Charlie Crist has a new backer, Mark Penn, and he used to be one of the closest and most powerful advisers to Bill and Hillary Clinton. In fact, as the chief pollster and senior adviser for Hillary’s 2008 presidential run, he is blamed for some of the worst tendancies of that campaign. Is…
We love our neighbors across the Gulf. Like bright, beautiful, nonsensical birds, they make the jail cells of our daily lives that much more colorful. Take their politicians. While Barack Obama is er-umming about the deficit, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez is disinterring a 200-year-old corpse and weeping about it, all…
As he campaigns for governor on an independent ticket, Lawton “Bud” Chiles III likes to trumpet his decade running HOPE Worldwide, a health-care charity. “We did immunization and health outreach for thousands of kids,” Chiles says.Sounds nice!But Chiles — who’s threatening to torpedo Democrat Alex Sink by nicking thousands of…
In exactly what world are we living when the breakup of a hip-hop group leads to drama in a presidential election? Wyclef Jean is running for president of Haiti (which seems like a tough job considering he can barely run his charity, career, or personal finances), and now his former…
With the primary election just weeks away, even previously boring races are beginning to heat up. The battle for the Democratic nomination for attorney general is getting slightly crazy, with Dan Gelber and Dave Aronberg, both Florida senators, making lawyer disses. Gelber dismissed Aronberg as a “junior lawyer,” and now…
Bill Clinton has been one of the biggest and earliest supporters of Kendrick Meek’s Senate candidacy. He’s been headlining fundraisers for Meek since early 2009 and is steadfast in his support. In fact, he’ll be in South Florida in a week and a half to campaign on behalf of Meek…
The first challenger has stepped up to take on Rev. Richard Dunn, the city commissioner who, in order to get an appointment to replace the ousted Michelle Spence-Jones, promised to relinquish his seat in November. That pledge lasted all of a hot minute before Dunn changed his mind, but Alison…
Surprise! Attorney General and Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill McCollum still opposes gay adoption — notwithstanding the spectacular downfall of his hand-picked anti-gay expert, George Alan Rekers. “I don’t believe the gay family model is good for kids,” McCollum said this week to the Sun-Sentinel — which duly noted that one…
Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp will betray the man who helped raise the former Ft. Myers-area state rep from political obscurity to, um, political semi-obscurity by announcing he’s endorsing Marco Rubio for Senate. Kottkamp was little known before Charlie Crist chose him as his running mate in 2006. Though now that…
With a bumper crop of utterly shady rich guys threatening to run off with our Senate and governor’s races, it’s been easy to forget that South Florida also has open House seats to fill.But if political theater is your thing, do not ignore District 17. Eight Democrats are locked in…
Democrats love partying at the Fontainebleau. Bill Clinton held a fundraiser at the hotel’s club LIV earlier this summer, and President Obama, who’s no stranger to the megaresort, will return to town August 18. He’ll be on hand to raise funds for the Florida Democratic Party and give a boost to Democratic gubernatorial candidate…
Jeb Bush’s current full time job is denying that he’s running for president, but why won’t he? A certain camp of conservatives would love to see him run, and even some Democrats concede he could have a good chance. Well David Letterman, the sole remaining funny person on at 11:30…
A brawl between a CBS4 cameraman and police officers broke out today during a Miami City Commission meeting. Sources at the scene say that the cameraman — a large man in a red shirt — was hauled away in a cop car after getting into an argument with a police…
Of all the things Jeb Bush has done since leaving the Governor’s office — working on education reform, making a living, maybe secretly still running the state — the thing he’s done most publicly is not running for president. That Jeb is always out there not running for president. Just…
Since the latter part of Manny Diaz’s last term as mayor of Miami, his name has been thrown about for a number of potential political positions: an appointment to President Obama’s cabinet, a run for congress, candidacy for governor or senator. None of them panned out, but Diaz is being buzzed about again as…
To most in Miami, the name Miller Dawkins just sounds a little dirty: like smegma, street tacos, or the infamous Rick Santorum. But to residents of Liberty City, Dawkins remains a hero more than 13 years after he pleaded guilty to using his position as cty commissioner to extort $200,000…
Following in the footsteps of Marco Rubio, Republican Governor Candidate Rick Scott has found himself flirting with the birther movement. When speaking today at a rally in Central Florida’s uber-retirement mecca, The Villages, he was confronted with a question over the legitimacy of President Obama’s birth certificate he admitted he didn’t…
Is the Tea Party racist? The NAACP thinks so. And the Council of Conservative Citizens, a white pride group, agrees. Of course the Tea Party is racist, crowed a blog post on the Council’s website yesterday — and it would be proud of its racism if it weren’t wussy…
Scott Galvin has served for years on the North Miami City Council and came out publicly in 2004 with little consequences and was re-elected. Now he has set his sights on a congressional seat and is running in the district Kendrick Meek is vacating. He’s the only openly gay and white candidate seeking the Democratic nomination, but…
Marco Rubio, Tea Party pretty boy
Tea Party fave Marco Rubio has been urged by the Council on American-Islamic Relations to boycott a North Florida event headlined by Brigitte Gabriel, a fiery anti-Islam speaker. But the event’s organizer says Gabriel is staying on the schedule — and Rubio should think twice about declining his invite because…
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington has released a list of “Crooked Candidates,” which, according to the organization, includes “the most corrupt and unethical candidates vying for federal office in 2010.” The list includes only 11 names, and three of them are running for Florida’s vacant Senate seat. Yes, Charlie Crist, Marco…
