Mitch Perry
The topsy-turvy 2016 Senate election in Florida welcomes a new edition Wednesday in the persona of one Carlos-Lopez Cantera, the man plucked by Rick Scott from the Miami-Dade County property appraiser’s office a year and a half ago to help him win re-election. Yes, mission accomplished, but what has he done for us lately?
For years, critics have argued that Florida’s lieutenant governor position is a waste of money because there are no assigned duties other than to succeed the governor if something calamitous happens. So it’s CLC’s bad luck that Democrats have been able to exploit the lack of respect for the position now that he hopes to go to Washington.
But forget about 2016. What about 2018 and the governors race?
The Sunshine State News’ Allison Nielsen reports on a political action committee with connections to Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, Florida Grown, has raised $1.4 million in 2015. The vehicle is seen as a fundraising repository for Putnam’s future ambitions, which everyone assumes is to be governor in 2018.
It certainly makes sense to start fundraising for the position right now. Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn, another likely 2018 gubernatorial candidate, created his One Florida PAC in December.
Although some Tampa Bay area analysts have been contemplating a Putnam-Buckhorn battle, it’s obviously incredibly premature to speculate such a scenario, especially because Buckhorn likely will have strong completion for the Democratic nomination.
Gwen Graham, for one. Although some pundits continue to say they think she may enter the already crowded U.S. Senate race now that it appears her congressional seat will evaporate in the upcoming redistricting, it makes more sense for her to announce a run for governor in 2018.
And Charlie Crist? Some say he’ll run for the CD13 congressional seat, but talk persists that Crist is preparing to run for the 2018 Democratic nomination for governor.
Maybe that’s one reason why Buckhorn told the Times’ Rick Danielson why he’s all of a sudden so enthusiastic about a Crist congressional run? Just speculating, of course.
In other news …
Is Rick Baker running in CD 13? Charlie Crist? We asked the respective party chairs in Pinellas County what they make of the unsettled political scene, five days after the Florida Supreme Court’s ruling on redistricting.
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AIF is the preeminent business lobby in Tallahassee, and they released their legislative scorecard Tuesday. Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, perhaps not, but Senate Democrats scored close to their GOP brethren.
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The New Cuba PAC is the recently created political action committee based in Washington that is fighting to end the economic sanctions against Cuba. The group released a fundraising report Tuesday that’s not bad after just two months in business.
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Remember “rangers” and “pioneers” pioneered by the George W. Bush campaign? Jeb’s got his own lingo going for those bundlers who will bring home the bacon to his campaign.
