An independent Mason-Dixon poll last week showed former Spanish-language TV journalist and personality Maria Elvira Salazar leading Shalala by 2 percentage points — and Diaz said that lead may grow as word blazes through the Cuban-American community about Lee’s comments.
Shalala and Pelosi insisted they were unaware of the logistical details of the event.
“I don’t know who invited her. We have members of Congress popping down here all the time,” said Shalala, who stressed that she’s anti-Castro.
Pelosi denied knowing why Lee decided not to appear at the event.
“You’re asking me a question that I cannot answer,” Pelosi told POLITICO. “I would not begin to go down that path because I don’t know what the objection to her was and why she is not here.”
Pelosi said Lee told her the night before that she was in Georgia instead.
“She’s all over the country. It’s a coincidence,” Pelosi said of her friend. “We are friends. She’s my colleague in California. She is a leader in the Congress of the United States, a respected leader. But I’m all over the country, everyplace, all the time. And by coincidence, some of my colleagues overlap in their travels. But it isn’t a decision that they make to go to be where I am. They’re going to where they’re going. And it sometimes overlaps.”
But according to Democratic and campaign insiders in Washington and Miami, Lee’s decision to come to Miami came at the request of Pelosi, whose visit was planned a month before. Lee’s appearance was relayed to the Shalala campaign through Washington Democratic channels on Monday night, said the sources, who asked to remain anonymous to avoid angering Pelosi.
Shalala’s staff felt they were boxed in. They knew the Lee appearance could be problematic but this was an event that Pelosi was coming down for and they were afraid of slighting the Democratic leader and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. So staffers on Tuesday posted the campaign announcement on Shalala’s website the following day anyway, touting the arrival of Lee and Pelosi.
“Pelosi is the future House speaker. She’s the most powerful Democrat in the chamber,” said a Shalala campaign staffer, explaining the decision to plow ahead. “We couldn’t offend her and tell her she couldn’t bring her friend. We were stuck.”