Sunshine State Political Briefing
FLORIDA LATIN CONNECTION P.O. Box 260012 - Pembroke Pines - Florida - 33026 Arnoldo Varona, Editor - FLatinConnection@aol.com - (202) 239-8850 * * * * * Poll: Crist leads 3-way Senate race, guv contest a squeaker voters down on Obama, drilling, health care law.. Crist Republican-turned-independent Gov. Charlie Crist leads the general election race for U.S. Senate with 37 percent to 32 percent for Republican Marco Rubio and 17 percent for leading Democrat Jeff Greene, a new Quinnipiac University poll finds. If U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek is the Democratic nominee, he gets only 13 percent of the vote, with Crist at 39 percent and Rubio at 33 percent, the poll says. Crist was also the leader in an early-June Quinnipiac poll. Quinnipiac finds a tight November governor’s race. In a poll that has a 3.2 percent margin of error, GOP frontrunner Rick Scott would get 29 percent to Democrat Alex Sink’s 27 percent, with independent Bud Chiles pulling 14 percent. If Attorney General Bill McCollum is the Republican nominee, he tops Sink by a 27-to-26 percent margin, with Chiles at 14 percent. Quinnipiac released polls Thursday showing wealthy self-financed outsiders Greene and Scott holding double-digit leads in their respective primaries. - PostPolitics/Bennett. * Money talks.. "Two wealthy newcomers to Florida politics who are self-financing their campaigns have taken double-digit leads in the state's Republican gubernatorial and Democratic Senate primary races...
|
|
Is illegal immigration hurting GOP chance at Hispanic votes? It depends, Rubio says..
“It depends on what you emphasize,” Republican U.S. Senate candidate Marco Rubio said in an interview this afternoon.
Rubio, who does not support an Arizona-type law for Florida, said the Republican Party should be the party of “pro-legal immigration.”
“We don’t need 49 other states to pass that law,” Rubio said. “What we need is for the federal government to do its job. That ruling is a reminder of why we’re even here to begin with. The federal government has refused to enforce our existing immigration laws. There’s no one out there more pro-legal immigration law than I am, but America cannot be the only country in the world that does not enforce its immigration laws.”
One of Rubio’s opponents, independent Gov. Charlie Crist, said he had “no reaction” to the judge’s ruling on Wednesday to temporarily suspend the most severe parts of the law.
“I’m a guy who believes in respecting the courts and I respect the decision of the judge,” Crist said. - PostPolitics/Bender.
|
Money talks..
"Two wealthy newcomers to Florida politics who are self-financing their campaigns have taken double-digit leads in the state's Republican gubernatorial and Democratic Senate primary races, according to a poll released Thursday."
Former hospital operator Rick Scott was favored by 43 percent to 32 percent who preferred Attorney General Bill McCollum in the Republican gubernatorial race, according to a Quinnipiac University poll of 760 likely GOP voters taken July 22-27. Scott maintained a double-digit advantage he had compiled in an early June survey.
Meanwhile, billionaire businessman Jeff Greene shot ahead of U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek in the Democratic Senate race. Greene was favored by 33 percent of 782 likely Democratic voters to Meek's 23 percent and former Miami Mayor Maurice Ferre's 4 percent. In a June poll by Quinnipiac, Meek held a 2-point edge.
The margin of error was plus or minus 3.6 percentage points among Republicans and 3.5 percentage points among Democrats. FLPolitics.
|
|
Meek to begin campaign tour in Orlando..
From the place where he started his petition campaign in Orlando to the Wausau Possum Festival, from Pensacola's beaches to an early voting date in his hometown of Miami, U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek plans an 11-day statewide bus tour in his U.S. Senate campaign.
The Democratic candidate will be hitting some of the same big media markets that other candidates have campaigned as his “Real Dem Express” rolls across Florida. But, unlike most barnstorming statewide candidates, Meek isn't starting at one end of Florida and stumping his way to the other.
The tour starts in Orlando next Wednesday, where Meek began his petition campaign to get on the ballot. He was the first statewide candidate to do so, gathering more than 112,000 voter signatures. On the first day, he goes to Sanford, Daytona Beach and Jacksonville.
Meek plans to spend most of Thursday in Jacksonville, then move on to Live Oak. On Friday, he'll move quickly across the Republican-leaning Big Bend and Panhandle, with rallies set for Monticello, Tallahassee, Chattahoochee, Marianna, Panama City and Destin.
On Saturday, Aug. 7, Meek starts the day in Pensacola and Bonifay, then hits the Wausau Possum Festival – a major stop for every election year. He'll return to Tallahassee that night.
On Sunday, the bus goes to Gainesville and Ocala for a rally with former Lt. Gov. Buddy Mackay, then on to The Villages in Sumter County. With early voting starting on Aug. 9, Meek will run down to Miami Gardens on Monday to put in his ballot.
He has a debate with opponent Jeff Greene in Orlando on Aug. 10, then a bus stop in Lakeland. On Wednesday, Aug. 11, he'll be in the Tampa Bay and Sarasota areas for three rallies.
Meek has more rallies in Fort Myers and Homestead on Aug. 12, then in Fort Lauderdale, Belle Glade and Highlands County on the 13th and the tour winds up with stops in Kissimmee, Melbourne, Vero Beach and Miami on Aug. 14.
They can't replace television ads and campaign planes in a state the size of Florida, but big bus tours are an attention-getting campaign tactic. Republican Rick Scott just finished one in his run for governor, going from South Florida to the far Panhandle and former Gov. Jeb Bush ran one the other way, from Pensacola to South Florida in 2004. FloridaCapitalNews/Cotterrell.
|
|
* POLITICS OF HOLLYWOOD * ... READ ALL .... www.PoliticsOfHollywood.com Entertainment, Politics and More.. * * * * *
FloridaLatinConnection.org Hollywood/Broward County.
Arnoldo Varona, Editor P.O. Box 260012 - Pembroke Pines - Florida - 33026 Telephone: (202) 239-8850 FLatinconnection@aol.com FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in an effort to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. * * * * * Desde Mi Ventana americadesdemiventana/desde-mi-ventana | * * * * * * Florida judge knocks amendment aimed at federal health care changes off 2010 ballot ..
A Leon County circuit judge has removed Amendment 9 from the November ballot, saying the measure designed to keep the federal health care overhaul from taking effect in Florida is misleading.
Background here on the amendment written in the spring by Republican state lawmakers. PostPolitics/Bender.
|
|
|
|