U.S. House of Representatives

Protestors Agitate Outside Rubio's Empty Office

Raul Martinez Leads Lincoln Diaz-Balart

Just a Reminder: Your Congressmen are Weak

Oh, How Ileana Ros-Lehtinen Is Dumb, Let Us Count The Ways

If Ileana Ros-Lehtinen ever got an important 3am phone call of national importance, apparently she would hang up, and then put out a press release about it. Riptide has already written up Ileana's now infamous Obama hang up, but let's use the magic of bullet points to painstakingly detail just how ... More >>

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 ... More >>

The Perfect Resumé for a Florida Senate Seat

Political math god Nate Silver put together a handy pie chart showing that the career stop for a majority of current U.S. senators is a U.S. House seat. Good news for Kendrick Meek, Connie Mack IV, and the handful of other representatives who might be angling for the seat, but don't expect to see a ... More >>

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 lo ... More >>

Oh, Look, We Already Have Front Runners for 2014

They don't share political idealogies, but they do share a hair stylist. It's a sign of just how much dominance Charlie Crist has in Florida politics that both races he could conceivably run in 2010 - Governor or, less likely, Senator - are having a hard time attracting big name candidate, but the n ... More >>

Rod Smith Might Be Considering Losing Another Primary Election

When it comes to the 2010 Senate election, just about anybody who's nobody is getting in. Rod Smith, a former state Senator of the conservative Democrat variety, made a decent run in the 2006 Gubanotorial primary, but ended up losing to Jim Davis. Along the way though he picked up some key newspaper ... More >>

The Limp Blimp Also Rises

Up, up, and away! With another $11 million in appropriations, TV Marti flies high once more.

Connie Mack IV Will Not Run for Senate in State He Barely Lives In

If Charlie Crist does not run for Senate, Marco Rubio is officially the luckiest man on Earth. Rep. Connie Mack IV (né Cornelius Harvey McGillicuddy IV), who pulled in decent numbers during early polling mainly because he shares a name with his father, former Sen. Connie Mack III, has decided not t ... More >>

Freedom-Fried Brains

Careful what you say when you order food, you borderline patriot!

The Money Trail

Careful what you say when you order food, you borderline patriot!

Politics & Parties & Power

How to campaign in the new House District 25? There's always Cuba.

Heretics in the House

They came to Miami. They gathered publicly. They showed no fear. And they trashed the Cuba embargo.

News of the Weird

They came to Miami. They gathered publicly. They showed no fear. And they trashed the Cuba embargo.

News of the Weird

They came to Miami. They gathered publicly. They showed no fear. And they trashed the Cuba embargo.

Hats The Musical Starring Senator Frederica Wilson

State Senator Frederica Wilson has Practical hats. She has dramatical hats. She also has pragmatical hats, fanatical hats, oratorical hats, delphioracle hats, skeptical hats, dispeptical hats, romantical hats, pedantical hats, critical hats, parasitical hats, and so on and so forth.Herald/Times  ... More >>

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, ... More >>

Man on Gas Pumps Will Not Run For Gov

via Joakim Lind's flickrFlorida Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson will not run for Governor. Not that any one is that surprised, since the state party and major fundraisers were already congealing around Attorney General Bill McCollum. Bronson had earlier claimed that since his name was ... More >>

Paula Dockery Looking into Governor's Race

So much for the state Party's efforts to playdown the importance of primaries during the 2010 election cycle. Attorney General Bill McCollum is the establishment favor to take the Republican's nomination for the Governors race. So much so that it seems Agriculture Commissioner Charles ... More >>

Man Controls 27 Percent of Florida's PACs, Running for Three Offices

Meet Josue Larose. He'd like your vote for governor... or maybe for the U.S. House? If not that, then maybe for the state Senate? Well, if you're not going to vote for him, could you at least cut a check to one of his 160 political action committees? The Sun-Sentinel reports that ... More >>

Yolly Roberson Kicks Off House Bid Against Crowded Field, Including Her Ex-Husband

With Kendrick Meek resigning to seek a Senate seat, Florida's 17th congressional district will have its first non-Meek representative since 1993. District 17, with a Cook pvi of D 34, is one of the most Democratic leaning districts in the entire nation, so the real race ... More >>

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. ... More >>

Scorsese's Shutter Island is the good kind of insane

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. ... More >>

Crist Runs as an Independent: The Live Blog

​Any moment now Florida Governor Charlie Crist is expected to announce that he's running as an independent for Senate. A crowd full of reporters and supporters have gathered at Straub Park in St. Pete, Fl to hear his announcement. We're watching CNN where Wolf Blitzer says they'll be covering it l ... More >>

George Rekers Has Company: The Top Ten Outed Right-Wing Homophobes

George Alan Rekers, latest in a long line of closeted homophobes.Unless you've spent the last 48 hours holed up in a French B&B humping the homosexuality right out of your rent-a-boy, you've probably heard about Miami New Times' exposé of gay-bashing evangelist George Alan Rekers' European trys ... More >>

Marco Rubio Should Get Fitted For A White Robe and Hood

Uncle Luke, the man whose booty-shaking madness once made the U.S. Supreme Court stand up for free speech, gets as nasty as he wants to be for Miami New Times. This week, Luke sizes up Senate candidates Charlie Crist, Kendrick Meek, and Marco Rubio.Alex Izaguirre​Rubio will probably go down in his ... More >>

Marco Rubio and David Rivera's Tallahassee House Faces Foreclosure

Long before Marco Rubio and David Rivera became two of the highest profile Republican candidates in Florida, the Miami politicos shared a nice shady suburban house in Tallahassee, a few miles from the state capitol, just off the Apalachee Parkway.via New York Times MagazinePresumably, the scene insi ... More >>

Florida Republican Candidate's Glee-Inspired Campaign Ad

​Used to be when a politician had an embarrassing kid, he or she would exercise what's known as the "Rosemary Kennedy option." Nowadays, you just put your crazy kid in your commercials and let him sing, dance, and get his Glee on in the hopes it will somehow get you electe ... More >>

Joe Garcia is Leading David Rivera in District 25, Says Democratic Poll

​Conventional wisdom says that the 2010 midterm elections are supposed to be tough for Democrats. There's already some conservative pundits who think that Republicans taking over the house is a done deal. Of course, national conventional political wisdom doesn't always translate to Miami-Dade, and ... More >>

FAIR-y tales: The immigration saga continues

​Conventional wisdom says that the 2010 midterm elections are supposed to be tough for Democrats. There's already some conservative pundits who think that Republicans taking over the house is a done deal. Of course, national conventional political wisdom doesn't always translate to Miami-Dade, and ... More >>

Frederica Wilson Gives Up on Fight to Wear Hats on House Floor

The floor of the United States House of Representatives will remain a boring chapeau-free waste land. Representative-elect Frederica Wilson will give up on her erstwhile fight to get Speaker-elect John Boehner to end a ban on hats while the body is in session.

Candidates Line Up to Replace Frederica Wilson in Special State Senate Election

​>While Frederica Wilson is up in D.C. preparing to be sworn into the U.S. Congress, her seat in the Florida Senate sits empty. Yesterday, outgoing Governor Charlie Crist announced that the primary election to replace Wilson will take place on February 8, while the general election will be Mar ... More >>

What would immigration reform look like if the Feds got off their duffs?

​>While Frederica Wilson is up in D.C. preparing to be sworn into the U.S. Congress, her seat in the Florida Senate sits empty. Yesterday, outgoing Governor Charlie Crist announced that the primary election to replace Wilson will take place on February 8, while the general election will be Mar ... More >>

Marco Rubio, Frederica Wilson Make List of Congressional Hotties

Marco Rubio Riptide, 4-eva!​It's widely accepted that, for a politician at least, newly minted Florida senator Marco Rubio is kind of a hottie. I mean, he doesn't quite have that Aaron Schock six-pack, but no one would be embarrassed& to be caught up in a D.C. sex scandal with him. So it's n ... More >>

Rep. Wasserman Schultz: Republicans' Effort to Redefine Rape is "A Violent Act Against Women"

​With Republicans now back in control of the US House of Representatives one of their first orders of business seems to be a drastic legal redefinition of rape. The proposal has been met with outrage by many anti-rape activists, including South Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz who says she "c ... More >>

Woman Will Eat Dog Food on YouTube Every Day Until Animal Rights Law Passes

​As a Miami Beach resident Nikki Moustaki has an almost endless array of great dining right outside her doorstep, and yet everyday she eats dog food and uploads the dining experience to YouTube. The host of a pet related show on The Beach Channel plans to eat dog food at least once a day ever ... More >>

Interview with a Zero

​As a Miami Beach resident Nikki Moustaki has an almost endless array of great dining right outside her doorstep, and yet everyday she eats dog food and uploads the dining experience to YouTube. The host of a pet related show on The Beach Channel plans to eat dog food at least once a day ever ... More >>

Even Republicans are Angry Rick Scott Declined High-Speed Rail Funds

Even some Elephants prefer to travel by train. ​Rick Scott's decision to decline $2.4 billion in federal funds to build a state-of-the-art high-speed rail system in Florida continues to draw anger, ire and confusion today even from many Republicans. Today, a veto-proof majority of 26 state senator ... More >>

David Rivera's Office Tries and Fails to Remove Scandals from Wikipedia

​Remember how Rep. David Rivera is allegedly a giant, corrupt scumbag? Well, someone in his office would rather you forget. According to Politico someone in Rivera's office is desperately trying to remove all references to the many investigations Rivera currently finds himself at the center of fro ... More >>

Rick Scott Takes Credit for Pill Database During Congressional Committee Testimony

​Everyone in Florida knows that Gov. Rick Scott has long opposed the state legislature-approved prescription pill database like a grumpy 2-year-old refusing to eat his vegetables. Of course, he also killed the Office of Drug Control because he thought it was a waste of money.But that didn't stop h ... More >>

Allen West, uncut

A candid conversation with South Florida's rising Tea Party star.

Kendrick Meek's Post Politics Gig: Journalism

After his failed Senatorial bid, we've been wondering what former Congressman Kendrick Meek's next step would be? Would he follow his mother into the lucrative world of lobbying? Would he join a think tank or non-profit? What about an appointment in the Obama administration? Nope. Actually he's head ... More >>

Six Formerly Ridiculous Celebrities Who Went On to Public Office

​We know the inner struggle you're having. Whenever you picture yourself voting Luther Campbell for Miami-Dade Mayor, there's a little persistent soundtrack playing in your head that causes hesitation: Oh, me so horny... So we put together this list to convince you that some totally ridiculous ... More >>

Allen West Tells Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Shultz to "Shut the Heck Up"

​Republican Congressman Allen West, everyone's favorite Iraqi-torturing politician from the 22nd district, has given us another lesson in the statesmanship he holds so dear.West sent an email to fellow Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Shultz late yesterday after she made remarks on the House floor th ... More >>

Allen West Actually Lives in Debbie Wasserman Schultz's District

​In a situation only slightly less perplexing than being your own grandfather, it turns out that Rep. Allen West is not his own congressman. In fact, the Republican who represents the 22nd District actually lives in the neighboring 20th District represented by Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schu ... More >>

Allen West Finds Deep End, Goes Off It, References Slavery

​And now, another update on the strange public ramblings of the Republican from Broward, Congressman Allen West. He took his crazytalk on the road yesterday, upgrading from hateful, bullying emails to a few thousand watts of radio power on Mark Levin's show.He said liberals were threatened by him ... More >>

Highlights From the Comments Section: Civil Political Discourse Edition

SOMEBODY SAID SOMETHING I DON'T AGREE WITH LET'S KILL HIMWe didn't mean to open quite so many cans of worms with posts about Florida Rep. Allen West and the furious email he sent to Rep. Debbie Wasserman Shultz. The blog posts stayed away from his politics, stayed away from her politics and simply s ... More >>