Two candidates avidly start to talk about fathers — each other’s

Frank Cerabino

Finally, a refreshing political race devoid of candidates wanting to talk about their fathers.

If you’re like me, you’ve grown sick of politicians tactically waxing about their dads in ways that nearly induce diabetic comas.

If I have to hear one more forced reference to Marco Rubio’s father, the sainted bartender, I might just hurl.

So we should all stop to acknowledge a rare gift in this political season, a brief glimmer of gritty reality that has blossomed in the Democratic primary for a Florida Senate seat in Palm Beach County.

The last thing Bobby Powell and Michael Steinger want to talk about is their own fathers, a pair of convicted felons. Hoo- ray for us!

You might even imagine that in a gesture of mutual self-respect, Powell and Steinger would have adopted a “no fathers” rule as they launched into their menu of mudslinging topics over the District 30 seat.

Anything but the “F” word. But no, they’ve managed to talk about fathers.

Each other’s father. Like I said, very refreshing.

Powell, an incumbent state representative from Riviera Beach, is looking to move up to the Senate. But he’s being chal- lenged in Tuesday’s primary by Steinger, a personal injury lawyer who is looking to take his first step into state politics with the help of a half-million dollars of his own money.

I mention Steinger’s rookie status because it seemed like a foolish mistake for him to be the first to breach the no-fathers threshold.

Steinger’s campaign ran one of those sinister and grainy TV attack ads that seemed to stick to the normal channels of cartoonish hyperbole. But about halfway into the spot, a gritty mug shot of Powell’s father appeared on the screen as the narrator segued from a critique of the Legislature’s unsuccessful efforts to end permanent alimony.

“Powell assaults the rights of stay-at-home moms,” the ad says, “then lets a convicted woman beater and felon keep a gun in Powell’s home.”

The mug shot comes from the 2014 arrest of Powell’s father, 67, also named Bobby, who got into a sloppy domes-