Republicans almost always win the agriculture commissioner, so this might or might not be earth-shattering, but the Democrats’ leading candidate, conservationist Eric Draper, has dropped out of the race. Instead, he’ll return to concentrating on his work with Audobon of Florida. So now the Democrats are without down an AgComm candidate and, more…
Roll Call and Naked Politics present a pretty thrilling scenario for the game of political musical chairs that could be set off if Gov. Charlie Crist appoints Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart to Mel Martinez’s U.S. Senate seat. Mario Diaz-Balart, Lincoln’s brother, might have had his district specially drawn for him, but it’s fast becoming…
The Palm Beach Post is reporting that Governor Charlie Crist has sent out a document entitled “Questionnaire for Senate Appointment,” to three men [link to pdf]. The first two names have been mentioned widely before: former Secretary of State Jim Smith, and former US Attorney Bob Menendez. But the third…
Remember Betty Castor? She’s the lady that lost to Mel Martinez in 2004 by about a percentage point after Martinez hammered her with accusation she failed to fire a “terrorist” in 1996 while president of USF. I kind of wondered what she felt when Mel Martinez announced his resignation from the…
He’s not running from South Beach or Wilton Manors (where he could probably win on that photo alone), but from somewhere in Hillsborough County, where he was a one-term commissioner. Blair is a former professional wrestler who fought on a tag team called the Killer Bees (named for the Miami Dolphins’…
Last year, we dubbed Damon Weaver “the best political reporter in South Florida,” and after a long quest, the 11-year-old finally got to do yesterday what most political reporters only dream of — sit down for a one-on-one interview with the president of the United States. Dreams do come true!…
Say what you will about Rev. Gaston E. Smith, the Liberty City pastor who faces felony theft charges and is the subject of this week’s New Times feature, “In the Name of the King”. One thing is indisputable: The man can preach. We’ve received a couple of emails looking for videos of…
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was in a town hall meeting in Nigeria as part of her tour of Africa. Apparently Nigeria can have town hall meetings without a load of loons ripping up Rosa Parks posters and whatnot, but they can’t really have an ethical election. Their controversial 2007 election…
In terms of Attorney Generals they don’t get much bigger than Janet Reno. Wait, excuse me. In terms of Attorney General endorsements they don’t get much bigger than Janet Reno’s. The former US Attorney General gave her blessing to Florida Attorney General hopeful Dan Gelber today. “Dan has the gumption and spirit…
I think everyone can agree we need to reform health care in this country one way or another (if you don’t, you’re either greedy or not paying attention), and since the Democrats are currently in control, they’re the ones taking a shot at it. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and…
All the names being floated around as our next temporary senator have been of the masculine persuasion. Why not some ladies? Time magazine adds to the ever-growing list of Senate maybes with two women. Minority women in fact. First up is Miami’s own Rep. Anitere Flores. She’s the deputy majority leader and is the only Hispanic female in…
So, we kept hearing that Bob Martinez, as in the former one-term governor, was in the mix to be appointed to the Senate. The thing is, well, he’s 74 years old, which isn’t necessarily a barrier to be a senator. But he was not a very popular governor thanks to a botching…
Remember Jason Wetherington? New Times Broward-Palm Beach columnist Bob Norman penned a story about the lad, who apparently went around blabbing he had a hotel-room tryst with Gov. Charlie Crist in 2006. Wetherington also worked for Katherine Harris’s hilariously failed 2006 Senate campaign. Anyway, per Norman, he’s been charged with stealing three…
George L. Metcalfe is an Orlando-area lawyer who likes to spend his time writing about gays having sex with children. His first piece of pedophile fiction was somehow published in the Florida Bar News, but sadly George had to edit his creative masterpiece down to 350 words. Not content with just…
Washington Post blogger and former Mouthpiece Theater cohost Chris Cillizza adds another name to the list of possible politicos Charlie Crist could appoint to Mel Martinez’s soon-to-be-vacated Senate seat: former state Rep. Allan Bense.Add that to a list that already includes Jim Smith, Gov. Bob Martinez, George Lemieux, Dan Webster,…
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…
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…
Manny Diaz wasn’t arrested for throwing a box of tea at his wife. He never showed up mad as hell, in his pajamas, at a constituent’s house at 5 a.m. He never lead the city’s budget into complete shambles. So, really, by those standards, he should leave office this fall as the best mayor…
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…
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…
Kendrick Meek’s hiring of Steve Hildebrand to run his Senate campaign was supposed to be a message that his candidacy was to be taken seriously. Hildebrand was deputy national campaign director for a little campaign you might have heard of — Barack Obama’s run for president. Hildebrand spent the closing days in…
Remember Keith Meinhold? Yeah, Riptide didn’t either — mostly because we were more into reading Goosebumps books back when the gay Navy officer made headlines in all the big newspapers. It was the summer of 1992. And even the paragon of media integrity The Rush Limbaugh Show followed his story. It was…
