The news late yesterday that the 2012 Congressional Districts had been invalidated drew me back to 1996, when we had a similar happening with Congressional Districts. Ironically, the district that caused the problems then as it has now is Corrine Brown’s seat, then numbered the third, now numbered the fifth. Brown’s original district in 1992 […]
For decades from the 1960s up to the mid 1990s, the political strategy for both parties has been to find a moderate candidates that can appeal both sides of the aisle. This began to fade with Newt Gingrich’s Republican Revolution in the house in 1994 and the rise of hyper-partisanship, yet the polarization has taken […]
Late this afternoon, Judge Terry Lewis issued a harsh rejection of Congressional maps that were drawn by the Republican Legislature and declared that districts 5 and 10 were unconstitutional. Effectively, this will redraw the entire Central and North Central Florida congressional map from the Tampa Bay area to Orlando all the way up to Jacksonville […]
Robert Wexler who was my Congressman for almost 13 years joined the ranks of politician authors in 2008. Like most political memoirs the book is largely self-serving and self-promoting. Nonetheless, Fire-Breathing Liberal: How I Learned to Survive (and Thrive) in the Contact Sport of Congress has some interesting nuggets which certainly make it worth reading. Having […]
Continuing our recent look at small counties, rural voters and the Democratic vote, I thought it might be instructive to look at a comparison between two Democratic victories. The Democrats last won a Governor’s race in 1994 which was before the current era of Democratic dominance of Presidential elections in the state began (The Democrats […]
This week on the open thread we’d love to hear readers suggestions for who should be Charlie Crist’s running mate for Lieutenant Governor. Under the current state law, Governor Crist can wait until just after the primary to make his choice. The old state law which was changed in the mid 1990s dictated that all […]
In the 1990s, the Republican party aggressively started in taking over all levels of government elections, from mosquito control all the way up and this has paid off for them in a large way. As we have mentioned numerous times in this blog, the Democrats have to start building from the ground up if they […]
I have seen the allegation bandied about the internet that somehow our website is hawkish and that some of our writers (myself included) are neoconservatives. Interestingly at least speaking for myself I take a far more restrained view of the use of the US military than the current Administration has. President Obama has overextended the […]
Former Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer may very well be a candidate for President in 2016. His first step will be winning the Democratic nomination. Does he have chance? With name identification below ten percent outside of Montana he will have to considerably raise his profile on the national level. The fact that he provides such […]
Governor Crist’s first television ad which begins to air in certain Florida media markets today is sunny side up look at Florida. I love that Governor Crist begins the ad with the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, the signature symbol of this state and takes a positive tone throughout the 30 second spot. Unlike his opponent who […]
The Florida Squeeze 