As we write this on Monday afternoon, it's still not known if the debt ceiling deal struck by Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell on Sunday night will pass through Congress.
We know Bill Nelson has indicated he will vote for it in the U.S. Senate, but the two front-runners who hope to take his job next year, Republican Adam Hasner and George LeMieux, both say they would vote no if they were sitting in Nelson's seat.
In a press release issued Monday afternoon entitled "Debt Deal a Compromise Not Worth Supporting, LeMieux said, "The proposal fails to make meaningful cuts now, fails to reform entitlement programs, and opens the door to tax increases."
Adam Hasner blasted the President, saying "no one is more intransigent and opposed to compromise than President Obama. He has brought our country to the brink of fiscal calamity because of his stubborn insistence on raising the debt limit without real spending cuts or any serious fiscal reforms."
But that rhetoric was tame compared with what the two have said about each other today.
This article appears in Jul 28 – Aug 3, 2011.