Vote From Home Florida

by: florida4ferre

Fri Jul 09, 2010 at 12:30:02 PM EDT

Good afternoon Florida voters.  Do you know that you can vote from home?  This method is known as an absentee or mail-in ballot.  We, at florida4ferre, have realized that many registered voters within Florida are away on vacation, business trips, or just too busy to wait in long lines to get their voice out.  It is actually an easier way than going to the polls.  ANYONE can vote from home, just simply register for it.  Here is a link on how to vote from home.

 http://election.dos.state.fl.us/voting/absentee.shtml 

 To show your support, please visit http://mymauriceferre.com/ 

On Taming The Financial Beast, Or, Sausage Gets Made, You Get To Watch

by: fake consultant

Tue Jun 22, 2010 at 08:24:36 AM EDT

In this case, however, it's lobbyists that are spilling all over the landscape as the House and Senate attempt to merge their two visions of financial reform.

They're trying desperately to influence the outcome of the conference in which House and Senate negotiators have been engaged; this to craft the exact language of the reconciled legislation.

There's an additional element of drama hovering over the events as eight House members, including one of the most vocal of the Republican negotiators, face ethics questions related to this very bill.

The best part: if you're enough of a political geek, you can actually watch the events unfold, unedited and unfiltered, from the comfort of your very own computer.

So far, it's been amazing political theater, and if you follow along I'll tell you how you can get in on the fun, too.

40 Days Until Sestak-Specter and Halter-Lincoln

by: Senate Guru

Thu Apr 08, 2010 at 13:37:56 PM EDT

40 days from today - on May 18 - we will see two HUGE primaries for U.S. Senate.  Even though these races aren't in Florida, they impact Democrats across the country and, well, the entire country as a whole.

In Pennsylvania, Democratic Congressman Joe Sestak will try to upset Republican-for-decades Arlen Specter.

In Arkansas, Democratic Lieutenant Governor Bill Halter will try to upset corporate lackey Blanche Lincoln.

These two races are tremendously important to defining who and what the Democratic Party is and what we will be fighting for.

If you can volunteer for these candidates (or encourage friends and family in Pennsylvania and Arkansas to do so), that would be amazing. Of course, if you can help with a contribution to either or both via the Expand the Map! ActBlue page as soon as possible, it will make a big impact.

Expand the Map! ActBlue page Joe Sestak Facebook, Twitter Volunteer Page Bill Halter Facebook, Twitter Volunteer Page Expand the Map! ActBlue page

Polling shows that both Specter and Lincoln are at risk of - if not likely to - hand these Senate seats over to far-right-wing Republicans. (And, even if these two retain the seats, that's not much better on many key issues.)

Congressman Sestak and Lieutenant Governor Halter winning these primaries are critical to keeping these seats in truly Democratic hands. Your support can help make that happen!  Please hop over to the Expand the Map! ActBlue page right away to make a contribution - an investment in the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party to pull out an old expression - and show your support.

Thanks SO much for any support you can provide. 40 Days.

This is Not Her First Rodeo, Folks

by: Robert McKnight

Mon Feb 15, 2010 at 10:10:46 AM EST

Apparently the leadership of the Florida House of Representatives and Senate enjoyed "teeing" off on the Fair Districts Florida Chair Ellen Freidin.  The joint Senate and House Reapportionment Committees peppered her for some 3 straight hours, and at the end, Ms. Freidin elected to quit counter punching.  Don't be fooled folks.  I first met the seasoned attorney almost 40 years ago when she accepted the high profile position of campaign chair for the legendary Florida Speaker of the House Dick Pettigrew's campaign to unseat a well entrenched State Senator who was a confidant of the old Pork Chop Gang.  It is ironic that Ms. Friedin received the same kind of bully treatment then, even though again she was on the side of good government.  The result then, and I rather imagine in some form or fashion, the result again will be success for Ellen Freidin.  She and her colleagues simply asked the people if they wanted a more active role in their government.  Since hundreds of thousands said yes, does that mean no for the politicans that grilled her last week?

...pants on the ground....

by: Robert McKnight

Sat Jan 30, 2010 at 17:38:02 PM EST

The Governor's apparent position on the President's stimulus program:

For It--Picture of the Governor hugging the President, thanking him for the stimulus money, 2009.

Against It--When questioned by reporters, 'bad policy', campaigning for the Senate, 2009.

For It--During the Special Session to pass Sun Rail, and get at the 'head of the line' for the stimulus money, 2009.

For It--Picture of the Governor shaking hands with the President, accepting the stimulus money, 2010.

Come on Governor, if you are not careful, sing along, "...looking like a fool...pants on the ground..."

Sen. Baker's Fundraising Gets Desperate

by: Bill Thorpe

Sun Jan 10, 2010 at 18:42:37 PM EST

Looks like some of the GOP leadership is getting desperate.  Some of the same old tactics - twisting arms to make money.  They keep this up,and Dems will take Florida blue for sure.

RX: Reload Discussion of War Strength Levels, Economy, Financial Reform and Energy

by: Robert McKnight

Sat Nov 21, 2009 at 20:05:55 PM EST

Now that Leader Reid has gotten the 60 votes to start the lengthy health care debate in the Senate, it is imperative, in my opinion, that the Obama Administration reload and double up their leadership on the other major pending issues--war strength levels, jobs and the economy, financial reform and energy.  I realize the popular opinion is that the President not multi-task on these mega issues.  The reason I say action now is because solutions to those issues are as critical as health care is to the country, and to ignore them, even if temporarily, could be devastating because:

1.  Solutions to each issue are complex, thorny, and require all the support of the White House to be accomplished, in such a vituperative partisan Congress.

2.  Each issue has a separate, large and vehement constituency--to ignore them and their issue, will encorage them, out of frustration, to involvement in other issues, like possible opposition to health care reform.

3.  Aggressive attention to these four issues, if diverted collectively, could send a dangerous signal of lack of importance that could be impossible to overcome.

Early indications of concern, especially for jobs and the economy, surfaced last week among members of the Congressional Black Caucus.  This is not the time for the President to take his eye off the ball, even temporarily.

Sorry, Charlie

by: dantilson

Thu May 14, 2009 at 07:13:36 AM EDT

I'm tired of hearing Florida Democrats tell me how much they like Governor Crist, now an official candidate for the U.S. Senate seat soon to be vacated by Mel Martinez.  "He’s such an improvement over Bush.” they say, or ”He's not a real Republican." Really?  Okay, maybe Charlie Crist is the Florida Republican version of Miller Lite Beer -- you know, “Tastes Great!” -- compared to the bad taste Jeb left on our political palates.  No, wait; make that “Less Filling!” -- of our heads with empty Republican rhetoric. But that's not good enough for me, and it shouldn't be good enough for any self-respecting Florida Democrat.

Breaking: Marco Rubio Website Stolen From Hulu UPDATE: Design Now Slightly Changed

by: Mike

Tue Apr 21, 2009 at 01:42:02 AM EDT

Marco Rubio, (recently) chair of the Select Committee to Protect Private Property Rights, has been revealed to have stolen elements from his new website, marcorubio.com, straight from the popular website Hulu.com.

The theft was first noticed by a tweet by Matt Ortega, a former co-worker of mine, who followed up over at his blog in a post, "One of These Things Looks Exactly Like the Other."

Take a look at the images at his site, side-by-side. Then a closer look at the gradient, the bar, and the text. A perfect match, in every respect.

Clearly Rubio didn't create the website personally, but the first and obvious question is what action will he take once his campaign discovers what's actually pretty shocking -- particularly for how directly elements and images were lifted. We're not talking about being inspired here, these are images copied from one server and saved onto another. Will there be a symbolic slap-on-the-wrist? We'll see.

I mean, they didn't even bother to change the filenames. Literally, the same images used as background, pixel-for-pixel.

http://marcorubio.com/images/nav-background.gif
http://static.hulu.com/images/nav-background.gif

(Images/screenshots saved in case they try to purge the evidence.)

Note to whoever created this website -- presumably David All's team (see update), since he was hyping its "style" as something fresh: If you're going to rip someone off, make sure it's not one of the most popular websites in the entire Internet.

And speaking of David All's Miami "style..."

Disclaimer: I work at SEIU doing new media stuff, but this was all done on my own time, with my own stuff, and is unrelated to it. I guess a big part of me just misses Florida political blogging, heh.

Update: In case there was any doubt, the CSS file attributes David All.

 Update 2: They have changed the design, slightly. Mainly the coloring.

MN-Sen: Make Norm Coleman Go Away for Just One Dollar a Day

by: Senate Guru

Sat Apr 18, 2009 at 22:57:24 PM EDT

Even in Florida, I'm sure you've heard plenty about what's going on with the still-unsettled Senate race in Minnesota.

While Republican Norm Coleman prolongs his endless and pointless appeals, cementing his admission into the Sore Losers Hall of Fame, progressive organizations Democracy for America and the Progressive Change Campaign Committee have introduced a new effort: NormDollar.com, "A Dollar a Day to Make Norm Go Away."  Very simply put, commit to contributing just one dollar per day for every day that sore loser Norm Coleman refuses to concede.

This is exactly the correct approach to take in order to provide Republican leadership in Washington with adequate disincentive from continuing to fund Coleman's endless appeals.  The GOP bigwigs funding Coleman's appeals see value in putting their money toward keeping progressive Senator-elect Al Franken from being seated.  This grassroots-powered effort will make them think twice by generating many thousands of dollars for progressive candidates for every single day that they fund the Coleman circus.

If you feel so inclined, you can certainly chip in a bit of change directly to the Franken Recount Fund, as well.

Meek lays groundwork for race with "Jeb!"

by: Florida Politics

Wed Dec 31, 2008 at 08:19:45 AM EST

U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek has been traveling the state meeting with Democratic strategists about the idea of running for the seat Republican Sen. Mel Martinez is giving up in 2010. Bush is also considering a run, and would likely grab the Republican nomination if he does.

A potential Meek-versus-Bush matchup would come packed with history: As a state senator, Meek staged a sit-in protest in Bush's office complex after the governor stripped affirmative action protections from state contracting and university admissions.

Meek also led the effort to place class size limits in the state constitution — a campaign Bush vigorously fought as he sought re-election in 2002 and later tried, but failed, to repeal.

Plainly put: Bush and Meek aren't too fond of each other, a fact that would ratchet up the intensity of a Senate matchup.

Congressional Transparency on a Map

by: NishaT

Thu Dec 13, 2007 at 12:55:19 PM EST

This trust that lawmakers create in the district extends to who they meet with in Washington. The Punch Clock motto has always been "Members of Congress work for us, and we should know what they do every day." Fenno made this point a different way, "Trust is, however, a fragile relationship. It is not an overnight or one-time thing. It is hard to win; and it must be constantly renewed and rewon. "

In this spirit, Sunlight has decided to help out by creating a trust-building tool. This tool, the Punch Clock Map, is a Google map mashup with corresponding RSS feeds that lets citizens see for themselves just how elected officials spend their time and how they serve their district's needs.

Punch Clock Map provides a visual representation of the meetings detailed by the eight members of Congress who post their daily schedules online. Currently, that includes: Sen. Max Baucus,? Rep. Kathy Castor,? Rep. John Doolittle,? Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand,? Sen. Bill Nelson,? Rep. Denny Rehberg,? Rep. Jan Schakowsky? and Sen. Jon Tester.? (As Rep. Alcee Hastings? posts an abridged weekly schedule, his is not included.)

To let citizens monitor how their elected officials address their district's needs, the maps mark the home-base location of the organization or individual who met with the lawmaker, not where the meeting occurred. If the lawmaker's schedule provides a location, organization or individual (who can be easily identified), those meetings are plotted on the map. (The map does not include internal business meetings, committee hearings, meetings with constituents without easily identifiable addresses or location and meetings with other current members of Congress.)

The Punch Clock Map is an extension of the Punch Clock Campaign, an initiative the Sunlight Foundation began in 2006, which asked all candidates for congressional office - challengers and incumbents - to promise, if elected, to post their daily schedules on the Internet. Inspired by the 60 percent of Americans who 'punch a clock' to account for their time at work, Sunlight asked why members of Congress should not also account for their time to their employers: the citizens they represent.

Building trust is an essential part of the representative - constituent relationship. Posting a schedule helps maintain the trust that lawmakers go through such efforts to maintain and it also helps instill trust in the constituents who are always looking for ways to not trust their lawmakers.

Disclaimer: I am the outreach coordinator for the Sunlight Foundation

This Week With Barack Obama, August 12-18, 2007

by: icebergslim

Sun Aug 19, 2007 at 21:44:01 PM EDT

Debate Schedule

August 27-28, 2007 - Cancer Forum, Cedar Rapids, IA (MSNBC & Live Streaming)
September 9, 2007 - Univision Forum (Spanish)
September 26, 2007 - Hanover, New Hampshire
October 30, 2007 - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
November 15, 2007 - Las Vegas, Nevada
December 10, 2007 - Los Angeles, California
January 6, 2008 - Johnson County, Iowa
January 15, 2008 - Las Vegas, Nevada
January 31, 2008 - California

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly....

he's only human, guys....let's go....

missed the debate, Sunday, August 19th in Iowa?  replay on C-Span, 6:30 & 9:30 PM ET/PT

This Week With Barack Obama, August 5-11, 2007

by: icebergslim

Sun Aug 12, 2007 at 13:11:23 PM EDT

Debate Schedule

August 19, 2007 - Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa  (ABC) 8PM
August 27-28, 2007 - Cancer Forum, Cedar Rapids, IA (MSNBC & Live Streaming)
September 26, 2007 - Hanover, New Hampshire
October 30, 2007 - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
November 15, 2007 - Las Vegas, Nevada
December 10, 2007 - Los Angeles, California
January 6, 2008 - Johnson County, Iowa
January 15, 2008 - Las Vegas, Nevada
January 31, 2008 - California

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly....

he's only human, guys....let's go....

Transcript of Suzan Franks Chat

by: quinnelk

Sun Jun 03, 2007 at 17:08:58 PM EDT

[KQ] Sorry, I'm running a few minutes late. I wanted to thank Suzan for joining us.

[Suzan] Hi Kenneth

[Suzan] I'm so happy to be here

[KQ] The way I figured this would work is that we would open it up to questions from the other chatters, allowing Suzan time to respond before asking another one.

[Suzan] OK....fire away

Two More Chats Today

by: quinnelk

Sun Jun 03, 2007 at 12:17:25 PM EDT

The primary election is Tuesday and news coverage of this race has been sparse, so particularly if you live in this District, which spans from Tallahassee to the edge of Jacksonville all the way down to Ocala and Citrus County, this may be your best chance to get to know the candidates.  Join us.

We Can Win SD-3

by: quinnelk

Thu May 17, 2007 at 23:17:48 PM EDT

DEM Potential in Florida Senate District 3

by: kansasr

Sat Apr 07, 2007 at 21:20:15 PM EDT

The only activity I've seen so far in this district is on the Republican side. Richard Corcoran, former chief of staff to House Speaker Marco Rubio, has announced that he had raised more than $185,000 for his bid to replace her.

The demographics of this district, however, make it clear that the Florida Democratic Party should be looking for a strong candidate to challenge for this seat.

Redistricting Reform, Part 1

by: quinnelk

Thu Nov 16, 2006 at 21:59:17 PM EST

In Congressional races, the overall results were some of the best we've had in recent years.  Two seats changed hands (and a third probably did as well, but the electronic voting machines have fouled it up).  One of those, though, only changed hands because of the Mark Foley sex scandal.  Five incumbents faced no opposition at all.  Another incumbent faced only a write-in candidate.  Of the remaining races, incumbents or favored challengers in open seats won 15 races with at least 55.9%.  That meant there were only four competitive races out of 25.

In the state senate, the picture was even worse.  There were 20 seats up for election and two seats changed hands, with no net change in the overall composition of the senate.  Seven candidates faced no opposition at all.  Four candidates faced only write-in candidates and three only faced third-party candidates.  Three more won by at least 59.6%.  That means that there were only three competitive races.

The reason our elections actually aren't elections is the way our districting lines are drawn.  It's undemocratic and anti-American and it needs to be fixed as soon as possible if Florida is going to become the great state it has the potential to be instead of the constant punchline in national jokes it so often is.

Next time around, I'm going to take a look at the State House races.

UPDATE (by Ray): Virginia is headed in the right direction on redistricting. From one of my favorite blogs, Raising Kaine.

UPDATE 2 (by Ray): Iowa has a nonpartisan redistricting process. This is Iowa's congressional map:

No divided counties or municipalities. No ridiculous mile-wide arms stretching into pockets of voters of one party or another. This is how it should be.

Katharine Harris: True Washington Story

by: Ray_Seaman

Mon Jun 19, 2006 at 14:34:31 PM EDT

Good stuff all around.