Subject: Mel Martinez

• Dire Emergency for Internet Radio!!

  July 13, 2007

• Senator Mel Martinez Appears on The Daily Show, Says He Supports McCain (Shocker)

  August 21, 2008

• Bailout Is In

  October 3, 2008

• Looking Forward to 2010

  November 5, 2008

• What's Next for Mayor Diaz?

  November 10, 2008

• Only One Of These Men Has A Reason To Smile

  Republicans across the nation may, for some reason, prefer Sarah Palin over Charlie Crist in an imaginary primary, but Crist can take solace in knowing he's the most popular man in Florida. According to the latest numbers 68% of voters approve of Crist's handling of his job. 50% said they'd vote for him in 2010, while only 28% would commit to a generic Democratic challenger. Republican Sen. Mel Martinez isn't so lucky. He has a ho-hum 42% approval rating (though slightly up from 37% in Septem

  November 18, 2008

• Sink To Announce 2010 Plans Soon

  A group of devoted fans have already started a Draft Alex Sink website, but they were hoping Florida's CFO would run for Governor. Turns out she may have her eye on Washington instead. The Hill is reporting that Sink will make an announcement very soon as to the future of her political career, but thinks she has her eyes on Mel Martinez's Senate seat and not Charlie Crist's Governor's mansion. In very early, speculative polling Sink is ahead of Martinez already in the 2010 race. Charlie's high a

  November 26, 2008

• Mel Martinez Decides One Term is Enough, 2010 Senate Race Wide Open

  It's been our fear that something huge politic-wise would happen while we were away looking at pretty, little art things, and what do you know it happens on the first day. Sonofa. Senator Mel Martinez has announced that he will not run for re-election in 2010. His Senate seat was generally seen as one of, if no the most, vulnerable ones up in two years, and his low approval ratings didn't paint a rosy picture for re-election anyway. His announcement ends a brief, but high profile political

  December 2, 2008

• Mel Martinez Implies He Could Have Beat Obama in Florida

  Here is Sen. Mel Martinez's first interview after announcing he won't seek reelection. It was conducted by Republican Lobbyist, and former Jeb advisor Justin Sayfie, for his internet computer website The Sayfie Review. The Herald's Beth Reinhard has already noted just how great it is for newspapers that politicians are giving exclusive interviews to partisan websites. Martinez says that this was a personal decision, not a political decision, and by the way, if he was the Republican Presiden

  December 4, 2008

• Sink May Put a Drain On GOP Senate Hopes, Yet

  "Sink not running against Martinez," technically this Politico.com headline from Monday is correct, as no one will be running against Mel Martinez, ever again. But their assertion that she wasn't throwing her hat in the ring to become Florida's junior Senator in 2010 may have been off the mark. Naked Politics, the "Internet blog," is reporting that she still hasn't made up her mind. They also point out that Sink's hubby, Bill McBride, took a strong beating in the 2002 Gov race against possible R

  December 4, 2008

• Charlie Carol = Tru Luv 4Eva

  The straight-people wedding of the century is this weekend, and our beloved Gov. Charlie Crist will marry this fancy New York socialite/whoopee cushion heiress, Carole Rome. Are the woman of Florida not good enough for you, Charlie? They have elected you. Has this woman ever elected you?The Tampa Tribune says "Crist's Fiancee Is No Stranger to Life at the Top." I guess Charlie likes his partners on top. When she divorced her last husband, she asked for alimony even though she is a Destiny's Ch

  December 9, 2008

• Obama Names Latino to Cabinet. Sit Down, Manny, It's Not You

  After weeks of throwing a cabinet seat at any former Clinton administration official with a heartbeat, Prez-to-be Obama today finally got around to appointing a Hispanic to his top circle of advisers.Riptide knows a lot of you have been lying awake at night, feverishly imagining the nightmare scenario that Miami might lose Mayor Manny Diaz to just such an appointment. Well, rest easy. And someone get Manny a stiff drink. Obama still hasn't called.Instead, Obama chose Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar

  December 16, 2008

• Florida's Congressional Delegation Shockingly Not That Old

  USA Today reports that the incoming Congress will be the oldest on record for both houses. The average representative is 57, while the average senator is 63. New Times has the same high-tech tool as USA Today -- a calculator -- and decided to probe further. Since Florida has the oldest average population of any state, you'd figure we'd be sending cases of Fixodent and Depends to Washington with our congressmen, but it turns out the average age of a representative from Florida rounds down to

  January 6, 2009

• Florida Democrats Lacking Latino Candidates

  Absent from the list of possible candidates for the Democratic nomination for either governor or senator in 2010 are Latinos. It's nothing new. The Democrats have never run a Latino for governor or the Senate, and they've never elected one to the U.S. House of Representatives. In fact, one would be hard-pressed to name a high-profile Hispanic Democrat to ever come out of Florida. Meanwhile, Republicans have found electoral success with Mel Martinez and Bob Martinez (no relation, and, yes, Bob

  January 7, 2009

• Meet Your First Senate '10 Also-Ran Candidate: Dr. Marion Thorpe

  After running a race for Congress this past fall that included claiming opponent Alcee Hastings threatened to kill him, Dr. Marion Thorpe only managed to get 18% of the vote in district-23. Now he's decided to fail on an even larger stage. He just become the first announced Republican to seek Mel Martinez's soon-to-be-vacated Senate seat in 2010. He's claiming to be the first African American Republican ever to seek state-wide office in Florida. He also served a stint as Florida's Chief Medical

  January 14, 2009

• Crist Is as Popular as Obama, No One Knows Any of These Senate Wannabes

  Charlie Crist is still enjoying a quite enviable approval rating, according to the latest Quinnipiac University poll, with 65 percent of Floridians approving of his job performance. That's about the percentage President Obama is getting in nationwide polls. Meanwhile, of all the names being thrown around for the 2010 Senate election, only Bill McCullom has major statewide name recognition. Fifty-four percent of Floridians were able to form an opinion about the attorney general. Compare that to

  January 21, 2009

• What Does Mel Martinez Do Now?

  One has to wonder what was going through Sen. Mel Martinez's mind when President Bush's helicopter took off from Washington this past Tuesday. Before Bush chose Martinez to be his first HUD secretary, he was a little-known Florida fixture who had run an unsuccessful lieutenant governor campaign with some wingnut from the Family Research Council that placed fifth in the '94 Republican primary. He ran the Orlando Housing Authority for a while, and in 2000 became the co-chairman of Bush's camp

  January 22, 2009

• McCollum or Boyd Won't Be Your Next Senator

  Both sides of the Senate 2010 fray just lost significant rumored candidates. Republican Attorney General Bill McCollum and Democratic Congressmen Allen Boyd have both said they won't seek the open seat. McCollum has sought a Senate seat twice before. He claimed his party's nomination in 2000, but lost to Democrat Bill Nelson. He tried his luck again in 2004, but lost in the primary to Mel Martinez and got called "the new darling of the homosexual extremists" as a parting gift. Instead McCollum w

  January 28, 2009

• Mel Martinez Replacing Modesto Maidique at FIU?

  So, a bit of the massive Mel Martinez early-retirement rumor we missed yesterday is that Martinez might become president of a Florida university, and The Buzz points out it just so happens Florida International University is looking for a prez. Well, isn't that nice. Martinez is denying left and right that he'll be stepping down early, but Help Wanted signs outside university presidents' offices come around only once in a while. Appointing a former Bush cabinet secretary as president would a

  February 3, 2009

• North Miami Mayor Kevin Burns to Run for Senate

  In our very important four-point treatise on netroots campaigning, we predicted "gay candidates will be the hot new netroots cause, just watch," and now, right here in Florida, that theory will be put to the test. North Miami Mayor Kevin Burns will tomorrow officially kick off his campaign to seek the Senate seat being vacated by Mel Martinez.And if Burns has any chance of winning, it's going to come from unbelievably strong netroots and grassroots support. In a Democratic field noted for zer

  February 16, 2009

• Local Legislatures On Both Sides Get Good Grades on Poverty Issues

  The National Center of Poverty Law put out their annual Poverty Scorecard, and while scrolling through it we started seeing a pattern. Democrats were all getting As and A s, while Republicans were all getting Cs, Ds and Fs. Take our Senators for example: Democrat Bill Nelson got an A , Republican Mel Martinez barely passed with a D. This pattern held up pretty well until we got to South Florida's congressmen. Our entire delegation, regardless of Party identifications, all got As! Kendrick Meek a

  February 19, 2009

• Vern Buchanan Not a Big Fan of Español

  Possible Republican Senate Candidate Rep. Vern Buchanan took his speaking spot at the  Lincoln Day Dinner in Manatee County this weekend to rile up the base, declaring, "We need to make English the official language of America." It's apparently nothing new for him, but we're thinking his Senate campaign might just be dead before it starts. How awkward would it be for him to shake hands with the Versailles crew?  Republicans owe their last Senate victory, Mel Martinez, to his strong sup

  February 24, 2009

• Mel Martinez Has Been Searching His Soul Tonight, And He Is So Done With Public Service

  For a man who has held so many government positions, Mel Martinez never seemed too gung-ho about public service. As he put it in his book, A Sense of Belonging, politics, "sort of sneaked up and tapped me softly on the shoulder." But after all these years he would like that gentle tapping to leave him alone. In 2006 he was selected to head the RNC, but then was like, "you know what guys, this isn't for me, sorry." Then he was expected to at least run for reelection to Senate. Instead he was like

  April 2, 2009

• McCain Will Not Help "You People" (aka Hispanics)

  Sadly, McCain doesn't seem to be for Hispanics. Remember when John McCain used to be the "cool Republican"? Which is about as cool as being a "cool dad," but he was genial enough. Then things happened (you betcha) and he has been bitter about it ever sense. Last month he was at a meeting with Hispanic business leaders with fellow senators John Thune and our own Mel Martinez. According to The National Journal, he seemed a wee bit ornery: What began as a collegial airing of views abruptly changed

  April 3, 2009

• Could Che Guevara Be Cloned?

  November 8, 2007

• Loaded

  September 23, 2004

• Dems Unveil First Florida Attack Ad of 2010

  The Democrats are ready to paint Charlie Crist as a political escape artist, even before he officially announces whether he will run for Senate. This ad will begin running in the state capital tomorrow. "The DSCC obviously knows they're in trouble in Florida, because this reeks of desperation. Too bad they haven't learned that voters in the Sunshine State are looking for real solutions, accountability, and checks and balances in Washington -- not another round of pithy negative attacks," Am

  April 29, 2009

• Rumors on the Twitter-nets: Mel Martinez to Resign Early

  Here's a prediction by national Republican political operative Roger Stone via PoHo via the St. Pete Times' Adam Smith's Twitter: Roger Stone predicts; Mel Martinez resigns soon; Crist appoints caretaker - Jim Smith - and announces his candidacy for Sen.A prediction by one guy posted on another guy's Twitter picked up from one alt-weekly's blog by another. How's that for a sound rumor? But Adam Smith is one of the state's most in-the-know journalists, and Stone is a knowledgeable politico. Not

  May 1, 2009

• Charlie Crist Expected To Announce Senate Bid Tomorrow

  In the past month the idea that Charlie Crist would run for Senate has gone from hot political rumor to almost foregone conclusion, and news broke this weekend that it is indeed fact. Republican Party of Florida chairman Jim Greer told the Pensacola News Journal last night that Crist will announce his candidacy on Tuesday in a low-key event in Tallahassee. The announcement will come with an immediate, and enviable batch of endorsements from state and national Republican officials. 

  May 11, 2009

• Bill McCullom May Enter Gov Race on Monday

  According to Naked Politics, Republican Attorney General Bill McCullom will officially enter the Governor's race on Monday in Orlando. McCullom spent 20 years in the US House. A career that included a number of high profile leadership and chairmen positions. He tried to run for Senate in 2000, but lost in the general election to Bill nelson. He tried to run for Senate again in 2004, but lost to Mel Martinez in the primary, because he is "the darling of homosexual extremists" or something, e

  May 14, 2009

• Gay Rights Leader Announced as Chair of McCollum Finance Committee; also includes Huizenga, Braman and Fanjul

  The Buzz has the full list of members on the Bill McCollum for governor finance committee. It is a massive thing full of the state's top Republican business men, lawyers, lobbyists and other assorted movers and shakers. Then again, what do you expect on a finance committee? Though, you might not expect who's chairing the thing.  Jonathan Kislak is the man on top of the committee. He also lad the Florida Red & Blue PAC that spearheaded the fight against Amendment Two

  May 20, 2009

• News Roundup

  Local Coral Gables-based Bank United collapsed yesterday in the biggest bank failure of 2009. The remnants were sold to an investor group, and all their offices should be open today. [AFP] A man tried to set fire to a synagogue on Miami Beach, but was caught on video. The suspect has been arrested. [CBS4] A lady in West Miami-Dade left her toddler in her pick-up truck all day while she worked inside a Petsmart. The child died. [CBS4] Hey Mel Martinez are you leaving the Senate early

  May 22, 2009

• Florida Senate Delegation To Remain Firmly Anti-Burmese Python

  Interior Secretary Ken Salazar will be touring the Everglades tomorrow at the invitation of Sen. Bill Nelson. The day will kick off with a briefing on the efforts to trip and track invasive Burmese pythons that make their home in the 'Glades Most of the snakes loose in the National park are former pets that were dumped by their owners, and now compete for resources with indigenous species, if they're not busy eating them. They have a taste for raccoo

  May 27, 2009

• New York Billionaire Eyeing Possible Florida Senate Run

  I don't know if you've been following the recent mess going on in the New York State legislature, but one of the key figures behind it reportedly considering a run for Mel Martinez's soon-to-be vacated senate seat. Lucky us!Tom Galisano is the billionaire founder of Paychex, a payroll processing company, and co-owns the Buffalo Sabres hockey team. In the past 15 years he has run for New York Governor three times on the Independence Party ticket, spending a combined $93 millio

  June 22, 2009

• News Roundup

  Pet robbery: "When one of the women started stuffing chihuahua puppies into a black bag, store employee Rafael Sanchez, 32, noticed and approached her." [Herald]Miami is the sexiest city in America according to trip advisor. Don't let it go to your head. Oops, too late. [SFBJ]"The vote to terminate the allegedly incompetent [CIP] manager was unanimous. But for the five months since her dismissal, Richardson has continued to draw her full executive director's salary of $168,000 a year, an $800

  June 26, 2009

• Crist, Meek Each Bring in About $3 Million for Senate Race; Rubio Closer to $300k

  Campaign fundraising filings for the quarter that ended last week are due to the FEC next week. No candidate in the race to replace Sen. Mel Martinez has officially released numbers, but a report by the Hill claims Republican Gov. Charlie Crist and Democratic Rep. Kendrick Meek are each expected to have totals close to $3 million. Meek raised $1.2 million in the past quarter, bringing his full tally to just shy of $3.1 million. Meanwhile, the Hill cites a report by the Orland

  July 7, 2009

• Manny Diaz Urges Senators to Vote No on Bill That Could Water Down Concealed Weapons Laws

  via Drab Makyo's flickrCity of Miami Mayor Manny Diaz has come out against the "Respecting States Rights and Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2009." The bill, introduced by Sen. Jon Thune (R-ND), would allow citizens who have a license to carry a concealed firearm in their state to carry one in another state if that state issues concealed firearm licenses. It could water down the existing concealed weapons laws of many states. Only states who don't issue concealed weapons legislation

  July 16, 2009

• Mel Martinez Takes Pride in Sotomayor's "Historic Achievement"

  The Senate's lone Hispanic Republican, Florida's Mel Martinez, says he'll vote for the Supreme Court's first Hispanic nominee. Martinez is the second Republican senator to announce his intent to vote for Sonia Sotomayor. (Olympia Snowe quickly become the third after Martinez's announcement.)Here's his statement: "Given her judicial record, and her testimony this week, it is my determination that Judge Sotomayor is well qualified to serve as Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court

  July 17, 2009

• Charlie Crist Finally Makes up His Mind About Sotomayor

  Charlie Crist had been awkwardly mum on whether he would support the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor. Now that it's almost assured she'll get confirmed, he has finally decided to let everyone know that, no, he would not vote to confirm this lady. Here's his statement (via Naked Politics): "Judge Sotomayor is worthy of respect for her many accomplishments and her remarkable story of success. However, I have strong concerns that Judge Sotomayor would not strictly and object

  July 21, 2009

• Kendrick Meek Opposes Using Federal Funds to Pay for Abortions

  Rep. Kendrick Meek has joined a small group of house Democrats asking that any health-care reforms not lead to federal funding of abortion, according to the Washington Post. The possibility of taxpayer money being used to pay for abortions is becoming a hot-button issue in the health-care reform debate -- one that Republicans might use to completely derail the purpose. Meek joined four other centrist Democrats who sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi saying they are "increasingly conc

  July 22, 2009

• United States Will Officially Have It's First Hispanic Justice

  Sonia Sotomayor was confirmed by the Senate today. No big surprise there. Every member of the Democratic caucus, save for Ted Kennedy who remains ill and could not attend, voted for Sotomayor. That would include, of course, Bill Nelson.While only nine republicans offered their "yays," including Mel Martinez. She'll officially be sworn in this Saturday at 11 am. [Salon: Sonia Sotomayor, Supreme Court justice]

  August 6, 2009

• Mel Martinez Will Resign

  ​Woah, boy. Grumpy Sen. Mel Martinez has apparently had enough of this "serving the people" stuff. Several sources report he will resign, possibly as early as today. His term would expire in early 2011, and he had previously promised to serve the rest of it. But the race to replace him had already begun, with Gov. Charlie Crist as the current leader in polls and fundraising.Usually in Senate races where there's such a powerful early frontrunner such as Crist, there's not much drama. But the Fl

  August 7, 2009

• Who Will Charlie Crist Appoint to Replace Mel Martinez?

  Charlie Crist has the power​As long as I live, I don't think Florida will see a more chaotic election cycle than 2010. Now, Mel Martinez has thrown in another twist by resigning early, leaving the decision to pick his appointment to Gov. Charlie Crist, who is running to replace Martinez himself. Let's take a look at some of the names being floated around complete with our odds, which we calculated through the magic of "picking numbers at random that sounded sensible." Himself: I

  August 7, 2009

• Connie Mack Won't Take Senate Gig, But Clay Shaw Jr. Will

  The Florida Political blogosphere has exploded with Mel Martinez Madness, and the main symptom is wildly wondering who will replace him. We already put in our two cents, but here's the latest updates. Charlie Crist further confirms he won't appoint himself, but will have someone picked out by the time the Senate returns from its August recess. Though he has no favored candidates yet. [PoliPulse]Former Sen. Connie Mack says Crist asked him if he'd take the job, but he has no interest in it.

  August 7, 2009

• Lincoln Diaz-Balart Won't Pursue Senate Seat

  Lincoln Diaz-BalartRep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart has announced he won't pursue Mel Martinez's open Senate seat. Gov. Charlie Crist had sent Diaz-Balart an application of sorts for the job. His announcement also puts to rest any crazy political musical chairs rumors his open House seat could have set off."It was a great honor to be considered by Governor Crist for appointment to the United States Senate. After giving the governor's request serious consideration and deliberation, I have decided to rema

  August 18, 2009

• LeMieux Is the New Darling of the Homosexual Extremists

  I didn't want to put up another pix of LeMieux's face, so in its place is the greatest picture of all time. ​Remember when Mel Martinez deemed his primary opponent Bill McCollum as the "new darling of the homosexual extremists?" Well, now he's being replaced by the new new darling of the homosexual extremists. The combined forces of the Times/Herald are trying to stir up some controversy by dragging out quotes George LeMieux made 11 years ago that give the impression he doesn't totally ha

  August 28, 2009

• Should Governors Really Have the Sole Power to Appoint Replacement Senators?

  ​Counting Charlie Crist's announcement today that he's chosen his former Chief of Staff to fill out the remained of Mel Martinez's senate term, in that past year alone six United States Senators have entered office through being appointed by a Governor. Depending the outcome of a debate over a law change in Massachusetts that number could rise to seven. Aside from the relatively low key choice of Michael Bennet in Colorado to succeed Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, five of those ap

  August 28, 2009

• News Roundup

  Eleven ACORN workers in Miami-Dade were arrested or are being sought for falsifying voter registration cards, which, OMG, means Barack Obama stole the election. Oh, wait. ACORN claims to have alerted the police to the suspects in the first place and that there was no effect on the election outcome. [Herald]Mark Foley will host a new radio show in Palm Beach called Inside the Mind of Mark Foley. I'm not sure how radio waves will be able to properly transmit thoughts of smooth-skinned boys playful

  September 9, 2009

• Florida: 47th Most Powerful State in DC

  ​Florida ranks 47th our of the 50 states in terms of influence and seniority in the US Congress according to an analysis by The Sarasota Herald-Tribune. A dismal ranking by any means, but even more so considering we're the 4th most populace state. Our legislators have less swagger on the hill than those from tiny states like Vermont and Rhode Island -- States where the total population is less than half of all of Miami-Dade County. The Herald-Tribune took into account Roll Call's annual i

  September 9, 2009

• When It Comes to "Government Waste," Ros-Lehtinen and the Diaz-Balarts Might as Well Be Democrats

  Cover art from CAGW's Waste Watch​The Citizens Against Government Waste's name pretty much says it all. The fiscally conservative think tank hates pork and government waste, which apparently includes programs such as expanding health care to kids in low-income families, providing low-interest loans to college students, and requiring insurance companies to cover mental health issues. No-good, useless, evil, reckless waste like that. In its annual ratings, CAGW chose 48 bills from the

  October 13, 2009