Flablog

Sure beats talk radio

noreply@blogger.com (Lane) — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 12:48:00 +0000

Following in the illustrious footsteps of Mike Haridopolos who has a $75,000 lite-work job as a "guest lecturer" at UofF, former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio will get $69,000 lite-duty gig at Florida International University. Like Haridopolos, he doesn't need no doctorate to be professor. He has a doctorate in access!

Key quote: "He said his support in the Legislature for a new medical school at FIU had nothing to do with his getting the job."

+ The Buzz verison
+ Orlando Sentinel

Poor choice of words

noreply@blogger.com (Lane) — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 16:36:00 +0000

At a time when every school district that's laying off teachers, every city that's laying off firefighters, and every county that's laying deputies is blaming the effects of Amendment 1, it's probably pretty tone-deaf PR to pitch Amendment 5 with the claim "This is Amendment 1 on steroids." Just sayin'.

All politics is national politics

noreply@blogger.com (Lane) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 14:33:00 +0000

The Washington Blade makes the interesting point that the anti-gay marriage initiative in California is making it harder for Florida's Amendment 1 people to raise money.
(Via Progress Florida.)

Frappuccino squad

noreply@blogger.com (Lane) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 15:26:00 +0000

Here in Daytona Beach, local cops are not content with the usual doughnut shop fare -- a police lieutenant here is charged with shaking down a Starbucks for coffee with white chocolate mocha syrup and passion tea. No regular drip for this guy. Or waiting in line, for that matter.

+ The story is picked up by the NY Times blog, The Lede.

We're No. 1!

noreply@blogger.com (Lane) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 15:21:00 +0000

Which state is No. 1 for job losses in the whole country for the past 12 months? According to state economists, it's the Sunshine State.

Frank Williams, the Department of Revenue's chief economist, agreed: ``We're No. 1 in job losses. Absolutely.''
Were it not for employment gains in the health, education and the low-paying services fields, they said, the job-loss numbers would be far higher. Construction lost 77,000 jobs and manufacturing lost 23,000 in the last year. By month's end, the experts project, Florida's job-loss rate will be higher the nation's for the first time since 2002.

The world of Fla. local politics

noreply@blogger.com (Lane) — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 01:58:00 +0000

The headline says it all: Voodoo doll doesn't sway Deltona commissioner.

Poll-0-Rama

noreply@blogger.com (Lane) — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 18:05:00 +0000

New Zogby Poll:

Florida

McCain	Obama	Barr	Nader	Other/Not Sure
43%	39%	6%	2%	11%

Obama loses badly to McCain with voters over 65, 59%-26%. . . . Obama's strength is in the southern part of the state, while McCain does better in the north and in the I4 corridor.

(N=3,731. MoE +/- 1.6 points)

Engagement react (cont.)

noreply@blogger.com (Lane) — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 16:18:00 +0000

How are Florida's newspaper columnists reacting to Gov. Charlie Crist's engagement? With raw, unrelenting snark. That's how:
+ Cerabino -- Ladies, here's an engaging opportunity
+ Lane -- Open letter from singles to Crist: You don't want to run into this
+ Ruth -- When You’re In Love, You’re In Love

State of the Sunshine State

noreply@blogger.com (Lane) — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 16:08:00 +0000

A piece in Time magazine lays out a grim list of troubles here in the Sunshine State:

We're facing our worst real estate meltdown since the Depression. We've got a water crisis, insurance crisis, environmental crisis and budget crisis to go with our housing crisis. We're first in the nation in mortgage fraud, second in foreclosures, last in high school graduation rates. Our consumer confidence just hit an all-time low, and our icons are in trouble--the citrus industry, battered by freezes and diseases; the Florida panther, displaced by highways and driveways; the space shuttle, approaching its final countdown. New research suggests that the Everglades is collapsing, that our barrier beaches could be under water within decades, that a major hurricane could cost us $150 billion.

Yikes. This is grimmer than last year's WSJ downer, "Is Florida Over." The author thinks the state needs to grow up, reinvent itself and get off the wheel of the boom-and-bust cycle. Fat chance.

Tightening up

noreply@blogger.com (Lane) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 16:19:00 +0000

CQ says the race in Feeney's District is one notch more competitive. "Leans Republican" from "Republican favored." It might be the Abramoff thing.

End of a tradition?

noreply@blogger.com (Lane) — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 17:31:00 +0000

Campaigns and Elections magazine writes about an apparently new policy at Daytona International Speedway discouraging politicking at the track. This seems counter to a long-standing tradition at the race formerly known as the Firecracker 400. (Via Q: Palm Beach Post.)

As my column pointed out, this is more than a tradition, it's a curse:

Last yea r, Rudy Giuliani was an honorary race official at the race, then called the Pepsi 400. Giuliani went on to lose the Florida Republican presidential primary decisively enough to drop out of the race.

This followed a pattern -- one might say a curse -- of honorary race celebrities seeing big drops in th eir popularity afterward.

The 2006 grand marshal? Vice President Dick Cheney.

The 2005 start-your-engines announcer: fired Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

The 2004 grand marshal was nonpolitical -- Byron Leftwich who was quarterback of the Jacksonville Jaguars and now is quarterback for, well, nobody.

The most dramatic drop in popularity? That would be either President Bush, grand marshal in 2000, or Britney Spears, grand marshal in 2001. It depends on which poll you're reading.

Photo: Sen. George Smathers, Miss Firecracker and Bill France, 1962 Firecracker 400. Fla. Photographic Collection

+ DIS says there's no politics ban at the track.

Watch list

noreply@blogger.com (Lane) — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 14:29:00 +0000

CQ Politics' Races to Watch list doesn't have any Florida races in its Top 5 Most Vulnerable Incumbents, although if the list went to a Top 20 it probably would have included FL-16's Tim Mahoney, a race that is ranked "no clear favorite."

A lot of Florida races made the list:

+ 8th District - Ric Keller, R
+ 13th District - Vern Buchanan, R
+ 15th District - Dave Weldon, R (open seat, retiring)
+ 16th District - Tim Mahoney, D
+ 21st District - Lincoln Diaz-Balart, R
+ 22nd District - Ron Klein, D
+ 24th District - Tom Feeney, R
+ 25th District - Mario Diaz-Balart, R

Also:
+ Tampa Trib does its own watch list.
+ Diaz-Balarts look vulnerable in poll.

Shall I never see a bachelor of threescore again?

noreply@blogger.com (Lane) — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 12:17:00 +0000

A single guy can't run for vice president? Well, Gov. Crist will fix that. He announced his engagement yesterday.

+ Hostile comment at Daily Pulp.
+ Snark from Wonkette
+ ... and at Pam's House Blend.
+ Andrew Sullivan, too, is skeptical.

(No that's not Walter Matthau. It's the last governor to get married in office. Yup, the ol' Claudius Maximus, with new wife Erika. Photo: Fla. Photographic Collection.)

Compact compacted

noreply@blogger.com (Lane) — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 18:37:00 +0000

The Florida Supremes today voided the governor's gaming compact with the Seminole Tribe.

The court isn't saying governors can't do compacts with Indian tribes, but when a compact goes against existing laws? Well, we can't have that sort of thing. The Fla. Constitution is pretty vague about separation of powers, but if this doesn't violate it, nothing does. (Full ruling on the Court's site here. It's really long because it includes the entire compact at the end.)

Paradoxically, this could be a victory for gambling interests. The tribe might go ahead with games without a compact (and likely with the blessing of the Dept of Interior) and the parimutuels will be all over the Legislature to authorize every kind of gaming imaginable in response.

No word yet from the governor's office.

Poll-0-Rama

noreply@blogger.com (Lane) — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 14:39:00 +0000

I'm looking at the new Strategic Vision Florida poll.

The horserace question:

If the election for President were held today would you support John McCain, the Republican, Barack Obama, the Democrat, or Bob Barr, the Libertarian??

John McCain	49%
Barack Obama	41%
Bob Barr	1%
Undecided	9%

Also:
+ Gov. Charlie Crist's approval is a still-healthy 58 percent, yet a majority (47-36 percent) oppose his running for vice president. (This is reminiscent of polls three years ago that found Florida voters approving of Jeb Bush but overwhelmingly not wanting him to run for president.)
+ Offshore drilling: 59 percent approve, 30 oppose, 11 percent undecided.
+ Approve/disapprove: Pres. Bush 34/57; Sen. Nelson 54/35; Sen. Martinez 47/41.

(N=1,200 likely voters aged 18+, MoE=±3 %.)

Annals of Fla. crime

noreply@blogger.com (Lane) — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 19:17:00 +0000

Headline: Man arrested after beaning mom with sausage.

Inlets come and go

noreply@blogger.com (Lane) — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 12:50:00 +0000

A friend sent this link from the St. Augustine Lighthouse and Museum site. It's an impressive animated map that shows just how shifting that part of the coast has been from 1741-present. (Didn't you ever wonder why the lighthouse was so far inland? Well, it used to be right on the coast.)

This isn't just about sea-level rise/global warming but about the shifting nature of the Florida coastline, even before there was development. Lessons: Beach renourishment is futile and this is a bad place to build pink hotels and highways.

Smear tracer

noreply@blogger.com (Lane) — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 14:48:00 +0000

The Washington Post has a fascinating story about Danielle Allen at the Institute for Advanced Study who has been tracing the Obama-is-a-sescret-Muslim e-mail whisper campaign.

No big surprises, here. Its sources include that repository of conspiratoid thinking, the Free Republic web site, and former Florida perennial kook-candidate Andy Martin.

Still here

noreply@blogger.com (Lane) — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 12:29:00 +0000

Your correspondent has been posting lightly lately because things have been a bit stressful and uncertain in his life lately. His employer, The Daytona Beach News-Journal, just laid off 99 of his friends and co-workers. Yes, this is happening all over and times are bad in the industry but that doesn't make it easier.

Since the N-J announced that it's up for sale, people outside the business talk about to your correspondent as though he has a sick relative. As in, "Oh, and how is your Aunt Martha? I heard about her and am so sorry to hear about it ... though, well, with the way she drank and all, I can't say anybody's not entirely surprised."

Hard times all around. Thanks to those who wrote to ask.

+ Almost 1,000 newspaper workers laid off around the country this week.

Qualified

noreply@blogger.com (Lane) — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 14:38:00 +0000

Traditionally, the day after the candidate qualifying deadline is the time to lament the breakdown of democracy and the number of offices held by people who never had face an opponent.

Yup, there's a lot of that this year. But the Legislative field is a little better than usual. And that goes along with longtime political rule o' thumb: Few contested races right after a redistricting; more contested races after a six or more years of population movement has taken the edge off the gerrymandering.

Anyway, The Buzz has the numbers:
+ In the state Senate, 21 seats were up for grabs.
+ Seven open races with no incumbent (Senate districts 9, 23, 24, 29, 31, 35, 37)
+ I count 11 Senate races with both major parties fielding candidates
+ In the state House, 120 seats were up for grabs.
+ 32 open races with no incumbent
+ 54 incumbents face challengers
+ And I count 54 races with both major parties fielding candidates.

The Division of Elections' candidate list is here.

Meanwhile in the local listings, the House district where I live -- Dist. 26 now represented by Pat Patterson, R-DeLand -- will have an actual two-party race with the qualifying of my former colleague Barry Flynn. Barry's living the dream by jumping from observing things as a reporter and editor to entering the fray himself as a Democrat.

Another former colleague, Carl Laundrie, is running for Flagler Supervisor of Elections as an independent.

Nobody ran against the Volusia School Board incumbents this year, proving again what a lousy job they have because of school funding cuts.

Tight race

noreply@blogger.com (Lane) — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 12:59:00 +0000

Chris Cillizza's WaPo column, The Fix, lists only one Florida congressional race in his Top 20 list of seats most likely to flip parties -- Florida's 16th held by Democrat Tim Mahoney.

More editorial page roundup

noreply@blogger.com (Lane) — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 12:02:00 +0000

Editorials:
+ Florida Today: Here's a great idea: Let's do something utterly reckless that puts Florida's tourist-dependent economy and rich marine life at serious risk and does nothing -- absolutely nothing -- to cut the price of gas and end our nation's addiction to oil. Crazy? It sure is.
+ Lakeland Ledger: The former Florida legislator who was once known as "Chain Gang Charlie"... is now known as Gov. Charlie Crist. He's earned a new nickname as well: "Change Mind Charlie."

Columns:
+ Cerebino: This week, I had to find a new TV show to explain our governor. I couldn't use F Troop anymore. ...
+ Lane: This is the week that Gov. Charlie Crist went from being the post-partisan, post-Bush, New Model Republican phenomenon to just another loyal Bushie reading the old talking points. It's kind of sad.
+ Littlefield: That wasn't just any normal flip-flop. What Gov. Charlie Crist attempted this week was a triple back flip followed by a triple salchow.

Editorial roundup, oil edition

noreply@blogger.com (Lane) — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 12:37:00 +0000

+ Daytona Beach News-Journal -- Crist's flip-flop on offshore exploitation is indefensible.
+ Fort Myers News-Press -- It’s time to open Gulf to oil, gas research. (Note: By "research" they mean "drilling.")
+ Gainesville Sun -- McCain and Crist appear to believe that there is a political advantage in offering voters the false hope of achieving lower gas prices and energy independence through offshore drilling.
+ Miami Herald -- Gov. Charlie Crist's stunning reversal of his position on drilling for oil and gas off the Florida coastline is all about politics and political ambition. Sadly for the governor and state residents, the abrupt switch has very little to do with sound energy policy.
+ Orlando Sentinel -- Vice presidential candidate Charlie Crist, formerly Florida's environmental governor, showed on Tuesday what drives him.
+ Palm Beach Post -- Floridians who thought the state might benefit from Gov. Crist's closeness to John McCain can forget about that. When the choice is between doing what's best for Florida and what's best for John McCain/Charlie Crist, the governor on Tuesday let it be known that he's going to make the call based on political ambition.
+ Sarasota Herald Tribune -- McCain and Crist appear to believe that there is a political advantage in offering voters the false hope of achieving lower gas prices and energy independence through offshore drilling. Clearer-thinking Republicans in Congress and in Florida should straighten them out.
+ Sun- Sentinel -- Offshore drilling isn't a short-term strategy for relief. It's a short-sighted strategy, period.
+ Tampa Tribune -- Sen. John McCain's reversal of his position on offshore oil drilling diminishes his reputation as a straight-talking maverick. On this issue, he is offering a false promise of quick fixes to today's high gas prices.

Columns --
+ Troxler -- Drilling advocates from some other states sometimes accuse Florida of thinking that it is special. You know what? It is. Yessir. It is too special to succumb to false promises of cheaper gas and "energy independence." Florida is too special to sell out its coast for a royalty check.
+ Rolling Stone -- I think most people know, on a gut level, that something non-supply/demand-related is going on with the oil markets. And that the answer to sky-high prices at the pump is not putting oil platforms off Daytona Beach.

The de-greening of Charlie Crist

noreply@blogger.com (Lane) — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 01:10:00 +0000

Chorus disapproval includes:

+ Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink. ("The more I thought about it, the angrier I got.")
+ Bob Graham
+ Sen. Bill Nelson
+ Marco Rubio -- just sorta. ("It's not fair to tell people that if we drill for oil, we're going to immediately lower gas prices.")
+ The probable next House Speaker Ray Sansom
+ Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz ("a 180-degree flip-flop.")
+ U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan
+ U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor

That was then ...

noreply@blogger.com (Lane) — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 20:04:00 +0000

Headline in St. Pete Times Nov. 7, 2005:

Offshore drilling separates hopefuls
Gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist opposes rigs within 125 miles of Florida's coast, while Tom Gallagher supports the idea.