Years that do not feature national elections generally get overlooked by political historians and the years before presidential elections are portrayed as the calm before the storm.
There was little calm about 2011 in either national or state politics.
Following the Republican victories in 2010, the tea party movement left its impact on Congress as the House of Representatives -- now led by Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio -- had the Constitution read aloud in early January. Days later tragedy would strike Congress when a shooter took aim and seriously injured U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz.
While some insisted that the tea party movement and its anti-government rhetoric was to blame for the Tucson shooting, the new Republican majority in the House continued its push for its 2010 agenda, voting to repeal the federal health-care law backed by President Barack Obama. The Senate -- still controlled by the Democrats -- blocked the repeal in February. With a federal judge in Florida ruling later in January that the health-care law was unconstitutional, the fight over it continued, setting the stage for a clash at the Supreme Court in 2012 in the midst of what should be a close and contentious presidential election.
PARTISAN SCUFFLING
Throughout the year, the Democratic-controlled Senate and the Republican House battled over the budget, spending, and the debt ceiling. While there were fears of a government shutdown, Congress muddled through, raising the debt ceiling and launching a joint commission to offer proposals on how to reduce spending. American confidence in Congress reached record lows -- which was not helped by the way certain congressmen carried themselves. Two Democrats in Congress -- Anthony Weiner of New York and David Wu of Oregon -- resigned their seats due to sexual indiscretions.
The partisan battle lines were already being drawn for 2012, when Republicans believe they have an excellent chance to pick up the Senate. The chambers could, however, work together on some legislation including passing free-trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea.
They also worked together to shoot down part of the presidents economic agenda. As the nation continued to face high unemployment, Obama unveiled a jobs plan which both chambers rejected.
PRESIDENTIAL POLITICS
Still, the president did have some major victories in 2011 -- including a Navy SEAL team finding and killing terrorist leader Osama bin Laden. Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi, a decades-long thorn to America, was overthrown and killed, while in December American forces finally left Iraq. Obama also got some good news on the economic front: the national unemployment rate dropped to 8.6 percent in December, the lowest since early 2009. Still, in November, for the first time in American history, the national debt was larger than the GDP.
While the president continued to struggle in the polls, a host of big-name Republicans -- Sarah Palin, Mike Huckabee, Rudy Giuliani, George Pataki, Mitch Daniels, John Bolton, Haley Barbour, John Thune, Jeb Bush, even Donald Trump for the moment -- opted out of challenging Obama. That was fine with Mitt Romney who remained the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination despite concerns from conservatives. Michele Bachmann won the Iowa Republican straw poll in Ames in August -- and promptly was pushed aside as the conservative favorite by Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who announced he was running on the same day.
A series of poor debates left Perry in the cold as Herman Cain, who won September's Presidency 5 straw poll in Orlando, became the conservative flavor-of-the-month. But accusations of sexual indiscretions and a series of gaffes drove Cain out of the race. Despite losing most of his campaign staff earlier in the year, former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich emerged as Romneys main conservative rival, only to fade after attacks were unleashed on him. In the meantime, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas and former Pennsylvania Gov. Rick Santorum looked to trip Romney up in New Hampshire while Jon Huntsman hoped to slow him down in New Hampshire.
GOP GAINS, SETBACKS
In Florida, Gov. Rick Scott pushed for job creation, a leaner and more efficient state government more in line with the private sector. Scott, a former health care executive, supported efforts for government workers to pay into their own pension plans. The Republican supermajorities in both chambers of the Legislature pushed for Medicaid reform and teacher performance pay reform. Unlike his predecessor, Charlie Crist, Scott signed a law linking teacher pay to performance. Scotts poll numbers remained in the tank most of 2011 but he was bringing new jobs to Florida and winning over Republicans who backed his primary rival Bill McCollum in 2010.
While Florida Republicans controlled most of the seats in Congress and the Legislature, there were some setbacks in 2011. Despite their long friendship and political partnership, House Speaker Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, and Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, had problems hammering out a final budget in the last hours of the legislative session. Despite raising $3 million for his campaign, Haridopolos ended his bid to challenge Democrat incumbent U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson in 2012. The Democrats won mayoral elections across the state, including a major upset in Jacksonville. In 2011, Alvin Brown became Jacksonvilles first African-American mayor -- and the first Democrat to win a mayoral election in the city since Ed Austin in 1991.
As Haridopolos headed to the sidelines, U.S. Rep. Connie Mack, who had been backing the state Senate president, jumped into the U.S. Senate race and emerged as the front-runner to take on Nelson. A crowded field of Republican candidates lined up in 2011 to knock off the incumbent -- former Sen. George LeMieux, former state House Majority Leader Adam Hasner, retired Army Col. Mike McCalister and restaurant executive Craig Miller. Hasner scored a major victory when the Conservative Political Action Conference held a straw poll in Orlando in September, but so far he trails Mack in the polls.
Florida politicians continued to shine in the national spotlight. Congressman Allen West received attention from conservatives with his continued leading role at CPAC and has expressed interest in being the GOPs vice presidential candidate in 2012. Democrats continued to fire away at West, pointing to a comment he made saying Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels would be very proud of that party. While West drew fire from the left, his fellow South Florida Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz garnered attacks from the right as she led the Democratic National Committee throughout 2011.
BAD NEWS, GOOD NEWS
While Florida was blessed by Mother Nature, facing no major hurricanes in 2011, the year brought with it a share of sorrows. The Sunshine State led the nation in police deaths in 2011. Former Gov. Claude Kirk and former Jacksonville Mayor Ed Austin passed away in 2011. So did Dave Bitner, the chairman of the Republican Party of Florida. Florida continued to face a crisis with prescription drug abuse in 2011.
But there was some good news and signs of hope. In November, the unemployment rate, which had been 12 percent in Florida at the start of the year dropped to 10 percent -- the lowest it had been in more than two years. The tourism industry had a solid year with more travelers visiting the Sunshine State and its many attractions. Fishing continued, without incident, in the Gulf which had been plagued by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill back in 2010. While still trailing the rest of the nation, there were signs that Floridas economy was turning around.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
