Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp released his first-quarter fundraising numbers April 1. Kottkamp brought in $270,000 for his bid to become attorney general Sen. Dave Aronberg, D-Greenacres, was the first Democratic major statewide candidate for office to release his first-quarter fundraising for 2010. Aronberg hauled in $260,000 for his bid to become attorney general Orlando businessman Bruce ODonoghue only jumped in the Republican primary to face U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson in February but had an impressive first quarter of fundraising regardless, bringing in more than $300,000 for his campaign. ODonoghue also received the endorsement of former Sen. Mel Martinez this week
Brian Riley, a transportation expert who used to work on the staff of former Florida Republican Sen. Connie Mack, is now lobbying for Goodyear Florida Republicans in the U.S. House are backing President Barack Obamas plans for offshore oil exploration. Sen. George LeMieux and Congressmen Jeff Miller, Connie Mack and Ander Crenshaw are giving the president some cautious support on the issue One Democratic candidate in Florida is coming out strongly against Obamas offshore oil plans. North Miami Mayor Kevin Burns, who is running for U.S. Senate, opposes the idea Former Gov. Bob Martinez continued his busy schedule as he joined Gov. Charlie Crist and St. Petersburg Mayor Bill Foster in urging Floridians to fill out the U.S. Census
While he may not be running for governor as was initially rumored, Bud Chiles is getting quite a bit of attention this week for his efforts to protect education funding. Taking a page from his fathers playbook, Chiles is walking across the state to raise attention for the issue Two high-profile Floridians just joined the board of New York Mayor Michael Bloombergs new charitable organization. Former Gov. Jeb Bush and former Miami Mayor Manny Diaz will join 17 others in serving on the board of the Bloomberg Family Foundation With so much violence directed against teens in Broward County, county leaders, including mayors and judges, met in Deerfield Beach this week to figure out a solution With early voting starting on Monday, Republican candidate Ed Lynch is billing his showdown with Democratic state Sen. Ted Deutch in the special election for an open U.S. House seat the first mandate on the new federal health-care law. Lynch says his fundraising has increased dramatically since the passage of health-care legislation and that his internal polls now show him ahead of Deutch. Despite Lynchs comments, Deutch is still considered a heavy favorite
Ken Mazzie, an accountant in Flagler County, is raffling off a Publix gift card to sign up voters on his campaign list. Mazzie is running for the Democratic nomination for state CFO Brian Ballard, who served as one of the national finance co-chairs and Florida co-chairs of Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign, has come out against controversial RNC chairman Michael Steele. While he still intends to raise funds, Ballard said he will not steer money toward the RNC while Steele is in charge It is way too early for this, but Public Policy Polling has released numbers for potential Republican presidential candidates. Mitt Romney is lapping the field in Florida with 52 percent of Republicans, over 21 percent for Mike Huckabee and 18 percent for Sarah Palin.
