This column is a vehicle for a number of items in a bits-and-pieces, strictly opinion, sometimes irreverent format. Look for "Just Sayin'" to run once a week in this spot.
Trump on the Rise?
Going into the weekend -- even with Hillary Clinton and three of her top surrogates barnstorming across key battleground states -- the Democratic presidential nominee can't put it away. This presidential race has tightened up.
If you can believe it, Democratic-leaning CNN changed its "Road to 270" electoral map to reflect Donald Trump's positive poll numbers in four states.
With three days to go until Election Day, the latest map snapshot shows --
- Maine's 2nd Congressional District moves from "battleground" to "lean Republican"
- New Hampshire moves from "lean Democrat" to "battleground"
- Ohio moves from from "battleground" to "lean Republican"
- Utah moves from "battleground" to "lean Republican"
Clinton is still in the catbird's seat with 268 electoral votes to Trump's 202. And though he has a long way to go -- he needs to capture every single battleground state to win -- the Republican nominee now has a path to victory that didn't exist when he woke up Friday morning.
Here's how the states with the electoral votes of each look, according to CNN:
Solid Republican
Alabama (9), Alaska (3), Arkansas (6), Idaho (4), Indiana (11), Kansas (6), Kentucky (8), Louisiana (8), Mississippi (6), Missouri (10), Montana (3), Nebraska (4), North Dakota (3), Oklahoma (7), South Carolina (9), South Dakota (3), Tennessee (11), Texas (38), West Virginia (5), Wyoming (3) (157 total)
Leans Republican
Georgia (16), Iowa (6), Maine 2nd Congressional District (1), Ohio (18), Utah (6) (47 total)
Battleground states
Arizona (11), Florida (29), Nevada (6), Nebraska 2nd Congressional District (1), New Hampshire (4), North Carolina (15), (66 total)
Leans Democratic
Colorado (9), Michigan (16), Pennsylvania (20), Virginia (13), Wisconsin (10), (68 total)
Solid Democratic
California (55), Connecticut (7), Delaware (3), DC (3), Hawaii (4), Illinois (20), Maine (3), Maryland (10), Massachusetts (11), New Jersey (14), New York (29), Oregon (7), Rhode Island (4), Vermont (3), Washington (12), Minnesota (10), New Mexico (5) (200 total)
Frankly, Hillary Clinton has such a lead, I can't see her losing now. On the other hand, better people than I am have bet against Donald Trump and lost.
If Ever There Was a Florida Villain ...
I said it in 2014, I'll say it again: Mel Sembler is the last one who should influence drug policy in Florida.
Nevertheless, this millionaire commercial real estate developer from St. Petersburg tried it again in 2016.
Sembler gave $1 million this year to keep medical marijuana out of Florida, winning praise from thousands of Floridians who want Amendment 2 to go down to defeat.
A woman from Palm Beach told me Thursday I should write about Mel Sembler as an example of how "truly magnanimous" millionaires can be at their best.
I nearly dropped the phone. Sembler doesn't deserve anybody's praise and he's certainly not going to get mine. Trust me, his $1 million is conscience money. If we admire what he's done, we teach a sad object lesson in how cruelty can be redeemed through the power of campaign donations.
This man has bought his way into the homes of presidents and governors and some of the nation's most powerful individuals -- especially Florida politicians -- so he could influence drug policy, and he has been successful for nearly four decades.
As a compassionate conservative, I am offended by Mel Sembler.
He had everybody tricked, Democrats and Republicans alike. He should have gone to jail.
Look back at my earlier story. For 16 years he and his wife Betty directed the leading juvenile drug rehab business in America, STRAIGHT Inc., which prosecutors closed in 1993 after reports of sexual abuse, beatings, prisoner-of-war-style torture and unrelenting cover-ups. Despite the six-figure settlements that sucked the business dry, the 40-plus client suicides, the clinic licenses state health officials yanked, Sembler not only found a way to escape punishment, but he defends his program to this day.
In fact, the program legally changed its identity to the Drug Free America Foundation (DFAF). Director Calvina Fay denies it's the same organization, but the name change is listed in corporate filings. DFAF no longer treats clients, but it's still a major player in shaping domestic and international drug policy.
Incidentally, so bad was the STRAIGHT incarceration experience that survivors have their own website, survivingstraightinc.com.
My point is, whenever I see Sembler getting involved in drug policy in any form -- making news with his checkbook -- I can't let it rest. I think of all those years and all those young victims at STRAIGHT. And then I think of the atrocities committed at the Arther G. Dozier School for Boys, particularly in the 1950s and '60s. Two ugly, shameful blemishes on Florida's history, but only one acknowledged as such.
Whether you're against Amendment 2 or for it, you should understand where the force behind Drug Free America is coming from and, tragically, where it's been.
Reach Nancy Smith at nsmith@sunshinestatenews.com or at 228-282-2423. Twitter: @NancyLBSmith
