Lincoln Diaz-Balarts retirement from the U.S. House appears to mean there will be two vacant congressional seats in Miami. Mario Diaz-Balart is considering running for his brothers seat since the district leans more Republican. Joe Garcia, who lost to Mario in 2008 and is working in the Obama administration, is considering running again for the seat Mario would vacate. Other prominent names are also taking a look at the now open seats including long time Miami-Dade commissioner Katy Sorenson and state senate majority leader Alex Diaz de la Portilla...Even though former Obama state director Steve Schale is joining the Florida Justice Association as their new political director, he is still serving as a political consultant for a number of campaigns including Dan Gelbers bid for Attorney GeneralIn Jacksonville, Jim Bailey, owner of Bailey Publishing, has launched his candidacy for mayor. While critics will hammer Bailey for his lack of political experience, outgoing Mayor John Peyton had never run for office before being elected to the post back in 2003...Florida Atlantic Professor Marshall DeRosa has decided not to pursue the U.S. Senate nomination from the uber-conservative Constitution Party. With DeRosa out, look for the Constitution Party to court former New Hampshire U.S. Sen. Bob Smith whose bid for the GOP Senate nod is going nowhere. Smith has flirted with the Constitution Party before during a short-lived presidential bid in 2000 and kicked over the same idea in 2008...No wonder Loranne Ausley decided to run for state CFO instead of for the state senate. When told that Ausley was considering running for the CFO post, Democratic state senate leader Al Lawson was surprised noting I didnt think that was a race for her and shes primarily been involved in childrens issues, health care, those kind of issues. So thats a big jump.State Rep. Jennifer Carroll is taking an increasingly visible position among fiscal conservatives in the legislature, leading budget hawks in fighting against increases in unemployment benefitsMost observers gathered U.S. Rep. Corrine Browns lackluster fundraising meant that she had no intention of running for the Senate in 2010 and a few even thought that she planned to retire from her U.S. House seat. Browns heavy fundraising in the last quarter of 2009 should dispel those retirement rumorsHow powerful is the Tea Party movement? It did not seem to help state senator Carey Baker who pulled the plug on his agriculture commission bid last week. Baker spoke at Tea Party events last summer as he started his bid for state office.
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