As speculation continues to build that he will take on Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson in 2012, Republican U.S. Rep. Connie Mack continues to raise his national profile. Mack, the chairman of the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee, took aim at two of his favorite targets on Wednesday-- Iran, and Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez. Mack accused Venezuelan companies, with Chavezs blessing, of breaking the U.S. and the international sanctions against Iran. Mack noted that he had sent letters to officials in the U.S. State and Treasury departments but had not received a response But Mack is not the only potential Republican candidate looking to take on Nelson, who is raising his profile. Senate President Mike Haridopolos of Merritt Island enjoyed some national attention when he appeared on Fox News on Thursday to talk about the timing of the states presidential primary in 2012 Architect Eddie Adams, the Republican congressional nominee to take on Democratic U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor in 2006 and 2008, will be back in 2012 to run for Congress yet again. Adams was beaten by Mike Prendergast, now Gov. Rick Scotts chief of staff, for the Republican nomination in 2010
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio will head to his home turf of Miami on Saturday night to speak at the Miami-Dade County Republican Partys Lincoln Day Dinner The boxing match scheduled for Friday night in Palm Bay between Jesus Pabon and Americo Santos for the vacant World Boxing Organization (WBO) Latino light welterweight championship has caught the attention of Florida Republican U.S. Rep. Bill Posey. Posey noted this week that the fight was being carried across the nation by Telemundo and that he hoped more such events would come to the region Florida Republican U.S. Rep. David Rivera marked the 15th anniversary of a Cuban MiG aircraft shooting down planes carrying four American activists from the Brothers to the Rescue organization. While Cuban authorities claim the planes were in their airspace, Americans insist that they were over international waters. Fifteen years ago, four Americans were murdered by the Castro dictatorship, insisted Rivera on Thursday
Former state CFO Alex Sink shows no signs of going away. While Sink may have lost in November when she was the Democratic gubernatorial nominee, she continues to remain active. Besides joining with former Gov. Charlie Crist to push a constitutional amendment banning oil drilling in Floridas waters, Sink was in Bradenton on Friday night, speaking at the Manatee County Democratic Partys Lawton Chiles dinner The Fiorentino Group announced on Thursday that they had brought on board two prominent Floridians -- former Sec. Colleen Castille and Allison DeFoor. Castille is best known for leading Environmental Protection and Community Affairs under former Gov. Jeb Bush while DeFoor served as a judge, sheriff of Monroe County and was Bob Martinezs lieutenant governor candidate back in 1990 U.S. Rep. Steve Israel of New York, the chairman of the Democratic Campaign Committee, was in Florida in recent days talking to potential candidates to take on three Republican freshmen in Congress -- David Rivera, Allen West and Dan Webster
The Economic Club of Florida continues to bring in impressive speakers to Tallahassee. Dennis Lockhart, the president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, will be speaking to the club on Thursday on two of the most pressing topics at both the national and state levels -- the economy and employment The Florida Association of Health Plans (FAHP) unveiled six new advertisements on Thursday as it looks to reach out and educate Floridians on what are the roles of health plans. The FAHP also launched their Knowledge is Key campaign website Keep an eye on the young people who took part in Tallahassee on Thursday through Saturday when the 54th Florida YMCA Youth in Government event took place. With almost 500 students from 25 high schools across the Sunshine State partcipating, a few of them may be people to watch down the road as the event has some very distinguished alumni -- including Republican U.S. Rep. Dennis Ross, House Speaker Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, Rep. Seth McKeel, R-Lakeland, and former representative and current Circuit Judge Nick Thompson of Lee County.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
