by Brian Crowley

RIVIERA BEACH -Climbing aboard his Yamaha 1100 V Star motorcycle, U.S. Senate candidate Willie Logan goes for a spin, slowly around the parking lot.

"Thank you," shouts the television cameraman. Logan wheels into a parking space, shuts down
and grins as he leaves the saddle. "You do a lot of strange things in a campaign," he says.

Some think the very campaign of the Opa-locka state representative is strange. After all, the lifelong Democrat has left his party to run a long shot independent campaign.

His idea for kick starting his campaign --a motorcycle tour of the state which he began on May 8 and plans to end on Tuesday, the Fourth of July.

So far, it's working. Logan has gotten scores of newspaper and television stories because of his
campaign gimmick.

Until a few months ago, Logan, 43, had never been on a motorcycle. "I was pretty nervous when I first started," he says. "When I first got the bike, it took me 30 minutes just to get it out of the parking lot." 

Now, after traveling from the Panhandle to South Florida, Logan says he is becoming an accomplished rider who has made a lot of biking friends along the way.

He's hoping that many of those friends and other people who hear about his motorcycle tour will support his campaign.

As Logan sees it all he needs is 35 percent of the vote to win the Senate seat being vacated by retiring Republican Connie Mack.

Logan is challenging Democratic Insurance Commissioner Bill Nelson and Republican U.S.
Rep. Bill McCollum of Altamonte Springs.