Please consider attending the following event: 4th Annual Progressive Celebration! Sat. Jan. 19, 2008
KEYNOTE SPEAKER: DAVID BARSAMIAN, Award winning Author, Journalist & Founder of Alternative Radio. Special PARTY WITH DAVID Pre-Program Reception at Austin's California Bistro Downtown Melbourne. Details here.
Check out the Florida Progressive Coalition's Kenneth Quinnell and his"Three Minutes of Fame". Our review of today's Florida political news and punditry follows.
On to Florida
"With Iowa and New Hampshire finally in the rearview mirror, Florida emerged Wednesday as an even bigger milestone in the road to the Republican presidential nomination. ... The earlier contests are already having an effect on Florida." # After second-place finishes in Iowa and New Hampshire, Romney's campaign is allowing its purchase of TV ads in Florida to expire at the end of this week as the candidate focuses on Michigan. But Romney has doubled the number of paid campaign staffers in Florida this week, from 12 to 24, and his campaign says it plans to resume advertising in Florida before Jan. 29.
# Similarly, Fred Thompson is staking his presidential fortunes on South Carolina after a third-place Iowa finish and a sixth in New Hampshire. But Thompson, who hasn't campaigned in Florida in recent weeks, is continuing to maintain a staff of 12 in Florida.
# McCain meanwhile got a boost from his New Hampshire win and opened offices in Florida this week after shutting them down during a cash crunch last year. He's setting up a busy schedule of fund-raisers and campaign appearances in the state after the South Carolina primary, and Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, the 2000 Democratic vice presidential nominee, is expected to campaign for McCain in Florida.
# Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, whose stock surged after he won the Iowa caucuses, is opening an office in Orlando to be staffed by Jaryn Emhof, the legislative aide to Republican state Sen. Daniel Webster of Winter Garden, a Huckabee backer who is influential among Florida evangelical voters.
# Giuliani perhaps has the most riding on Florida after his campaign decided to downplay the early contests, where the greater numbers of social conservatives did not favor him, and instead emphasize delegate-rich Florida and the Feb. 5 states. Giuliani was in Florida again Wednesday and plans a bus tour of the state beginning this weekend. "In divided GOP race, state is a 'linchpin'". See also "Florida voters retain their clout".
Way to go out on a limb Rudy: "Giuliani promises massive tax cut" - "Giuliani promised tax cuts as he courted voters in his must-win state, three weeks before voters go to the polls in a Florida primary that is looking increasingly influential." See also "Absence Of Front-Runners Raises The Stakes In Florida" and "Supply-sider Giuliani calls for largest tax cut ever".
"With New York Sen. Hillary Clinton's win in New Hampshire, the battle over Florida's Jan. 29 Democratic primary began in earnest Wednesday - not about who will win, but over whether it should matter. Clinton's Florida supporters, who believe that years of adulation for both her and her husband, the former president, will translate into a strong showing, argue that, yes, the delegate-less primary matters immensely." Illinois Sen. Barack Obama's supporters, who worry that years of adulation for both Clinton and her husband will translate into a strong showing, argue that, no, it doesn't matter because Obama is not even trying to win. "Democrats spar over whether contest matters".
"Years of adulation"???
See also "Florida's beauty contest Democratic primary", "Democrats Still No-Shows In Florida" and "Political parties should reverse course, allow robust Florida campaigns".
The Palm Beach Post editors: "Hellooo. We're still here" ("In a normal world, the results from Tuesday's New Hampshire primary would set up an exciting primary in Florida on Jan. 29.")
Turnout
"The presidential campaign fervor that drove unprecedented voter turnout in Iowa and New Hampshire is beginning to show up in Florida, with a deluge of absentee ballot requests foreshadowing strong interest in the earliest primary in state history."
"Another indicator of voter interest will come Monday, when voters begin to cast ballots at early-voting precincts throughout the state. Meanwhile, election officials in Broward and Leon counties are already anticipating a Jan. 29 turnout as high as 50 percent." "Calls for absentee ballots hint at high turnout". See also "Early Voting Begins Jan. 14".
One trick ponies to get challengers?
"U.S. Rep. Lincoln Díaz-Balart says the likelihood of a contender for his seat is a Democratic Party strategy to soften U.S. policy toward Cuba after he and other Cuban-American members in Congress have successfully maintained a hard line toward the communist island. 'What you have now is a [Democratic] decision that if they don't defeat Mario, Ileana or Lincoln, they won't be able to do anything' to improve relations with Cuba, he said at a meeting Tuesday with El Nuevo Herald editors and reporters." This week, the liberal CubaNews bulletin [www.cubanews.com] published an article citing prominent Democratic activists familiar with the the Cuba issue in Washington and Miami, noting that this year's strategy is to dethrone the three Cuban-American members of Congress because they fiercely oppose lifting the U.S. embargo on Cuba or easing the travel restrictions.
Under the headline 'Embargo foes' 2008 strategy to focus on unseating Florida's Díaz-Balart brothers,'' the publication quotes Alvaro Fernández, president of the Cuban-American Commission for Family Rights, which opposes the embargo.
''For the first time, we're going to have two very viable candidates running against Lincoln and Mario,'' Fernández told Cuba News.
``As important as Washington, D.C., is, if we want real change, it has to come from South Florida. Once we knock off one or both of these guys, things will start changing.''
Mario Díaz-Balart's potential opponent, according to Democratic sources, would be Joe García, Miami-Dade County's Democratic Party chief.
Ros-Lehtinen remains unopposed but Fernández is quoted in CubaNews as saying, ``Trust me, all three will be challenged.'' "Lincoln Díaz-Balart may face challenger".
Rubio "'insane'"
"House Speaker Marco Rubio said Wednesday he will push for 'agency eliminations' in the 2008 legislative session." Rubio said that to deal with severe revenue shortfalls, caused by Florida's real-estate slump and other recessionary economic trends, state lawmakers should prune the size and scope of state government - not just to save tax money, but to reduce regulatory burdens that he said hamper business growth.
"I think there's an opportunity for agency eliminations," Rubio told business editors and reporters from across the state. "I think there's an opportunity for consolidation. I think that there's an opportunity to go into our base budget and find things that were put there 30 years ago by legislators who aren't even around any more and remove them."
Rubio, R-West Miami, declined to identify any agencies or services he wants to end. He said House committees are doing a "sunset" review of some agencies. "Lawson was blunt."The Democrat blamed eight-year legislative term limits for Rubio's comments.
"That's really an insane approach by the speaker," said Lawson, who served 18 years in the pre-term limits House before his election to the Senate in 2000. "Rubio is way off base, and this shows a lack of experience before he was elected to leadership. What we should be doing is strengthening Florida's economy and working on a tax base that is stable and supportive of state government." "Rubio wants 'agency eliminations'; state Sen. Lawson calls idea 'insane'".
Windbags
"Frustrated that home insurance premiums aren't dropping the way politicians promised, the state Senate plans to haul in industry executives to explain why." "State Senate wants answers on insurance costs". See also "Senate to put insurance execs in the crosshairs".
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| McDonough
"The head of Florida's prison system [James McDonough] plans to resign, more than a year after he was brought in to weed out corruption that sent the previous secretary to prison, state officials said Thursday." "McDonough to retire from heading Florida prison system". See also "Florida prison system chief to step down".
"Mixed messages"
"It is a battle of mixed messages as unprecedented cuts in state spending seem likely to continue. Lawmakers already cut about $1 billion in October. House budget chairman Ray Sansom, R-Destin, told lawmakers in a memo Wednesday that the budget will have to be cut by an additional $2 billion this year." "Mixed messages on state economy".
Florida "can't be confused with the Michigans and Californias"
"Tallahassee's continued shortchanging of the system, and interference as the board has endeavored to incrementally and independently raise Florida's nation-lowest tuition, is the latest reason why the system can't be confused with the Michigans and Californias and North Carolinas. If the Legislature was going to make that happen, it has had more than 100 years." "Get to the basic question".
Split
"School districts could have separate schools or classes for boys and girls, under a bill unanimously approved Wednesday by a Senate committee." "Bill would allow sex-split classes".
"Crist's routine exaggeration"
"This is the first television commercial of a pro-amendment group backed by Gov. Charlie Crist, the Florida Association of Realtors and Florida Power & Light Co. It focuses on the benefits that homestead owners - particularly families and seniors - would receive if the amendment passed. It doesn't mention the potential savings for business owners and non-homestead owners, which the amendment also would provide. The commercial continues Crist's routine exaggeration of the value of the increased homestead exemption." "Ad watch: Property tax amendment".
Meanwhile, Mike Thomas notes argues that "the upcoming property-tax referendum may be the most reckless fiscal gamble in Florida history.". "Cut taxes? OK, but this may cut state's throat".
Our booming economy
"Florida's top financial regulator called for retooling the state's approach to economic growth, warning that the days of counting on a lucrative supply of retirees will soon be over. Citing studies that show the cost of living in Florida has reached the national average, Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink predicted that retirees will start to look elsewhere and the state needs to focus more on venture capital and attracting high-tech industries." "Sink: Florida no longer 'low-cost' state".
Computer "glitches"
"Glitches in how counties link with Florida's new $23 million computer voter system are skewing petition signature counts - threatening to knock two initiatives off the November ballot." "I will be very blunt with you; this secretary did not have a high level of confidence with the information we have," Secretary of State Kurt Browning told lawyers for half a dozen ballot initiatives in a conference call Wednesday, announcing he is abandoning the state's electronic tally in favor of the old system - paper counts.
Election officials have known about the errors for months.
In November, Browning's office privately told county election supervisors the state's petition signature counts - used by initiative campaigns to keep track of progress - are wrong.
Now, the Department of State has asked county election supervisors to go back through four years of records and resubmit their own tallies. The numbers they provide by 5 p.m. Friday will become the official figures going forward. "The reaction from ballot campaigns ranged from concerned to livid.""Given everything that's happened in Florida with elections and the lack of integrity in the voting process here, we have yet another example of where the state election system is incompetent," said Lesley Blackner, the New Smyrna Beach lawyer chairing Hometown Democracy, an initiative to require local votes on changes in development plans.
"Or maybe it's deliberate," she said. "They've known about this for a long time and they did nothing. The political structure in Tallahassee is very hostile to the citizens' initiative process." "Glitches found in electronic initiative petition reporting".
... Statistics
"Florida compared well with other states in public-education effectiveness, according to an annual report card issued by Education Week on Wednesday, but the study says the state still struggles in many key areas." Florida scored poorly for how much it spends on education and for how students perform, earning C's. Per-student spending in Florida, which was $7,539 in 2005, ranks 39th nationwide, according to U.S. Census Bureau statistics.
Florida earned its worst grade, a C-minus, in education spending. But state Education Commissioner Eric Smith expressed pride in how well Florida's teachers and students performed despite the tight budget. ...
The report did little to quiet critics of the state's education policies. ''Florida has had one of the worst graduation rates in the country for years,'' said House Democratic Leader Dan Gelber of Miami Beach. ``Our teachers are paid woefully below the national average and our overall financing for public schools is pitiful.'' "Florida's C+ moves it to 14th in education report's rankings". Apparently the factor boosting Florida's rating was "how it measures student achievement: its testing system, based on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test". Hence, the FCAT itself (something developed in the Lawton Chiles administration*) boosted the score, not what the Jebbites do with the scores (pass out private/religious school vouchers and "grade" schools).
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* As the Tallhassee Democrat noted, "always intended as a diagnostic and accountability tool, the FCAT came to life when Lawton Chiles was governor".
Notwithstanding, expect to hear the media repeating and trumpeting Jebbite claims that this is some sort of vindication of GOPer education "reforms". |
