U.S. Politics

Former Republican Hispanic Outreach Chief Blasts GOP "Hate," Registers as Democrat

That GOP need to build bridges to the nation's Hispanic community? The need party elders have talked so much about since Barack Obama was re-elected largely due to Hispanic support? The need that's propelled Florida's own Marco Rubio to preeminence in the early scouting reports on the GOP 2016 presd ... More >>

Allen West as Rick Scott's Lieutenant Governor? We Say Yes!

Rick Scott may have opened the door to what would be quite the dynamic duo of derpness at the top. Scott told a Tampa-area radio station that he would be cool with considering former Rep. Allen West as his next lieutenant governor. Actually, Scott basically just gave a polite answer when asked abou ... More >>

Rick Scott Denies Request to Extend Early Voting by One Day

During the 2008 elections, early voting lines went long. So then-Gov. Charlie Christ extended early voting, allowing more people the chance to vote. That was pretty much when the Republicans started to hate him because a lot of them blamed Obama winning Florida on that move. Because everyone being a ... More >>

I-4 Corridor Predicts Florida for Romney

Boca Raton Teenager, ACLU of Florida Suing to Let Kids Donate More Money to Candidates

​With the way campaign-financing laws are going these days, this may not even be surprising -- the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida and a 17-year-old girl from Boca Raton are challenging a state law that prohibits minors from giving as much money to state and local political candidates as ... More >>

Herman Cain Makes a Comeback! (In Ad for Steak Salesman/Senate Candidate Craig Miller)

Herman Cain is trying to work his magic again, this time by being featured in the new advertisement for U.S. Senate Republican hopeful and former Ruth's Chris steak house CEO Craig Miller.

Debbie Wasserman Schultz Accused of Blaming Tucson Shooting on Tea Party (She Didn't)

Fox "News"​If Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz said something profoundly stupid, we'd be all over it.Unfortunately, this is a case of a Fox News writer saying something profoundly stupid.When the headline "DNC Chair Blames Tea Party for Tucson Shooting" comes with a chopped-up video clip and an ellip ... More >>

SoFla Charter School Connections to Tallahassee

​The booming business of charter schools in South Florida is no accident. Local charter-school operators such as Mavericks in Education Florida and Charter Schools USA have ties to powerful politicians in South Florida and Tallahassee. For instance: 1. Ed Pozzuoli, former chairman of the Broward R ... More >>

Gary Johnson Schedules an Appearance in West Palm Beach Hosted by South Florida Tea Party

Former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson​After his polling numbers dropped this fall and he was no longer being invited to the debates with other GOP presidential candidates, the probability of former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson's running as the Libertarian Party candidate in 2012 looks a bit more lik ... More >>

Florida Has Old People, Old People Love Newt Gingrich, Poll Says He Leads by 30 Points

​Former House Speaker Newton Leroy "Newt" Gingrich is apparently a thing in the GOP presidential race now, with the most recent poll released this afternoon showing nearly half of Florida Republicans opting for him to be the party's nominee.Gingrich somehow managed to raise his poll numbers with a ... More >>

Connie Mack Makes His U.S. Senate Run Official

​Although one of Republican Rep. Connie Mack's advisers announced that the congressman was running for U.S. senator in 2012 more than a month ago, it's not official until there's a Fox News appearance involved.Mack appeared on Sean Hannity's show to make his formal announcement, spending most of h ... More >>

Herman Cain's Florida Tour Gaffes: Was Media Criticism "Over the Top"?

Herman Cain, the presidential contender who loves to shout the number "nine," took a whirlwind tour through Florida last week, visiting Sweetwater, Miami, Coral Springs, West Palm, and Palm Beach. While he was down in Miami, he bent to Spanglophone tastes by shouting "nueve, nueve, nueve" instead.Bu ... More >>

Rick Scott Notices Super Committee Failure, Feels the Need to Put Out a Statement

​Once again, Gov. Rick Scott feels the need to release a statement about something he doesn't like in federal politics.Three House Republicans, three House Democrats, three Senate Republicans, and three Senate Democrats couldn't agree on how to make $1.2 billion in spending cuts over the next ten ... More >>

Connie Mack Enters U.S. Senate Race With 23-Point Lead Over Other GOP Hopefuls

FlickrConnie Mack​Whereas "someone else/not sure" was the overwhelming leader in previous polls for the Republican nomination in next year's U.S. Senate race, Rep. Connie Mack's entrance into the race changes things a bit.Mack enters with the support of 32 percent of Republican voters, according t ... More >>

Rick Scott Issues Press Release Explaining New Definition of 700,000-Job Campaign Promise

​Gov. Rick Scott's office issued a news release late last week to explain the retraction of his campaign promise to create 700,000 jobs on top of the state's "normal growth" projection of 1 million jobs by 2017.It looks like he's sticking to his new story, in which he claims he never promised to c ... More >>

Bill Koch, Billionaire Coal Man, Donates Heavily to John Boehner, Throws Bone to Allen West

Kim SargentBill Koch supports pro-coal candidates.​Last month, New Times introduced you to Bill Koch, the Palm Beach billionaire who owns a coal and gas company, is known for his voracious appetite for wine and women, and has two brothers famous for being the sugar daddies of the Tea Party. W ... More >>

Rick Scott and Private Prisons Engaging in "Pay to Play" Politics, Teamsters Complaint Alleges

​Florida politicians received nearly $1 million in campaign contributions from two private prison corporations last election cycle -- GEO Group and Corrections Corporation of America -- and an ethics complaint filed by the Teamsters union yesterday claims $30,000 of those contributions that went t ... More >>

Dream Act Bill Filed in Florida Legislature

The Dream Act would help immigrant students.​A bill that would make college more affordable for undocumented immigrants has recently been filed in the Florida Legislature.If passed, the Dream Act would allow undocumented immigrants who attended three or more years of high school in Florida to qual ... More >>

Rick Scott Takes the Lead in Race for "Worst Governor Ever"

Rick Scott, currently the most popular candidate in at least one election.​Gov. Rick Scott's numbers are going up -- at least in the race to elect the "Worst Governor Ever."Scott was in fourth place around 11 p.m. Monday but is currently in first place as of around 8 a.m. today.The Florida governo ... More >>

Governor Rick Scott Attempts to Show Inner Charlie Crist

By Kate BradshawScott walks into a greasy spoon and orders an ice water.​Rick Scott walks into The Floridian diner on Las Olas at about noon today for a photo op lunch with South Florida lawmakers. There's an odd funk in the air, sort of a mix between french fries and kitty litter.He walks halfway ... More >>

A Thank-You Note From Rick Scott

No, thank you, Mr. Governor.​When one arm of the government fails to speak to another, bizarre things occur. For example, a reporter might write a lengthy critique of Florida's governor and his legislative accomplishments, including a cover illustration of him as the evil emperor from Star Wars. F ... More >>

Tea Party Starts Its Own Chamber of Commerce Out of Palm Beach Gardens

eyeonlifemag.com​Haven't you always wondered if the companies you're doing business with are steadfast supporters of the Tea Party?The South Florida Tea Party has the answer to that with the "Tea Party Chamber of Commerce."On its website is an index of businesses -- 95 at the moment -- that they s ... More >>

Rick Scott Approval Rating Analysis: "Slightly More Popular Than a Hemorrhoid"

Hemorrhoids: Almost as popular as Gov. Rick Scott.​In case you haven't noticed, Gov. Rick Scott's approval rating is getting so low that people are running out of politicians to compare him to.A few weeks ago, Public Policy Polling surveyed Florida voters about hypothetical gubernatorial matchups ... More >>

Where Was Rick Scott This Weekend? Possibly Trysting With the Koch Brothers

Have you seen this man?​Eric Jotkoff, the Florida Democratic Party Communications Director, has a question: Where was Gov. Rick Scott this weekend?"Anyone else concerned that Rick Scott left the state during hurricane season during wildfire emergency and not tell anyone?" Jotkoff posted on T ... More >>

Tea Party Trying to Weasel Its Way Out of Paying the Bill for Donald Trump Rally

fark.com​We're not sure what's more laughable -- the fact that the South Florida Tea Party can't keep up on its bills for a Donald Trump rally they held in Boca Raton, or the fact that they held a rally for The Donald to begin with.The city has sent invoices for the $6,145 the Tea Party owes for b ... More >>

Gov. Rick Scott Allocates $370 Million of Stimulus "Disaster" Money Into State Budget

tolivetolaughtolove.comFlip flops: The official footwear of Gov. Rick Scott​Remember that campaign talking point Gov. Rick Scott had about President Barack Obama's stimulus package being a "disaster," when Scott said he would endlessly fight the stimulus money?Well, he managed to leave $370 millio ... More >>

Bill Nelson Warns Rick Scott to Veto Election Bill or Face a Federal Investigation

State lawmakers want to keep people from having sex with animals. U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson wants to keep lawmakers from screwing voters.​Although it seems like Gov. Rick Scott will make the bold and progressive move of banning bestiality, he still plans to screw voters. The election overhaul bill, wh ... More >>

Voter Suppression Back in Style; Let's Party Like It's 1869

Screw the 15th Amendment. This is Florida.​Florida's legislative attack on voter rights easily passed the House last week and looks like it will surely sail through the Senate to become law. We're not alone, though. Our state's attempt to disenfranchise a massive amount of its citizens is actuall ... More >>

Angry Local Tea Party to Rally for Government Shutdown

​The Fort Lauderdale Tea Party is out at gun shows rousing its base to come out for an April 15 tax day protest planned at the federal courthouse to favor a government shutdown -- and they are promising an appearance by Congressman Allen West. The Tea Party is hopping mad that, as its local l ... More >>

Ilene Lieberman Is Back in the Building!

Lieberman is second from left ​Ilene Lieberman, after months of no-shows and call-ins to Broward County Commission meetings, has finally returned to public service. She's on the dais now -- after fellow Commissioner Chip LaMarca made it an issue last week and m ... More >>

Fort Lauderdale Tea Party Leader Speaks Out On Sarah Palin

  Fort Lauderdale Tea Party leader Gabe Carrera, at right, with Rick Scott during the campaign. ​ By day Gabriel Jose Carrera works as a bespectacled immigration attorney but in countless off-hours during the past 18 months he had another callin ... More >>

Fantasy Voter Fraud

Retired Justice Sandra Day O'Connor was dissed by Russell Pearce over Prop 200's dismissal.

FAIR-y Tales

Russell Pearce and other illegal-immigration populists rely on misleading, right-wing reports to scapegoat immigrants and terrify penny-pinched Americans.

Report: Threat Linked To Joyce Kaufman's Call To Arms

Channel 7 is reporting that the man who allegedly threatened to shoot up a Pembroke Pines school was prompted somehow by Joyce Kaufman, the acidic right-wing radio show host who was named yesterday newly elected Congressman Allan West's chief of staff. This whole thing is still murky, but  ... More >>

Voting Today? Watch Out for the Fake Tea Party

Flickr: szudi​Come on, admit it: At some point on your way down the ballot, you just turn off your brain and start filling in the bubbles that correspond to your party affiliation. This is especially true when you get down to, say, commissioner of agriculture and state representatives that you've ... More >>

Rick Scott Property Tax Calculator Ignores Small Fact: Florida Law

​GOP candidate for governor Rick Scott released this pretty snazzy new website on Friday: It's a property tax calculator that figures out a Floridian's tax if Scott gets elected versus Democratic opponent Alex Sink. There's just one problem with his site: It ignores the Florida Constitution.Scott' ... More >>

Allen West Outraged by Suggestion He's Racist Against Himself

West​After the NAACP passed a resolution declaring the tea party to be a "racist" organization, you knew that Allen West would have something to say. After all, he's one (if not the only?) tea party-backed congressional candidate who's African-American. If the tea party is racist, then West's own ... More >>

UPDATED: Why Does the South Florida Tea Party Agree With the New York Times?

The latest PR splash for the South Florida Tea Party pairs the conservative activists with a strange bedfellow, the New York Times.  Even weirder, the much-ridiculed protest group appears to have chosen a worthy cause.  Tomorrow, the activists plan to protest Charlie Crist's $536 million ... More >>

Local Tea Partiers Diversify, but Black Preacher Has Radical Anti-Female Views

It's been hard for tea partiers to diversify their ranks, adding to the perception that they're all white people who aren't just mad about taxes; they're mad about being taxed by a black president for social programs that benefit the black community.Nothing if not image-conscious, the tea partiers ... More >>

SoFla Tea Party's Everett Wilkinson Says Juan Williams Got It Wrong

The average Tea Partier in South Florida is a lot more likely to look like this, Wilkinson says.​NPR commentator and Fox News talking head Juan Williams has been all over the media lately dissecting the Tea Party movement. In an April 2 Wall Street Journal editorial, Williams decried the liberal ... More >>

Will Identity Crisis Divide Florida Tea Party?

Flickr​They all hate taxes, so why can't all tea partiers love one another? This week has revealed divisions within the tea party activist community of South Florida, and in Central Florida the infighting has spilled into the courts, where an Orlando radio host is being accused of "hijacking" the ... More >>

Alleged Tea Party Interloper Fires Back at Critics

Flickr​Karin Hoffman of Coral Springs (that's her in the video below) says that no matter what you've read on this blog -- or in the national media -- she absolutely is a member of the tea party movement. And the meeting that Hoffman and her allies recently had with Republican Party Chairman Micha ... More >>

Cardiologist and Republican Fundraiser Bounced From State College Board

Zachariah​Late last week, Gov. Charlie Crist removed Holy Cross cardiologist Zachariah P. Zachariah from the powerful Board of Governors overseeing Florida universities. It's another occasion for gossip in the state's Republican Party. Was Crist wary of insider trader allegations made by the Secur ... More >>

President Obama Fails to Go After Those Responsible for Financial Meltdown

Can Florida Governors Save GOP From Its Self-Destructive Impulses?

Flickr User: marsdencartoonsMaybe Rush Limbaugh doesn't spend enough time in his Palm Beach home. Because clearly, there's no path back to political relevance for the Republican Party that does not include winning back Florida. And yet the two figures who have the most credibility on that front, gov ... More >>

Just Look at the House Republicans Inaction!

When House Republicans caucus, I'll bet it looks something like this: Star Wars-Imperial March - Click here for more amazing videosAmid all the other state budget crises, it's not getting nearly enough attention, but the Florida Legislature is on the brink of giving the heave-ho to $444 million in f ... More >>

Lady of the House

She's got three kids, 650,000 constituents, and millions of watching eyes. Debbie Wasserman Schultz can't keep them all happy.

Third Man

Fort Lauderdale's John B. Anderson ran for president in 1980 and paved the way for spoiler candidates

Waiting For Otto

Why would a man sullied by Iran-contra and illegal propaganda campaigns be a Bush nominee? Good question.

Et Tu, Dolphins?

The members of Broward's backstabbing political club are at it again, and this time Democratic honcho Mitch Ceasar had to break it up