DOCUMENT: ABORTION REPORT

GOVERNOR'S RACES AND ABORTION - FLORIDA GOVERNOR: MARTINEZ UNFAVORABLES OVER 50%

      A MIAMI HERALD/Mason Dixon poll published today (818 FL
     RV's, conducted 7/22-24, margin of error +/- 3.5%) gives Martinez
     a 53% unfavorable rating:

     How would you rate the performance of Governor Bob Martinez as
     governor?

     Excellent                      7%
     Good                          36%
     Fair                          32%
     Poor                          21%
     Undecided                      4%

     If the 1990 election for governor were held today, would you vote
     to re-elect Martinez, consider another candidate or vote to
     replace Martinez?

     Re-elect Martinez             24%
     Replace Martinez              24%
     Consider another candidate    45%
     Not sure                       7%

     If the 1990 general election for governor were held today, and if
     the candidates were George Stuart, the Democrat, and Bob
     Martinez, the Republican, which candidate would get your vote?

     Martinez                      50%
     Stuart                        24%
     Undecided                     26%

     If the 1990 general election for governor were held today, and if
     the candidates were Bill Nelson, the Democrat, and Bob Martinez,
     the Republican, which candidate would get your vote?

     Martinez                      43%
     Nelson                        35%
     Undecided                     22%

     Governor Martinez says he would support changing Florida law so
     that abortion would be illegal except in cases of rape or incest,
     or to save a woman's life.  In view of Martinez's position, would
     you say you are more likely to vote to re-elect Martinez, less
     likely to vote to re-elect Martinez or that his position would
     not affect your vote?

     More likely                   21%
     Less likely                   38%
     No effect                     40%
     Not sure                       2%

     Martinez spokesman Jon Peck:  "I was really encouraged by the
     numbers we saw, given the battering he has taken the past two
     months."  Stuart:  "This is a governor who has gone through two
     special sessions, signed lots of bills and passed out checks to
     lots of people, and still can't get support."  Nelson manager Ted
     Phelps:  "The myth of Bob Martinez's resurrection is just that, a
     myth.  His overall rating continues to be very, very weak, and he
     continues to be very, very vulnerable."  MIAMI HERALD's Fiedler:
     "[T]he governor's anti-abortion views might severely complicate
     his hopes of regaining the support of most voters, even within
     his own party ... The governor managed to get only weak backing
     from Republican voters suggesting a lack of passion, if not
     commitment, for him" (7/28).
      GOP GRUMBLING:  GOP state Chairman Van Poole is trying to
     persuade state Sen. Marlenee Woodson-Howard not to challenge Gov.
     Bob Martinez in the GOP primary.  Republican committeeman Tommy
     Thomas, who opposed Poole's nomination as party head:  "This goes
     back to the old machine politics of Tammany Hall.  They don't
     give anyone else a chance.  The state chairman is supposed to be
     impartial."  Poole:  "Once a person files for office, then the
     party has to step aside.  Right now, it's our objective to get
     the governor re-elected."  Woodson-Howard:  "It was clear that he
     prefers that the governor not have any opposition.  That leads me
     to question whether the state party stays out of the primary
     process."  Thomas argues that Martinez is unelectable:  "I live
     in the Panhandle, where there are a lot of conservative
     Democrats.  They wouldn't vote for him again if he invented a
     cure for cancer" (Hatch, GAINESVILLE SUN, 7/27).
      ST. PETERSBURG TIMES' Nickens says impact of Martinez's
     special session on abortion on his reelection bid is "unclear."
     Nickens says the governor has "crafted a plan with plenty of
     outs. ... The Legislature appears to be divided over whether to
     adopt any additional restrictions.  If Martinez's plans aren't
     refined or fail to pass, he can react the same way he did when
     the Legislature did not adopt his broad suggestions  for refining
     growth-management laws or expanding the Florida Turnpike system:
     Shrug his shoulders, say he tried, and blame it all on the
     Legislature" (7/27).
      Martinez called a charge that his aide, Brian Ballard,
     cheated on a law exam a "cheap shot" (Halldin, TAMPA TRIBUNE,
     7/27).  ST. PETERSBURG TIMES editorial:  "Ballard is greatly
     offended by such talk.  So when his professor called him this
     spring to report the allegation, he did what any indignant, self-
     respecting, hard-working student would do:  He agreed to lower
     his grade if the professor would promise not to call him a
     cheater."  The editorial says this is evidence of "the keen and
     uncompromising sense of negotiation" that Ballard must have
     picked up during his time at law school (7/27).



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