Early Riser’s Poll Report: Lynch Clinging to 37-Vote Advantage

The Republican primary election for the seat in Congress vacated by Robert Wexler was too close to call last night, forcing a manual recount in Broward and Palm Beach elections offices. As of this moment, businessman Ed Lynch has 3,320 votes in a district that straddles the two counties. Joe…

Kendrick Meek Looks to Diversify Voting Bloc by Sponsoring Race Car

NASCAR races aren’t known for their racial diversity. And the traditional good ol’ boy fan base isn’t known for voting for Democrats. But maybe it’s a place where an African American Democrat can score a few swing votes in Florida’s U.S. Senate race. Presumably, that’s the motive behind Congressman Kendrick…

Cardiologist and Republican Fundraiser Bounced From State College Board

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 Securities and Exchange Commission against Zachariah? Or did…

Laura Seidman Declares Candidacy for Broward Circuit Court

Laura Seidman, wife of Broward County Judge Lee Jay Seidman, has filed to challenge Judge Lisa Porter for Broward Circuit Court’s Group 47.A Republican activist, Laura Seidman is former general counsel of Broward Health, resigning that position in April 2008 due to health concerns and political pressure. She described her…

All Eyes on Obama-Crist Greeting; Hands Above the Waist, Gentlemen!

Let’s be real. Charlie Crist isn’t trailing in the Senate race because he’s a weak leader who surrounds himself with a coterie of crooked businessmen and conflicted advisers. No, those would be legitimate reasons. Rather, he’s trailing the Senate race because back in February, he hugged Barack Obama.In the year…

Prisoner Art Offers a Glimpse Through the Bars

Collecting and showing prisoner art is Carol Strick’s second career. It started when she left her job at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 1994, where she worked making faience reproductions for the Ancient Egyptian collection. Her husband had died, she’d moved to Florida, and she was…

Slutty Computer Avatars Not Fooled by Crist

On the World Wide Web, even tea party activists can be hot. But they still ain’t buyin’ what Charlie Crist is sellin’. The video above was made last week and was to be furnished to “millions” of potential voters. I was the third to watch it. Maybe traffic will pick…

A Sneak Peek at the Candidates for Broward Health Board

The list of candidates for the Broward Health board is full of attorneys, contractors, politicians and health-care business owners. They are vying for at least one open seat — the one formerly belonging to Maureen Jaeger, who left this fall to join George Lemieux’s U.S. Senate staff. Commissioner Rebecca Stoll’s…

Wasserman Schultz: Let’s Not Panic About Health Care Reform

This week’s Republican upset in the Massachusetts Senate race cost Democrats their filibuster-proof majority and dealt a powerful blow to the party’s hopes for health care reform. This afternoon I asked West Broward Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz whether it’s triggered any panic in the House Democratic caucus. “I would not…

Pompano-Based Anti-Immigration Group Sounds Alarm About Haitians

One week after an earthquake that devastated the Haitian capital, the Floridians for Immigration Enforcement (FLIMEN) are trying to pull off a very delicate public relations maneuver: stating their sympathy for the Haitian people, while also communicating in no uncertain terms that Haitians are not welcome here, no matter how…

Rubio Reaches Out to Parking Lot Loiterers

If you’re running for U.S. Senate like Marco Rubio, it’s hard to break the habit of speechifying, even if you’re just stepping outside your car and walking into a new campaign office in Clearwater. But just stick with it a few minutes. A few sympathetic people are bound to stop…

A Bad Time to Be Charlie’s Frat Brother

It used to be the best gravy train on the tracks: If you were a frat brother of Charlie Crist at Florida State, you could practically name your job. Harry Sargeant landed a prestigious gig as the finance chairman of the Republican Party of Florida. Crist appointed another “Pike,” Mike…

Will Florida Bar Tackle Complaint Against LeMieux?

If you’ve followed the recent machinations of the Florida Bar Association, it’s hard to imagine it will hold Sen. George LeMieux accountable for what appear to be grievous professional sins he committed in 2008.But at least there’s some pressure building, as evidenced by this weekend’s Miami Herald article about the…

Mahaney Fired as Deerfield Beach City Manager

Commissioner Marty Popelsky broke a 2-2 tie on the Deerfield Beach City Commission this evening, voting in favor of a resolution that terminated Mike Mahaney, the city manager of more than two years.The meeting was civil, by Deerfield Beach standards anyway. Commissioners Joe Miller and Sylvia Poitier teamed up with…

Rubio Fields Tea Party Question on CNBC

That’s video of Marco Rubio from last night’s The Kudlow Report. At the 2-minute mark, Kudlow asks Rubio to respond to the recent profile in New York Times Magazine, which asked whether Rubio is “The First Senator From the Tea Party?”Of course, Rubio saw that question coming from a mile…

[UPDATED] On Morocco Eve, Rothstein Met Obama?!?

That’s what former Rothstein business partner Roger Stone is reporting on his blog this morning. He says that former Heat center Alonzo Mourning played matchmaker in an encounter that took place in Miami Beach on the night of October 26 — just before Rothstein left for Morocco the following day…

Gambling Compact Bounced From Committee; Setback for Crist, LeMieux

In yet another demonstration of Charlie Crist’s plummeting stock in the state Republican Party, a legislative committee has rejected the compact his office hammered out with the Seminole Tribe last year that would have allowed the Seminoles to keep theirLas Vegas-style games in exchange for annual payments to the state,…