As politicians scramble to raise as much as they can before the March 31 quarterly deadline, U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson took things to a new level Saturday
in a money-bomb event. Buoyed by the support of nationally known progressives, including former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich and film director Michael Moore, the Orlando-based congressman reeled in more than $470,000... U.S. Rep. Connie Mack is increasingly the Republican leader in Washington when it comes to Latin American affairs. Mack has bills in Congress calling for Venezuela to be listed as a state sponsor of terrorism...
Gov. Charlie Crist has appointed Robert M. Johnson to the board of New College of Florida. Johnson, an attorney from Sarasota, is no stranger to New College and served as the director of its foundation in the late 1970s. Johnson is best known in Tallahassee for his 16 years of service in the Legislature on and off from 1970 to 1992... While they continue to focus their harshest attacks on Republicans, especially Attorney General Bill McCollum, the two Democratic candidates looking to replace McCollum are starting to take shots at one another. In a joint appearance Monday, Sen. Dave Aronberg, D-Greenacres, hinted that Sen. Dan Gelber, D-North Miami Beach, a former House minority leader and a brief U.S. Senate candidate, may be using the attorney general post as a stepping stone to higher office. Gelber nailed Aronberg for backing tax breaks to companies that support vouchers Despite maintaining a higher profile in the last month, Rick Dantzler insists he is not running for the U.S. House seat Adam Putnam is vacating. A veteran of the Legislature, Dantzler is best known for being Buddy MacKays running mate in 1998...
State Rep. Carl Domino, R-Jupiter, made the ballot by petition in his run for the Florida Senate. Domino is talking about his grassroots support from inside the district. Look for him to continue that theme against his chief primary rival, Rep. Ellyn Bogdanoff, R-Fort Lauderdale, who is increasingly the favorite of the GOP establishment in Tallahassee Republican activist Ann Yarko has announced she will be running against Rep. Michelle Rehwinkel Vasilinda, D-Tallahassee. Yarko has a tough task, but the race has the potential to be competitive. Former FSU football star Peter Boulware came within 400 votes of knocking off the Democrat in 2008.
Republican fundraiser Al Austin and former Gov. Bob Martinez were out front and center this weekend, as Tampa tries to lure the Republican National Convention in 2012... J.W. Bill Stevens, one of the pioneering figures of Floridas Republican Party, passed awayat the age of 92. A veteran of World War II with service in the Pacific, Stevens began his political career in Florida in 1946 when he won a seat on the Oakland Park City Council. He was the mayor of Oakland Park from 1955 to 1962, when he ran for the Broward County Commission. He served as chairman of the commission for six years. Stevens served one term in the state Senate, from 1980 to 1982.
