What a difference a year or two makes.In November 2010, during a wave of Republican support, Broward County Mayor Ken Keechl was swept out of office despite a long and blistering attack on his opponent, Chip LaMarca, whom he outspent by nearly half a million dollars.People wondered why. Was it…
When Republican National Committee Chair Reince Priebus was asked last month about Florida Gov. Rick Scott speaking at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, he offered a less-than-welcoming indication of Scott’s role:”I’m sure he’s got, I’m sure he’s got plenty, uh, you know, I’m sure there’s a welcome, you know,…
We’ve already the political ads flowing in, but there are about to be a lot more: As part of a huge $77 million ad buy, the reelection campaign of President Barack Obama has allocated about $13.3 million to Florida ads that are set to start running today, according to CNN…
On Wednesday, Democratic Florida Sen. Bill Nelson released an ad: He hates oil spills, it said. He likes education and his wife. It made no mention of his Republican opponent, which, if polling is to be believed, will be Rep. Connie Mack.Then, late Thursday, another ad. This one? Not as…
Former Republican Gov. Charlie Crist is backing Democratic incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson in the race for the Florida Senate in yet another instance of Crist’s batting for the other team.Crist said yesterday, per the Tampa Bay Times, that he will be attending a fundraiser for Nelson at the home of…
A note to anyone contemplating taking a state job in Tallahassee: You will probably have to work in Tallahassee.For the second time this week, a Florida official has resigned to be “closer to home” or some such thing: Education Commissioner Gerard Robinson submitted his resignation yesterday, saying that his wife…
Have you seen the hysterical/apocalyptic “STOP OBAMA” billboard on southbound I-95 just past Palm Beach International Airport? It warns people that Greek-style financial armageddon is “COMING HERE SOON!” It’s complete with images of cities ablaze, cops in riot gear, and stone-throwing mobs of face-masked anarchists. Yikes!This disaster impends, the billboard…
The latest ruling in the upcoming corruption trial of former Florida GOP Chair Jim Greer: A four-page report of unknown embarrassing accusations is public record and might be admissible in court, a judge said yesterday, and there is no limit on the records Greer’s lawyers can subpoena from the party.It’s…
Twitter recently suspended the account of Independent reporter Guy Adams, who had been writing tweets critical of Twitter partner NBC’s coverage of the Olympics. The reason it gave? In one of the rants, he gave the corporate email address of an NBC executive. Twitter said it booted him for sharing…
Ozzie DeFarina, the GOP congressional candidate looking to challenge Democratic incumbent Debbie Wasserman Schultz in November, has been courting support from Log Cabin Republicans, a leading supporter for marriage equality.But then DeFarina did that thing that GOPers do and slammed his primary opponent in an email for being down with…
When Lt. Gov Jennifer Carroll was accused of firing staffer Carletha Cole after Cole claimed to have walked in on the lieutenant governor during a gay tryst with her female travel aide, Carroll used the old tried-and-true “Look at me! I don’t look like a gay!” defense by saying: “Usually…
If you’re wondering what the next ridiculously destructive posturing move House Republicans are going to be embarking upon (other than seeking reelection), it just might be outlined in a letter that they sent to Speaker of the House John Boehner.Details started coming out this week about the letter, which asks…
The bad news is that there are now pictures floating around the internet of a 60-year-old Florida rep without a shirt on. The good news is that he isn’t trying to get laid.You might be inclined to freak out over Palm Harbor Republican Peter Nehr showing off his bod online,…
You may have already seen the signs, towed behind planes in Palm Beach County: “Beware thug prosecutors,” “Dump McAuliffe for prosecutor, vote for Elmer Fudd,” “Smile if You Think Mikey McAuliffe Is a Putz.” The Palm Beach Post got to the story of those planes — and the millionaire funding…
Though former Fort Lauderdale legislator Mandy Dawson said in April that “no different than any other person walking the streets of America” with tax problems, she’s certainly different from people walking the streets now: She’ll be locked up.Dawson was sentenced to six months in prison today after pleading guilty in April…
Read our past interview with Israel, and about how he’s retweeting it a whole bunch, and about his money.The editorial board at the Miami Herald has chimed in for Scott Israel, one of the two Democratic contenders in what may be the most important and underreported primary election in Broward…
Another chapter has been written in Rep. Connie Mack’s devolution from a lackluster congressman into a sneering, whining toadstool of a Senate candidate, and it’s a stupid one. It started, more or less, back in April, when Mack’s father, former Sen. Connie Mack III, wrote a letter to the Tampa…
Read our interviews with Israel and Granteed.You may not have heard of Louis Granteed — he’s better-known to local beat cops than to the general public — but it would be a mistake to discount him in the Democratic primary for Broward sheriff on August 14. Turns out, he’s raised…
How mad is Rep. Connie Mack at Barack Obama? So mad. And Big Socialist Barry is going to be on a tour of Florida in the next few days, so it looks like Mack decided to get all hopped up on scotch and 5-Hour Energy drinks and write a really…
Well, this is awkward. Gov. Rick Scott’s state is playing host to the Republican National Convention in Tampa next month, and nobody can say whether they’re going to let the guy speak at it.When RNC Chair Reince Priebus was asked about Scott and Sen. Marco Rubio’s roles in the convention,…
On Sunday, the Tampa Bay Times editorial board members explained to readers why they thought Republican Dave Weldon was a better choice than Rep. Connie Mack to face Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson in the fall. They were not kind:Rep. Connie Mack IV of Fort Myers has the famous name, the…
Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll has finally responded to accusations that she fired a staffer because the staffer discovered her in the midst of a gay tryst with an aide: “Usually black women that look like me don’t engage in relationships like that.”Oh dear.WTSP found Carroll over the weekend at the…
