Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee continues to ramp up his operations in Florida. Huckabee, who ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 and is considering making another attempt in 2012, filed papers for his HuckPAC to work at the state and local level here in the Sunshine State. Huckabee, who moved to Florida from Arkansas, named Frank Tsamotales, a lobbyist and fund-raiser, to head up HuckPACs operations in the state ... Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has endorsed more than 30 candidates so far in the 2010 election cycle but only one from Florida. In March, Palin backed likely Republican congressional nominee Allen West, who is looking to run against U.S. Rep. Rod Klein. While she continues to endorse Republicans across the nation, Palin, who will speak in Jacksonville in August, has not backed any other candidate in Florida With former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylania headed out to Iowa later in August, buzz has increased that he may be looking to make a bid at the White House in 2012 despite losing a bid for re-election in 2006. Santorum, a leading social conservative, has not been particularly active in Florida though his Americas Foundation organization is helping Republicans in other states. With the exception of U.S. Senate candidate Marco Rubio, Santorum has refrained from backing Florida politicians
Presidential candidates are not the only politicians thinking about 2012. The primaries have not yet been held in the 23-state Senate elections Florida will hold in 2010 and already politicians are filing to run for the Senate in 2012. So far, 16 candidates have filed to run for the Senate, including some current and former members of the House -- Aaron Bean, Bill Galvano, Audrey Gibson, Denise Grimsley, Dorothy Hukill, Pat Patterson, Kelli Stargel and Geri Thompson Trailing behind Rick Scott for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, Attorney General Bill McCollum hit central Florida this weekend, campaigning in Ocala on Saturday and speaking at the Indian River Republican Rally on Saturday night The Greater Pinellas Democratic Club will be featuring three candidates for statewide office at their meeting on Aug, 12. State CFO Alex Sink, the likely gubernatorial nominee, will be speaking. So will Democratic CFO candidate former Rep. Loranne Ausley, and the partys candidate for agriculture and consumer services commissioner, former Tallahassee Mayor Scott Maddox
Stuck in single digits in the polls, far behind U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek and billionaire financier Jeff Greene in the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate seat, former Miami Mayor Maurice Ferre campaigned across North Florida last week and endorsed Amendment 4 -- which supporters dub Hometown Democracy --in November At least one politician in Florida is expressing unhappiness about the state making another bid for federal Race to the Top education funds. Alex Snitker, the Libertarian candidate in the U.S. Senate race, attacked federal funding of education and called for abolishing the U.S. Department of Education Nassau County suspended four of its top officials this week for skipping out on a conference on hurricane preparedness in May. The officials are under investigation for leaving the conference to relax in Fort Lauderdale
In order to foster a deal between the Jaguars and EverBank over the naming rights of Jacksonville Municipal Stadium, Mayor John Peyton and City Council President Jack Webb agreed to drop the citys demand for 25 percent of the funds. This will cost Jacksonville more than $4 million at a time when Peyton is calling to increase taxes to balance the budget. Peyton and Webb maintain having the stadiums naming rights will help keep the Jaguars on the First Coast Republican U.S. Rep. Ander Crenshaw is pushing eliminating the advanced earned-income tax credit, arguing that it costs taxpayers more than $1.1 billion Former House Speaker Allan Bense, a Republican, is reaching across the aisle to work with Mayor Scott Clemons to tackle Panama Citys growing problem of a large homeless population. Clemons, a Democrat, has been mentioned as a possible running mate for Alex Sink in the gubernatorial election.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
