JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- More than a month before the start of the Florida primary, one race to watch is the battle for the Republican nomination for Jacksonville's Senate seat.

The latest skirmish has candidate Randall Terry accusing incumbent Jim King of having the backing of a bikini bar.

Terry, 46, who has lived in Ponte Vedra Beach for three years, will run against King in the heavily Republican district that stretches from Duval County to northern Volusia County.

In a move Terry called disappointing and sad, Gov. Jeb Bush publicly announced Wednesday that he is endorsing King.

King has served in the Legislature since 1986, which was the last time he had a primary opponent. He was Senate president in 2003 and 2004.

Terry recently struck back, accusing King of taking contributions from a Jacksonville gentlemen's club called Wackos.

"He (King) offered money to see private parts and to see more than what I was showing," said a woman who said she used to be a dancer at Wackos.

She's not the only former Wackos employee who allegedly saw King at the bikini bar.

"I was there when he was there. There's no mistake in it. I've seen him there," said a former Wackos disc jockey.

The person who brought the former dancer and disc jockey to light was none other than King's opponent -- Terry.

"He will lie to the public and try to position himself as a family-values Republican," Terry said.

He said not only does King frequent the club, but that King has also been accepting political contributions from it.

"He knew, and now he's trying to lie his way out of it," Terry said.

When confronted about the allegations against him, King turned the accusations back on his opponent.

"When we got the check, I looked at the sheet where it said list employer and it said bar and grill. Well, how do I know? Randall must frequent some of those places, I guess," King said.

After learning that Terry had provided the media with a dancer and a disc jockey from Wackos, his campaign said:

"These allegations are patently not true. This is a desperate reaction by a desperate campaign. Clearly, he (Terry) is doing this because he didn't get the governor's endorsement. This should prove to the voters what type of man Randall Terry is to counter that."

To counter the campaign statement, Terry said he's the type of man who tells the truth.

"This is critical because it goes to the core of a man and what he will do legislatively," Terry said.