Late on Tuesday, three Florida state senators — Mike Haridopolos, John Thrasher and Mike Fasano — pushed through a resolution honoring so-called “crisis pregnancy centers,” a symbolic gesture that has outraged the abortion rights movement. The problem, advocates say, is that such centers have religious, not medical, aims and often…
Miami-area congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen has finally made her position on SOPA clear: she’s against it. Unlike Marco Rubio, who changed his position on SOPA’s Senate companion, PIPA, earlier today, Ros-Lehtinen had never been a co-sponsor of the bill…
Maybe Marco Rubio is addicted to late-night Wikipedia binges. You know, the type where you go to look up the director of whatever movie you’re absentmindedly watching on cable and then somehow, an hour later, end up reading about the indigenous bird species of Alabama. Because this morning, the Republican…
We know you’re tired of polls. Mitt Romney has taken a commanding lead in Florida primary polls, and will all but certainly beat his rivals. After that, Florida polls are likely to show a neck and neck battle between Romney and Obama. This Tarrance Group poll conducted for the Everglades…
Representatives Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Mario Diaz-Balart, and former Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart have all lined up in support of Mitt Romney, which left little room for Romney’s primary opponents to line up a big endorsement that would resonate in Miami’s Cuban-American community. Well, Newt Gingrich now has the support of that black…
“People do not go to South Beach to see Mickey Mouse. They just don’t,” said state Sen. Ellyn Bogdanoff (R-Ft. Lauderdale) yesterday during a debate on her bill that would bring casinos to South Florida. “They go there for different reasons. We have the strip club capital of the world…
If you’d told Larcenia Bullard 35-years ago – back when she was teaching school kids for a living — that she’d one day use her lofty platform as a Florida state Senator to advocate for marijuana reform, she would have banished you to the principal’s office. “I would not have…
Last November, “Occupy FIU” gathered at the Deuxieme Maison pit on the school’s West Miami-Dade campus and decried excessive student loans, Wall Street bankers, and money in politics.Yesterday, they tried to do it again. This time, seven people — including two FIU students — were arrested.The arrests just might be…
All the racial tension simmering beneath North Miami’s political surface — where the Haitian-born mayor has faced corruption probes and blamed the accusations in part on white enmity — came to a head on Tuesday night in the city council. Mayor Andre Pierre exploded at Commissioner Michael Blynn, calling Blynn’s…
George W. Bush has remained relatively quiet throughout the Republican primary race. That’s not unusual for former presidents, and, perhaps, most candidates may not have been rushing for his support anyway. But it seems that none of the current candidates were Bush’s favorites. He much would have preferred that his…
If you ask some of your more ill-informed Republican friends they’ll probably tell you that Barack Obama and Fidel Castro are like totally BFF4eva, but Cuba’s ailing retired dictator isn’t a big fan of Obama. Nor does he like the Republican candidates much either, or so he seems to think…
For the second time in the row, Florida politicians decided to ignore the rules of the Republican National Committee and moved ahead with their plan for an early primary. Like 2008, this means that Florida Republicans will lose half of their delegates at the national convention, but this time around…
The Occupy movement made its debut at last night’s opening of the legislative season in Tallahassee with a move carefully calibrated to resonate with ordinary Floridians — they yelled some stuff at widely loathed Gov. Rick Scott.As Scott made his way into the House, protesters lined the hallway yelled “We…
A political action committee opposing Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich just bought $3.6 million in Florida TV advertisements, according to the New York Times, and it appears the best response Gingrich can muster is something along the lines of, “Hey guys, knock it off. That’s not nice.”The group, called “Restore Our Future,”…
A day after a Senate committee approved Florida’s controversial gambling that would bring Las Vegas-style casinos to South Florida, Quinnipiac University is out with a poll that shows Floridians narrowly support the idea. Forty-eight percent support the idea of bringing full-service casinos to Florida, while 43 percent oppose the idea…
Miami-area State Sen. Larcenia Bullard has fired up a big ol’ blunt of legislative reform this morning, as her proposal to give Florida voters a chance to legalize medical marijuana was introduced in the Senate. Bullard’s bill joins a similar proposal by Lake Worth Rep. Jeff Clemens in the House…
After a brief spell where Florida Republicans seemed to favor Newt Ginrgrich as their GOP flavor of the month, Mitt Romney is firmly back on top in the Sunshine State after his Iowa caucus victory. Gingrich remains second, while Rick Santorum has seen his fortunes rise somewhat but is still…
UPDATE: Turns out Rep. Ron Paul is dumping us — though it looks like he has mailers going out to voters, Politico reports his campaign is skipping the Florida primary to concentrate on caucuses in February, a decision likely informed by Paul polling horribly in this state. No word on whether he’ll be at the Florida debate.As Florida’s…
Rep. Connie Mack’s late entrance into the GOP primary for the right to take on incumbent senator Bill Nelson later this year has resulted in a quick jump to the front of the pack over other candidates like George LeMieux and Adam Hasner. The fact that Mack shares his name…
Turns out Xavier Suarez and Joe Carollo can actually agree on something: they like Newt Gingrich. They’ve both been announced as members of Gingrich’s Florida Steering Committee. Then again, it only makes sense that two guys who saw their political careers take embarrassing stumbles in the ’90s would line up…
It’s not often you see Republican politicians filing bills to raise taxes, but that’s exactly what Rep. Fred Costello of Ormond Beach has done. He has introduced a bill that would add a 3 percent surtax to Florida’s sales tax. The bill also supports the idea of added taxes to…
After a thorough beatdown in the Iowa caucuses last night, Newt Gingrich turned this morning to Miami, announcing a new gala fundraiser at the Biltmore that he hopes will re-energize his presidential campaign. Too bad Newt can’t ring up legendary Miami arms merchant Sarkis Soghanalian, who died in October.Turns out Gingrich and…
