edited by: Kay Day,
Florida Editor
From our sister paper, the Sun-Sentinel.
WASHINGTON — The Charlie Crist for Senate campaign suffered a blow this week when Miami Congressmen Lincoln and Mario Diaz-Balart withdrew their support for him in the Republican primary.
The withdrawal came without explanation.
Senator George LeMieux, a close confidant of Crist, offered no theories on Tuesday.
“I’ve [...]
In what could be a major blow to Gov. Charlie Crist’s campaign for the U.S. Senate, Mario and Lincoln Diaz-Balart, the congressmen/brothers from Miami, appear to have withdrawn their endorsement of Crist.
The Diaz-Balarts’ names are no longer on Crist’s campaign web site under his list of endorsements from congress… [...]
So now there’s a big hubbub about the congresswoman from Arizona who’s married to an astronaut.
Suddenly, everyone is emitting theatrical gasps, feigning shock that America just might have a House member who’s too closely tied to the space program.
If so, she’s just joining the club – one that’s filled [...]
TALLAHASSEE — With slightly more verbiage than his GOP primary rival, U.S. Senate candidate Marco Rubio is also taking aim at the health care bill in Congress.
Here’s his release:
“Early this morning, Senate Democrats took the first of four significant votes this week to approve their disastrous health care policy. Especially [...]
The right-wing fringers continue to whine and complain about Florida Congressman Alan Grayson and his confrontational approach to dealing with Republicans. They call him a lunatic and the most paranoid amongst them claim that he is out to get them and the rest of [...] TALLAHASSEE — With some uber-somber mood music playing in the background, the Florida Demcoratic Party has put out a video taking Attorney General Bill McCollum to task for arguing his support of deregulatory efforts in Congress aimed at investment banks didn’t set the stage for today’s financial collapse.
McCollum has gone [...]
TALLAHASSEE — Florida U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson’s office just sent out another letter signed by much of the state’s congressional delegation to U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, asking for the much-hyped$2.5 billion in high-speed rail funding the state has requested.
In an e-mail to reporters, the Democrat’s office suggests that “an [...]
The state's congressional delegation has penned a letter to federal transportation secretary Ray LaHood, letting him know the state really wants a share of the federal transportation stimulus dollars.
"We are confident," the signers say, "That Florida's application for high speed rail funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act" [...]
A bitter battle is heating up to oust state GOP Chairman Jim Greer, with leading Florida Republicans accusing him serious financial mismanagement that could jeopardize Republican campaigns in 2010.
"Maybe Jim Greer would be more comfortable in congress where deficits and excessive spending don’t seem to matter, but that’s not the [...]
We’re a little late on this — blame the holidays and a nasty date with a dentist — but Armando Gutierrez has come up with yet another ex-big name Republican to endorse his run for U.S. Congress: Tom Gallagher.
Those of you with long memories might recall Gallagher as the first [...]
Congressman Kendrick Meek, D-Miami, wants war bonds to finance the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, calling it an effort to promote "national shared sacrifice and responsibility." Meek, who is running for Senate, introduced the legislation today, a companion to legislation by Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Nebraska.
“At a time of tremendous [...]
WASHINGTON — Anyone looking to send a holiday card to U.S. veterans recovering at Walter Reed Army Medical Center can postmark the wishes to U.S. Rep. Bill Posey, R-Rockledge, who said this week that he would “personally deliver” the cards this month.
Here’s the address:
Congressman Bill Posey
2725 Judge Fran Jamieson [...]
Miami political consultant Jeff Garcia's biggest-name clients in Florida in recent years have been losers: Elaine Bloom for Congress, Betty Castor for U.S. Senate, Raul Martinez for Congress.
But the Democratic strategist picked a winner this time, helping to elect the first openly gay or' [...]
Bill McCollum (who in Congress was mighty friendly with the banking and credit card industry) for the first time is attacking Alex Sink's background as a banker. It's a line of attack that Florida Republicans had started and then stopped earlier this year. A Statement from McCollum [...]
By Mark K. Matthews, Orlando Sentinel
WASHINGTON — Few members of Congress are as relentless at self-promotion as U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson.
Since January, the Orlando Democrat has flooded inboxes and mailboxes in his four-county Central Florida district with glowing accounts of his first year in Congress, even quoting the mayor of [...]
A few follow-up notes on the congressional front…
Mica ignores birther bill. Sunday’s column mentioned that Bill Posey is still championing the birth-certificate bill that has made him the hero of (and now officially endorsed by) the birther crowd. But I thought you might also like a take on this legislation [...]
WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Bart Gordon of Tennessee announced today that he would not seek re-election to Congress, a decision that ensures new leadership atop the U.S. House and Science Technology committee after the 2010 election.
The departure of the veteran lawmaker is the latest in a string of Democratic retirements [...]
Reports of Republican Party Chairman Jim Greer's demise proved greatly exaggerated Thursday.
Under fire by some in his party for his performance, Greer got a vote of confidence Thursday from the GOP's executive board, composed of party leaders representing each of Florida's congressional districts.
At a meeting at the Doubletree Hotel in [...]
That would be Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, according to this week's National Journal poll of Congressional and political insiders -- who are surveyed on "their favorite members of Congress, the member they'd like most to shut up, the brightest thinkers and strategists in their parties and much more."
Congressional insiders gave [...]
Sen. George LeMieux said that U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is “very pleased with where we are” in Florida, now that state lawmakers have approved a commuter rail bill in special session.
LeMieux was one of several members of Florida’s congressional delegation who spoke last night with LaHood about… [...]
House and Senate negotiators have apparently reached a deal to keep anti-Castro broadcasters Radio and TV Marti alive. Congressional critics in the Senate had proposed slicing the stations' $34 million budget nearly in half -- but a compromise has been reached, setting the 2010 budget at $30 million.
Florida Sen. George LeMieux, who had threatened' [...]
