Monthly Archives: February 2014
Flashback Friday: The Beatles meet Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) on Miami Beach
This week, fifty years ago the Fab Four met Muhammad Ali on Miami Beach days before his famous world title fight with Sonny Liston. Here is a full article from the Beatles Bible on the meeting.
Concerns about Alex Sink’s campaign growing
When Congressman Bill Young (R-Indian Rocks Beach) passed away in October his Congressional seat looked like a prime pick up opportunity for the Democrats. Young had been in public office for fifty years and in Congress since 1970. The former Appropriations Chairman was long been one of the more moderate Republicans in the Florida Delegation […]
Thursday Bookshelf: Claude Pepper, George Smathers, Ed Ball and the 1950 US Senate Democratic Primary
Review of Red Pepper and Gorgeous George: Claude Pepper’s Epic Defeat in the 1950 Democratic Primary (Florida Government and Politics) and Claude Pepper and Ed Ball: Politics, Purpose, and Power (Florida History and Culture) While most modern historians and political activists would point to November 7, 2000 as the most significant election in Florida’s history as far […]
Is Charlie Crist’s shotgun marriage with liberal leaders threatened by Jeb Bush comments?
Charlie Crist has been living a charmed life. Despite a record that is contrary to the interests of many liberals on school “choice”, teacher tenure, growth management, and reproductive rights an acceptance of the former Governor as the presumptive Democratic nominee to reclaim his old office has developed among many. This has happened partly thanks […]
Florida House Elections: Five steps towards solving the Democrats Insanity
Last week we discussed the failings of House Democrats in winning elections the past several cycles especially after the favorable 2012 redistricting under the “Fair Districts” map which put many House Republican incumbents suddenly into competitive districts. Today let’s look at how we would propose to make campaigns for the House more efficient and ultimately […]
Poll and open thread: Charlie Crist and Jeb Bush
Democratic Gubernatorial front-runner Charlie Crist believes that Jeb Bush made a great Governor would make a good President per his comments from last Sunday. How do our readers feel about these comments? Does it make you more or less likely to support Crist? It is also worth noting that nobody in Florida battled Bush as Governor […]
Poll, redux: Is Sen. Nan Rich a viable candidate?
Back in November, we ran a poll asking whether former Senate Minority Leader Nan Rich is a viable candidate for Governor. 49% of you responded “No,” 42% said “She has the potential to go all the way” (i.e. win the general election), and 9% thought “She can beat Charlie Crist but would lose to Rick […]
Florida House Elections: The Democrats’ Insanity
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Albert Einstein As we discussed earlier this week, Florida’s House Democrats left countless opportunities to pick up new seats on the table in 2012. But the party did make progress towards becoming more relevant in a legislative process which has been able to […]
Flashback Friday: James Bond and Florida
This month marks the 50th Anniversary of the filming of large portions of the third 007 movie, Goldfinger in Miami. While much of the opening of the film featuring Sean Connery as Bond takes place at the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach, many of the scenes later in the movie that were based in Kentucky were […]
Nan Rich on lifting the Cuban embargo
We’ve given Charlie Crist credit over the past few days for his strong words on the Cuban embargo. However, it must be pointed out that Senator Nan Rich made a similar statement last year on the embargo, a stand that is largely unique among leading south Florida Democrats. From the Tampa Bay Times on June […]
The Florida Squeeze 