U.S. Senate

Is Charlie Crist Florida's Next Governor?

Charlie Crist Will Switch to Democrat, According To Rumors

See also: Dear Dems, Please Do Not Run Charlie Crist for GovernorIn probably what is the least-shocking news ever, former Governor Charlie Crist might be switching over to Democrat this week. Saint Petersblog's Peter Schorsch tweeted out that a rumor is going around the Republican National ... More >>

Todd Akin's Dumbass Rape Comments Could Affect Florida Races

In a televised interview on Sunday, U.S. Senate candidate Todd Akin of Missouri said victims of "legitimate rape" rarely get pregnant. He then explained this by saying something about how a woman's body magically saves the victim from getting pregnant from their attacker. Or something. Illegitimate ... More >>

Dave Weldon Announces Run for Senate; Vote for Him Because Obama Stinks or Something

All across Florida... people are running. For Senate.The latest entry into the hunt for Sen. Bill Nelson's seat is former Florida Rep. Dave Weldon, who served seven terms in the House before retiring in 2008 to spend more time with his family. Apparently he got tired of them.

George LeMieux Bashes Stimulus by Voicing Distaste for Garbage-Eating Robots

​U.S. Senate candidate George LeMieux has apparently run out of things to talk about, so he's bitching about critiquing trash cans.He's upset about solar-powered trash compactors -- $6,000 "robotic trash cans" as he calls them -- some of which were purchased with federal stimulus cash by the L ... More >>

Florida Democratic Party's New Fundraising Technique: Identifying the "Rickpublicans"

​Forget Kevin Bacon, the Florida Democratic Party is playing the "Six Degrees of Rick Scott."How do you play? Well, apparently by launching a website identifying the state's "Rickpublicans."Sure enough, hometown favorite Rep. Allen West landed a Bacon Rick number of one, with a direct connection t ... More >>

Muslim Nezar Hamze Kept Out of Broward GOP Committee Amid "Pit of Discrimination"

Photo by Mike RiceNezar Hamze (left) across from local radio host "Joe Citizen" in a July protest outside a Margate mosque.​Nezar Hamze -- a Muslim and executive director of Florida's Council on American-Islamic Relations -- is no stranger to taking heat from right-wing politicos in Broward County ... More >>

Allen West Proves The Onion Sometimes Gets it Right

​The Onion may be the world's greatest source of satirical news, but sometimes its hilarity actually yields more fact than fiction.For President Obama's birthday yesterday, The Onion ran a news brief with the headline "Obama Turns 50 Despite Republican Opposition.""After months of heated negot ... More >>

Numerous KFC Stores Shutting Down Across Broward

Finger lickin' gone? Information is sketchy right now, but reports are coming in that Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants at more than 20 locations in Broward County are being shut down as I type this. The only confirmed shutdown so far is at the KFC at 815 Hallandale Beach Boulevard. I called the ... More >>

After Tucson, Stacy Ritter Wants More Security -- From 'Bloggers'

In the wake of the Tucson shooting, Broward County Commissioner Stacy Ritter said at yesterday's public meeting that she wants to beef up security and have metal detectors at the county governmental building. ​All That Glitters, who watched the meeting (I didn't), reported the ... More >>

The Show Must Go On

Working on a Tea Party story but in the meantime wanted to share a photo that has been spreading across the internets lately. Here it is:                   What the hell is this, you ask, and why is it on the Pulp? Well, ... More >>

Concede? Hell No. Secede!

​It just happened. Florida has officially elected the man who oversaw the greatest Medicare fraud in U.S. history as its governor. You might think I would welcome this sort of thing. I remember when I covered the 2000 recount thinking at the end of it, after the U.S. Supreme Court gave t ... More >>

Broward Election Results

For those of you wanting to keep an eye on the results as they come in, click here. Early voting totals are in. They are pretty good indicators but you can see pretty good swings in some races as the night wears on. Will Keechl make it? ​In Broward, West is up over Klein by ten points (i ... More >>

Dirtiest Campaign Season Ever?

Charlie Crist Facebook Wild Art: Democratic state Rep. Ari Porth pays homage to Charlie Crist at a campaign stop in Century Village/Pembroke Pines a couple of weeks ago.   Not by a long shot. Capri​Let's get the weekend started right with a little political parody from ... More >>

One Blog, One Vote

I'll be writing more about the infamous crusher handshake later, but a few people have asked me who I'm voting for (or would vote for if in a certain district). I got it a lot in the primary too. So I thought I'd go ahead and spit it out. Don't call these endorsements. I wo ... More >>

Billionaires Still Bountiful in South Florida

FlickrThe closest you'll ever get to H. Wayne Huizenga's yacht.​The region's economy has been shaken in recent years by the housing slump and by the collapse of Ponzi schemers like Madoff and Rothstein, but South Florida is still home to at least 20 billionaires, according to the most recent Forbe ... More >>

It's a Small World After All: Republicans Use Audit of Jim Greer to Sabotage Charlie Crist

​They say that in every crisis, there's an opportunity. So it is with the Republican Party of Florida, scandalized by the sybaritic ways of its former chairman, Jim Greer, who's now facing charges of money laundering and fraud, a case that prompted a forensic audit of the party's books. And those ... More >>

Crist, Meek Dunce Meter: In Competition for Union Vote, Both Look Like Losers

Teamster Charlie.​As Election Day approaches, the three-way U.S. Senate race between Independent Charlie Crist, Republican Marco Rubio, and Democrat Kendrick Meek gets stranger by the minute. In today's installment, Crist and Meek both canceled a scheduled talk at the Kravis Center in West Palm Be ... More >>

Jeff Greene Tells WPBF That Stories of Parties on his Yacht Are Just a 'Silly Sideshow'

​With an ear-to-ear smirk and a laugh, U.S. Senate candidate Jeff Greene responded to stories about the parties aboard his yacht, calling the whole thing a "silly sideshow." The interview, posted today to YouTube by WPBF, mentions the first-person account printed here this week of Greene's former ... More >>

Jeff Greene's Party Yacht: The Insider's Tale From His Former Stewardess

Photos provided by Sharyn PeachMike Tyson with a Summerwind employee.​Sharyn Peach has been in the news a lot lately, telling of the days she worked on the yacht owned by Jeff Greene, a candidate for U.S. Senate. Peach, from Fort Lauderdale, is the lead singer of BitchFire, winner of the New Times ... More >>

Poll Confirms the Obvious: Kendrick Meek's Campaign a Disaster for Florida Democrats

Flickr: maximas.prime​There's nothing particularly dynamic about the U.S. Senate campaign being run by Palm Beach billionaire Jeff Greene -- except when you compare it to the one by Miami Congressman Kendrick Meek. Greene doesn't really have a message, unless you count his constant bellyaching abo ... More >>

[UPDATED] It's Splitsville for Charlie Crist's Broward Bromance

​While he was a Republican Senate candidate, Charlie Crist didn't have an inner circle so much as a triangle. And all three points on that triangle were from Broward County. George LeMieux, the governor's former chief of staff, whom Crist appointed to the U.S. Senate last August; Eric Eikenberg, w ... More >>

Still No Takers on Crist Uncloseted Meme; Pundits Say Charlie Doesn't Need "Game-Changer"

​In a U.S. Senate race that has already had so many spectacular plot twists, can anyone blame me for hoping that the biggest shocker is yet to come? But for the Crist-Comes-Outta-the-Closet meme to take hold, it will take some brave pundits besides me to give him a helpful nudge.So with that in mi ... More >>

George LeMieux Wants to Party Like It's 2007

Maybe it's not so hard, running this "government." George LeMieux sure makes it look easy. No matter how complex the problem, LeMieux finds a solution so simple, a total idiot could understand it. But these must be frustrating times for the Broward-born U.S. Senate appointee. First Congress failed ... More >>

Morning Juice: Fin Circling in Playoff Waters; Feds May Soon Have Kraft Work

​Headlines from the weekend past in Broward and Palm Beach:The Dolphins squeaked out a win in Jacksonville yesterday afternoon, thanks to some hard running by Ricky Williams and a timely sack by Randy Starks. [NFL.com]Matthew Bent, one of the Deerfield Beach boys accused of torching Michael Brewer ... More >>

Morning Juice: Crist Taps a School Board Member; Heart Attack Killed Picower

​For fresh material on the breaking news item of the moment, the stabbings in Manalapan, scroll down. Here's what else is happening in Broward and Palm Beach:That's not the day's only stabbing story. A 15-year-old in Coral Springs stabbed his 14-year-old brother to death during a fight over the vo ... More >>

Senate Race Looking More Competitive -- on One Side, Anyway

Flickr: maurice.ferreFerre​Charlie Crist continues to lead in polls, but former House Speaker Marco Rubio has all the momentum in the battle for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate. During a quarter when he appeared on the cover of the National Review, dominated straw polls, and received hig ... More >>

Crist's Bulldog in Lipstick

George LeMieux: Looks better in a skirt than in a U.S. senator's seat.​Citing a Marco Rubio campaign ad, St. Petersburg Times politics blog Buzz earlier today asked whether Charlie Crist had "pulled a McCain" -- committing a tactical blunder that gives his opponent evidence that he's out of touch ... More >>

Editorials Lambaste LeMieux, a Week Too Late

Flickr: oddball7​The editorial sections of major Florida newspapers are furious about Crist's pick of George LeMieux for U.S. Senate. But in their rage -- or maybe it's modesty -- they forgot to mention how complicit their papers are in LeMieux's selection.After all, Crist's office was playing by ... More >>

Morning Juice: Mystery in Miramar; Hurricane's Northern Path May Kill Bill

​So far, the morning brings no new information on what, exactly, happened yesterday in Miramar -- just that whatever it was was horrible. WPLG has some video with interviews from neighbors. In the meantime, here's what else is happening in South Florida:The U.S. Justice Department has indicted Alb ... More >>

Feds: No, Florida, You're Not Allowed to Be a Pirate Colony

Flickr User: Karen Moreau BondNobody wants to admit it, but if the federal government is going to make fraud-busting its new "War on [hot topic]," then it's going to deal another blow to the South Florida economy.It's just that fraud's what we're good at! Take the case of Christopher Maury. The West ... More >>

Rubio Wins the Week in GOP Senate Race

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the EconomyU.S. Senate candidate Marco Rubio scored two big endorsements this week, plus the criticism of from one of those Democrat-leaning MSNBC talking heads, which kinda counts as an endorsement. About 1:10 in the video above, Hardbal ... More >>

Martinez Bowled Over by Sotomayor

Republicans like Newt Gingrich are pretty sure that Sonia Sotomayor is racist against white men, but just to make sure, the U.S. Senate's only Hispanic Republican, Mel Martinez, went in for a closer look. As you can see in the video above, the Florida senator exchanged some awkward Spanish with the ... More >>

Senate Contender Wears Magic Jersey; Can't Play Defense

On the right, that's Corrine Brown, the Democratic congresswoman from Jacksonville considering a bid for U.S. Senate against Kendrick Meek. Here at Juice, we're worried she's going to realize it's an absurd idea, then disappear again. So for now, we're going to bask in her relevance. Above, a funny ... More >>

Marco Rubio Embarks on Perilous Mission

Reflecting on the long-rumored entry of Marco Rubio into the race for U.S. Senate in 2010 against the inevitable candidacy of the formidable Florida governor, one can't help but recall that opening scene of Apocalypse Now: An underwear-wearing Martin Sheen doing drunken judo chops in some squalid ho ... More >>

Boca Firm's Spin Job is a Riot

Remember when I told you that a riot at the Pecos, Texas prison run by a Boca Raton company, had ended with a "positive outcome"? I was wrong. That's what I get for relying on the guarantees of the Geo Group, which probably should have delayed claiming victory until after its prison had stopped belc ... More >>

Down Goes Sansom

House Speaker Ray Sansom stepped down today. He's the one who lobbied to win state funds for a college, which then gave him a $110,000 job -- a chain of events that Sansom would have us believe were unrelated. Sansom has said he "welcomed" an investigation, which is good, because he got one -- actua ... More >>

Oh, hey. Dr. Marion Thorpe Also Is Running for Senate

Yep, while nobody (except maybe the unsleeping eye of Anthony Man) was watching, Dr. Marion Thorpe announced that he would be proud to serve Florida in the U.S. Senate. That declaration didn't make much of a splash. Hell, the Quinniapac poll released last week didn't even bother factoring Thorpe, th ... More >>

Quinniapac Picks the Next U.S. Senator, Governor for Florida

McCollum (left) and Crist are the frontrunners.The Quinniapac University Bobcats cannot wait for us Floridians to pick our own U.S. Senator in 2010. Besides, Florida will probably have its votes stripped by Howard Dean again, anyway. So Quinniapac staged the election for us and... hello, U.S. Senato ... More >>

From Mel To Meek? Miami Congressman Launches Senate Bid

At the top of the hour, baby-faced U.S. Rep Kendrick Meek, the Democrat from Miami, will announce his bid for the U.S. Senate in 2010 when Republican Sen. Mel Martinez steps down. Being the first from either party to declare, Meek's given himself nearly two years to campaign.Which is a good thing, b ... More >>

Mayor Manny Busts Obama With Scatological Humor

Miami Mayor Manny Diaz is the president of some mayor's only fraternity and like everyone else this holiday season, he has a wish list he's sending to Barack Hussein Santa Claus Obama.When it comes to Broward, Manny's got shit on his mind. Specifically, the "treated" sewage that Hollywood is current ... More >>

Foley Disgrace Exposes Newspapers' Flaws

King's Tarnished Crown

Don King wants to make South Florida a boxing capital. Trouble is, he's on the ropes.

Don King Presents

A battle of Kerry vs. Kerry

Deutsch Marks

He's raised a lot of money in his bid for the Senate, but from whom?

Operation Baghdad

A Senate hopeful on the lam is busy tracking Saddam

Out with the Truth, the Epilogue

The mainstream media ruin a perfectly good debate

Undercurrents

Conservative coverage in the Senate and in the bar

Undercurrents