theme, casting The Dean as a man with “serious character flaws,” like gambling, credit card debt, alcohol abuse and bouts of explosive violence. They include “living beyond his means” but everyone I know does that.

“Hi. I’m Alex Diaz de la Portilla and the rules don’t apply to me,” it says on the front of one. The back lists not one, not two but five attacks against DLP, including a Commission of Elections fine that was later reduced (they don’t say that) and the allegations by an ex-wife that he had violent impulses, especially under the influence of alcohol.

One of the mailers has a photo of Diaz de la Portilla holding what we are supposed to believe is a rum runner or something — but it is a mamey smoothie given to him by a voter in a pic he posted on Facebook. The most egrigious use of a batido de mamey ever.

It’s funny, but ridiculous, that Pepi Diaz is making an issue of alcohol given his BFF’s resignation was likely due to a drunken rant. It’s also slightly hipocritical to use an ugly divorce and the allegations of an ex wife who is also, by the way, a state lobbyist, particularly when your BFF racist ex-legislator buddy had hired a Playboy bunny and a Hooters girl as “consultants” on his campaign. Diaz is going to be the morality police now? No me digas! Where was he when his best friend and Tallahassee roommate was traveling with paid escorts?

But its not enough to mail the attacks. The Diaz team wants to have them online, in a website launched solely to attack the candidate, a campaign tactic that is being used more and more. There are 22 files of DLP “dirt” in a filing cabinet and visitors “click a tab to view the evidence,” at www.factsaboutadlp.com, which might be the work of the political strategist who attacked me and Ladra’s motives on Facebook the other day without disclosing that she worked for one of the candidates (she claims to be a digital consultant on Diaz’s campaign reports, whatever that is). And she should own up to it. Because it’s pretty good as far as hit pieces go.

Not that good, though. It didn’t include the 2012 arrest.

DLP seems unfazed. He did not respond to several text message this week but has told Ladra before that the voters in the district know him and that these tactics will backfire. “It’s started to backfire already,” he said last time we spoke, offering no details.

Maybe so. But Ladra feels that Pepi has no other choice, given ADLP’s high name recognition, than to go negative. In this short election cycle, the best Diaz can do is attack DLP and turn positive name rec into negative name ID — even if it would give whoever wins the Democratic primary an edge against him in a decidedly competitive general. Annette Taddeo and Ana Rivas Logan are two lucky women who must be very happy about all of this.

We’ll know if it worked in less than two weeks. But Ladra bets we see another hit piece before that. The way this campaign is going, we wouldn’t be surprised if the next mailer depicts the Dean and the mayor’s son’s wife as belligerent drunks getting arrested in a smoky hotel room.

In what amounts to a political pissing match, the two top contenders in the GOP primary for the Senate seat in District 40 are trying to out-Republican each other.

Former State Rep. Jose Felix “Pepi” Diaz, whose latest mail piece has the word Republican in it six times, has had hit former Senator Alex Diaz de la Portilla with mail pieces and now a TV commercial that basically cast him as a closet liberal and fake conservative. Last week, some residents in Westchester got mailers from Dean DLP that said Diaz had only become a Republican to run for office (he was an NPA until 2007 and ran in 2008).

The piece had a picture of a young Alex with President Ronald Reagan from some 20 de Mayo event in downtown Miami in 1982 or 1983 that he should have, but apparently didn’t, shave for. You know, to drive the point home that Diaz de la Portilla is the real man, er, I mean real Republican here. “From top to bottom,” the mailer says. Couldn’t he say from birth?!?  Alex never toyed around with anything else! Not even in college when he was supposed to have a heart.

In the 8 1/2 X 11 mailer, Dean DLP goes on to berate our local Republicans for not walking in lock step with Trump on everything, saying that he has “the courage to defend our Republican values.

“Alex Diaz de la Portilla started his Republican activism at the early age of 18 as a volunteer for our beloved President Ronald Reagan. Since then, Alex Diaz de la Portilla has supported our Republican presidents without hesitation and with firmness. For this dedication to our Republican values, he was named Republican Senate Majority Leader,” it says, then turns into a super right wing abuelo scolding his grandchildren.

“Alex Diaz de la Portilla is left indignant by the lack of unity among Republicans and the lack of loyalty to our president. He commits to a fight against the liberal press, the leftists Democrats and the Republicans who swim in both waters,” it says.

Ooooooh. How many Republicans swim in both waters? He didn’t name names. That includes Pepi’s. “My opponent only changed to our Republican Party so he could run for office,” it says on the front side. “Mi opponente.”

In fact, DLP never mentions his opponnt. Pepi Diaz, on the other hand, mentions the name Alex Diaz de la Portilla four times and the name Diaz de la Portilla (sans the Alex) one more in a single comparison mailer paid for by his politial action committee, Rebuild Florida.

Like Alex needs the name recognition.

Pepi Diaz also doesn’t mention the word Republican once in that piece. Not in his intro bio piece either, the big one with the picture of the family on the front. Ditto for the “Jobs, jobs, jobs” mailer, where he called himself a “true conservative” — but the addition of the word “Republican” before President Donald Trump would have cost him nothing.

Quien es mas macho? Reagan or Trump?

Now, Republican flag waving is really not that new in a contested primary. It’s just more fun to watch it evolve so quickly in a short election cycle like this one, where people have precious little time to pick their party representative for the general. And so the question becomes more relevant. Quien es mas Republicano?

It sure sounds like “quien es mas macho,” don’t it? Reminded Ladra of the lyrics from that old Laurie Anderson song, Smoke Rings. “Que es mas macho? Pineapple or knife? Lightbulb or schoolbus?”

Quien es mas Republicano? Alex or Pepi? Reagan or Trump?

Alex used the word 13 times in his Reagan mail piece. That may be a record. And a sign.

Sure, sure, there are six candidates in the Florida Senate District 40 seat vacated by Frank Artiles, who resigned abruptly in April after he was caugh making racist and sexist comments to and about colleagues. But really, most if not all of the attention is going to be on the four familiar faces in two mano a mano matches.

Ladra loves that a fellow NPA is running in the general, which may be the start of a trend (more on that later), and we really dig the nickname he got from his rugby mates. Who wouldn’t want to be represented by a Senator He-Man? And we will find out more about him in due time. Let’s concentrate on the primaries for now because this is a crazy short election cycle and there’s ony five days before absentee ballots drop.

Perennial candidate Annette Taddeo, who is leading the polls and may finally win an election — even if its just a primary — and Ana Rivas Logan, a former Miami-Dade School Board member and state rep who has been elected in parts of the district before an is arguably a better candidate for the general, are competing head to head for the Democrat Party nomination. Thanks to the self-propelled dishonorable discharge from the race by State Rep. Daisy Baez — who apparently doesn’t even live in the district she represents now. Steve Smith, whose name was already a liability before he was disqualified (or withdrew) because he was a Republican six months ago, never had a chance.

On the Republican side, former State Rep. Jose Felix “Pepi” Diaz, the alleged GOP favorite, a legislator lobbyist and a real mama’s boy, will be up against a new and improved former Sen. Alex Diaz de la Portilla, dean of the 305 political bad boys. These two are already stealing the show. Even though Lorenzo Palomares (what happened to Starbuck?) has remained relatively relevant as Trump’s Hispanic Miami spokesman and a Spanish-language TV commentator on national politics after he lost in a congressional primary that overlaps with the district, it’s going to be hard to keep up with these two, who will have all the money and all the attention.

Because these short election cycles are ruled by one thing and one thing only: name recognition. Did we mention that absentee ballots drop next week? Candidates have precious little time to get an actual message out. As school ends. And summer begins. Naturally, the familiar faces will have a bigger advantage then ever in this race.

On the red side: Name ID vs campaign cash, old vs new

Of course, name recognition can be bought. And that is surely what Diaz is going to try to do. He’s got $825,653 squirreled away in his Rebuild Florida political action committee. That includes $84,000 collected over 10 days in May and that includes $25,000 from the insurance industry and $5,000 from AirBnB, which is facing statewide and local regulations. That was even before he raised another $278,400 in his first month as a candidate. So Pepi Diaz — who’s gotten a little help with some press conferences about condo reform — has a million bucks to build his name ID and has already started with mailers introducing him as a family man and proven legislator. Meanwhile, DLP reported loaning himself $50,000 — which I guess is easy for a guy who doesn’t pay his mortgage (see Herald story about foreclosure on his home). But did he really?  Or did he just say he loaned himself something — candidates don’t actually have to provide bank deposit slips — because he only raised $22,000 from donors? So, he may actually have less than a tenth of what his opponent has. Unless he has a PAC we don’t know about.

Diaz certainly has at least two PACs. He told Ladra he won’t use his PAC to hit DLP, but on Thursday our mailbox got this comparison piece — paid for by his own Rebuild Florida — with side by side photos that shows Alex like an angry, grainy, sepia-toned mafia kingpin and Pepi like some fresh, pink-faced Harvard kid with an American flag. The piece states that DLP raised business taxes by 300% and reduced state funds to local governments. Earlier this month, Pepi Diaz or buddies — maybe Artiles, who has been promoting him like crazy on Facebook — hit DLP with some PAC called Making a Better Tomorrow, which called Alex a career politician and closet liberal raising taxes and killing jobs. But Diaz did admit that he farmed certain stuff out to David “Disgustin’” Custin. And Ladra guesses that Custin has been busy lately with this summer bonus.

That’s three mail pieces in this house from Pepi Diaz vs. none from DLP.

Read related story: Senate 40 GOP race gets ugly fast with attack on Alex DLP

Pepi can also count on the PACs of State Rep. Jose Oliva and his fellow flying monkeys, who are secretly supporting him. Very secretly, of course. Because they don’t want to piss Dean DLP off — por si las moscas and he wins. They are not taking him for granted. As well they shouldn’t. Voters in this district have been represented by the DLPs for decades — Alex as a State Rep., big brother Miguel Diaz de la Portilla as a county commissioner and baby bro Renier Diaz de la Portilla as a Miami-Dade School Board member. They are used to seeing that name and checking it off on the ballot starting with Miguel’s commission win in 1993.

That’s probably why Alex did so well in both of the polls we know about where he has a comfy double digit lead on Diaz, who told Ladra he did not poll before qualifying but would poll soon. Of course, he’s got to work on his name id first so he can pump those numbers up for donors. But trust me, both he and the GOP establishment are looking at those numbers. Diaz de la Portilla got 51 percent positive name recognition compared to Diaz’s 26 percent. And in a two-way race, DLP beats Pepi 43-15. Ladra has been told by three Republican sources that DLP leads quite comfortably with double digits in a GOP poll as well. But they don’t seem to want to talk about it too much. It’s all very hush hush.

It’s also probably the real reason why DLP skipped the debate Monday hosted by the Women’s Republican Club Federated. He told the organizers he had a conflicting prior engagement but Ladra thinks that he had nothing to gain and everything to lose from going to a debate when he is so up in the polls. Why bother?

His focus has been on direct and personal voter contact. Ladra doesn’t know if we’ve ever seen him work so hard. He’s walking almost every day. I don’t think Alex has walked in more than 15 years. We have proof from all the photos he’s posting of voters offering him cafecitos and batidos de mamey. Because he’s also on social media — al fin. Or at least he’s got someone doing it for him. He even hit me up on Instagram. Instagram! And he is posting photos of himself with voters regularly. This, while Pepi “Selfie King” Diaz has not posted very many.

“I find it awkward to ask,” Diaz told Ladra, adding that he once asked a young voter who was more social media saavy, and the voter declined. He has taken more selfies with his canvassing team.

Of course, Diaz de la Portilla may be working so hard because he knows he has to win this one. If he doesn’t, this would be his second loss since leaving office in 2010, after he was beat by Jose Javier Rodriguez in a state House race in 2014. But it would be the fifth loss for the brand. Renier lost his 2012 state rep race and a 2014 judicial race against a party girl nobody and Miguel lost his senate re-election last year (against Rodriguez, who has become the family nemesis). They can’t afford another defeat. Is he feeling the pressure?

Alex DLP used Facebook to thank the Morejon family for the cafecito during canvassing

Quite the opposite, he told Ladra. “I’m the most relaxed I’ve ever been. The reception has been incredible,” he said. “It’s a blessing when you go house to house in neighborhoods you haven’t been to in 15 years and they recognize you.”

He knocked on the door of a 105-year-old voter who lives with her 81-year-old daughter in Westchester. Both women remembered voting for him in 1994 when he ran against incumbent Carlos Manrique for state House and beat him with a three to one margin. They made him tostones.

“I have no pressure whatsoever. People here know me and they know the difference between someone who is part of their community, someone who has the people’s back, and someone who is a Tallahasee creation,” Diaz de la Portilla said.

The walking may also be a wide pre-emptive strike because Diaz de la Portilla knows more nasty mail is coming. Once voters see mail pieces on DLP’s ethics complaint and his nasty divorce — which shouldn’t be campaign material but always raises her ugly head — the tostones and mamey shakes may disappear. Or they may not. These are the same people that elected Alex despite some driver’s license issues brought up by Manrique in ’94.

But Pepi Diaz can also get hit with mailers that depict him as Artiles’ BFF and roommate, who never condemned what he said and must have known something about the Hooters girl and the Playboy bunny on the former senator’s campaign payroll. Here they are in a selfie from the Trump inaugural. Diaz is also a lobbyist whose clients include Bell Helicopters and Miami Beckham United, which could be seeking state taxpayer subsidies for its planned Overtown soccer stadium.

Again, the difference is that DLP has much less to spend on getting this information out. Which brings us back to why he is walking so much. It’s free.

Diaz said that he would soon be polling and even Ladra is confident that his numbers will be better (they won’t go down) than the existing polls show. I mean, they have to be. The Republican in this house has gotten three mailers and his signs are everywhere. But it’s a high climb. Will the numbers be better enough?

Because his assertion that DLP’s support is wide and not deep is wrong. I know DLP fans. It’s like a cult. And Alex has the charisma of a cult leader while Pepi Diaz has the charisma of a mailman.

So it doesn’t matter how much blood money Pepi collects and how many signs he puts up, Alex still has the advantage.

On the blue side, one-time allies become rivals

Ladra does not expect the Democrat primary to be as ugly (or as interesting). Not just because the two candidates are ladies and not because they just aren’t as good at the negative stuff and not because there’s just really not much of it. Sure, Rivas Logan can be hit on the turncoat thing, cast as a onetime Republican with awards from conservative groups. But Taddeo can’t really do that while she boasts the endorsement and support of former Gov. Charlie “King Turncoat” Crist, who she ran in 2016 with as LG and who is among the multiple hosts at a fundraiser earlier this month. And yes, Taddeo can still be painted as a carpet bagger, especially since she is renting in the district.

But that’s not going to happen. Because the real reason this won’t get as ugly (or as interesting) as the GOP primary is that these two eran amiguitas the other day. Like five minutes ago. Nobody would believe a sudden death match.

“I plan on just making it a race about the issues and ideas,” Rivas Logan said. “I don’t have any animosity toward her. She can do her thing and I will do mine. She is not my enemy.”

Not that she isn’t a little peeved. Rivas Logan said she had already told Taddeo she was going to run for the seat in 2018. When Artiles was under fire to resign, she again said she would run — only maybe sooner. “She never mentioned to me that she was insterested in this seat,” Rivas Logan said, adding that she found out when she read it in the paper.

Taddeo may seem stronger. A Democratic poll shows she leads by 33 to 14 but that was with Baez in the race taking 10. She might only be leading 33 to 24, which closes the gap. And there is still 43 percent undecided.

She is decidedly raising more money, however. Taddeo has already collected, $45,559. More than a third of that came on June 8, the same day a big group of the county’s most prominent Dems hosted her at the Biltmore. The list includes Crist, who as well as former Miami Mayor Maurice Ferre, former Hialeah Mayor Raul Martinez, Miami-Dade Commissioners Jean Monestime and Daniella Levine-Cava, Miami Beach Commissioners Joy Malakoff and Micky Steinberg, South Miami Mayor Philip Stoddard, Pinecrest Councilman James McDonald, former Pinecrest Mayor Cindy Lerner. Then there are people like Joe Arriola and attorney Benedict Kuehne, who represents former Miami Lakes mayor Michael Pizzi, so we know his judgement is not the best ever, and Chris Korge, whose son ran for that seat last year and lost — to Rivas Logan, half asleep and with two cents on his dollar.

Rivas Logan is not the best fundraiser. She has only raised $10,425 — not a quarter of her opponent’s total. But she apparently can stretch a dollar further. Remember, she beat Andrew Korge in the threeway primary last year for the same seat — with $12,000 against close to a million. And that was without campaigning. Rivas Logan, who has represented small parts of the area first as a school board member and then as a state rep — even though, yes, she was Republican. But that can be a selling point in the general — suspended campaigning because she did not want to get dragged into a dirty fight against Andrew Korge, who was already on the attack (she has spectacularly thin skin for an elected). And she still beat him (Dwight Bullard beat her, however, and went on to lose the general to Artiles).

Taddeo also spent close to a million dollars against Joe Garcia in the 2016 congressional primary. And he beat her .

So Rivas Logan is pretty relaxed even though she has less cash. Neither of them have spent much. I see no signs for either in the district and the Dem in this household has not gotten one mailer.

“I don’t like asking people for money and that’s not my strength. My strength is my connection with voters in my district. I ran against a guy who had a million dollars. And I defeated him with $15,000,” Rivas Logan said. And even though it was a telephone conversation, Ladra could hear the smile on her face when she said she had no hard feelings against the Democrats supporting Taddeo.

“I hope that they support me in the general.”

It started.

The rain of negative mail we all knew we were going to get in the Republican primary for Senate District 40 began this week as an 8 1/2 by 11 piece landed in mailboxes. And former State Rep. Jose Felix “Pepi” Diaz — or his side, anyway — has drawn first blood against former Sen. Alex Diaz de la Portilla.

“Alex Diaz de la Portilla 16 years.. of failure,” it says on the front. “For 16 years, career politician Alex Diaz de la Portilla has raised our taxes and wrecked our economy,” it says on the front. The back has another photo of the former senator from his time in Tallahassee (not one of the best) and the same message: “Alex DLP’s higher taxes have killed jobs and hurt seniors,” it says, going after his bread and butter (the over 60 voter).

“Alex Diaz de la Portilla isn’t really conservative,” it says, with a checklist of his tax and spend plan. “His 16-year voting record proves he is just another tax and spend liberal.”

Oooooh. Them there is fighting words. Someone just called DLP a liberal. There are probably a few dozen things he would rather be called: Scoundrel, hard-headed, arrogant, evil genius even. The Dean did not return a call for immediate comment on Friday, but Ladra does not think que se queda callado.

Diaz has told Ladra and others that he was not going to attack DLP — from his own PAC, anyway. And so far, it’s true. This mailer was paid for by Making a Better Tomorrow, a political action committee that has existed since 2014 and which is funded mostly by other PACs, which is a roundabout way of hiding money. Ladra is still working on it.

Read related story: Will he or won’t he? Senate 40 race waits on Jose Felix Diaz

But this is just the first of what will likely be a series of attacks on DLP, who is leading in both polls that Ladra knows about, both his own internal poll, which has him up 36 points, and a GOP poll that has the former senator leading by a smaller double digit figure.

It is a short election cycle so there’s very little to lose by calling your opponent a career politician and a liberal and using the words higher taxes and hurting seniors.

But it’s possible that this is not the last of it. Diaz, er, I mean his supporters, will keep attacking DLP, whose name recognition is higher, because there’s very little else they can do. Absentee ballots drop in a month or so and there is no way Diaz can make up the difference in name id between now and then.

So the forecast is for a deluge.

Daisy Baez vs. Ana Rivas Logan vs. Annette Taddeo

The Senate 40 race to replace disgraced former Sen. Frank Artiles got a little more interesting Monday when Republican State Rep. Jose Felix Diaz said he would run, as expected, and perennial Democrat candidate Annette Taddeo said she would run, as always expected — setting up for some exciting primaries in both aisles. Former Sen. Alex Diaz de la Portilla (Republican) and newly-minted State Rep. Daisy Baez (Dem) had already announced their bid for the seat that opened up last month after Artiles was caught making racial and sexist slurs to colleagues.

Former State Rep. Ana Rivas Logan, a former Republican now Democrat, told Ladra late Monday that she intended to run as well and would announce this week, making it at least a three-way race for blue voters on July 25.

Read related story: Two new ‘open’ seats spur political pinata question: 40 or 27?

Or a two-and-a-half way race. Because even though she is the Democrat Party choice, it is going to be difficult for Baez — who is barely known in her own district, let alone the one next door — to get much traction with the other two veterans in the race. And she will have to resign her seat to run. Ladra asked the Army veteran and freshman legislator if it was worth the risk of losing a recently turned House seat and her voice, which she used this year to speak against laws to punish sanctuary cities, especially now that a Senate seat in her very own district, where she was elected six months ago, will come available next year: In what is becoming an avalanche (more on that later), newly-minted Sen. Jose Javier Rodriguez announced Monday that he would run for the congressional seat that will be vacated by a retiring Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. That means that the seat he won from former Sen. Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, which is where Baez votes now, would be open. (I stand corrected. J-Rod’s term is not up until 2020 and he does not have to resign to run so it might not be open… but it might be and there also might be a special election if he wins).

“I’m a person of my word. I’m not going to be switching around seats just because it’s convenient,” Baez said in what seemed like a dig at Taddeo. “I hope more people run. It’s good for democracy.”

Still, it really doesn’t make any sense for the Democrat Party, which has such a shallow bench, to put all their eggs into one basket and possibly lose a House seat they just won when they can spread their love. Maybe new Florida Dem Chair Stephen Bittel, for whom this is a first test, ought to rethink his longterm game plan. Both Taddeo and Rivas Logan have already had people vote for them in this district. They are both known entities here and this could very well become a race between the two of them.

Baez thinks that she can get voters interested in new blood. “I believe people are tired of the same names, the same faces, the family dynasties,” she said. “I think people in 40 have no appetite for recycled candidates.”

She scoffs at my carptebagger thing, since she would have to move. She said shares boundaries with Senate 40 and that she will still represent the people who elected her to House District 114 in November. “Many of the issues important to the constituents of 114 are the same in 40,” she said. “People want good jobs, economic development. We want to feel safe in our homes.”

Read related story: Red goes blue, blue goes red in four 305 seats

Those same people who elected her, Baez said, would support this move. “I went to Tallahassee and I had a great time and I learned a lot. And because I learned a lot there’s an understanding I can do better in the Senate. I can deliver better results to them as a state senator,” Baez said.

Rivas Logan, who ran for this seat last year and handily beat Andrew Korge in the primary blindfolded and with one hand tied behind her back, is not discouraged by the estrogen in the race or the fact that the Democrat Party would, again, pick someone else to back. She is used to being independent from her party, which used to be the GOP before it abandoned her in favor of Pepi Diaz when they were redrawn into the same district in 2012. Which means, by the way, that this could be a rematch of sorts.

“I’m going to do it and let the cards fall where they may,” Rivas Logan told Ladra Monday, adding that she called Taddeo to let her know. “I’m going to run a very positive campaign based on issues. And I hope we would support the other one in the general. But I am not getting out of anyone’s way this time.”

The schoolteacher and former Miami-Dade School Board member sort of canned her campaign for the same seat midway through the primary last year to avoid any negative attention from Korge, who was already hitting incumbent Sen. Dwight Bullard and had lots of money to do so. The strategy worked. Almost. She came back in time for early voting and actually beat Korge, who had outspent her.

Read related story: Senate 40 race: Ana Rivas logan still in it, could win it

She told Ladra that this was a better time for her because it is summer and school is out. “I spoke with my family and I have their full support,” she said, promising to keep her campaign positive. “It’s going to be about the issues. I have a track record of working for the people and fighting against the establishment.”

Taddeo — who moved into District 40 after selling her Pinecrest home in November — said she welcomed the competition. “I’ve never been afraid of races. In fact, this is the first time I run in an open seat,” Taddeo told Ladra.

This would be Taddeo’s first foray into a Senate campaign. She has run for congress, twice, and for county commission and lieutenant governor. It “wasn’t an easy decision” to run again, she said, but that she could not ignore the people in the community, including a number of influential black pastors, who had called her and asked her to run in this seat.

“They way things happened with Artiles was very hutful to a lot of constituents in our community,” she said, adding that she at first told them she would not run. “I was sure Dwight was going to do it,” she said, referring to Bullard, who won the primary last year but lost to Artiles and apparently understands now that only a Hispanic Democrat can beat a Hispanic Republican in that district. Bullard, she said, is not interested.

Read related story: Annette Taddeo has not gone gently into the good night

Even after Ros-Lehtinen, who Taddeo ran against in 2008, announced her retirement, the Colombian born small business owner said she didn’t flinch. “For me, it’s not about a title. It’s about fighting for the people. It’s not about a job. I have a job,” she said, referring to the translation company she owns.

“It really came down to listening to the people, the community that is telling you to do something. It would be inappropriate for me to ignore them,” she said.

One could say, however, that she keeps ignoring the voters who keep rejecting her. But Taddeo thinks this is the right seat at the right time. She told Ladra that she won almost 60% of the precincts that overlap with Congressional District 26 in her primary run against former Congressman Joe Garcia last August. Could she win in an off year?

This is all important because now that we are guaranteed a Hispanic woman, chances are that whoever wins the Democrat primary wins the general. It was already true because of the demographics — that district went to Clinton with 12 points — but now it becomes especially significant after the whole Artiles thing.

Sorry, Alex. Maybe he should run for his brother’s old Senate seat next year.