Former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg passed on running for president this year but he is showing no signs of staying on the sidelines as he threw his support to a congressional candidate in Florida.

Seated in his office here, wearing neither a necktie nor a frown, Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner is remarkably relaxed for someone at the epicenter of a crisis now in its second year and with no end in sight. But, then, stress is pointless when the situation is hopeless. Besides, if you can ignore the fact that self-government is failing in the nation's fifth-most populous state, you can see real artistry in the self-dealing by the Democrats who, with veto-proof majorities in the state Legislature, have reduced this state they control to insolvency.

Working for the Florida Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union, can pay a pretty penny -- to the tune of up to a six figure salary, according to numbers from the U.S. Department of Labor.