Mitch Perry
A new national Quinnipiac poll released Wednesday morning shows Hillary Clinton walking away with the Democratic nomination for president, about two months before the Iowa caucuses. Clinton leads Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders by 30 percentage points, 60-30 percent.
No doubt Clinton enthusiasts will be reveling in that new nugget when they gather Wednesday afternoon in Orlando for a speech she’s scheduled to give at 1 p.m. She’s expected to speak in-depth about her plan to fix the country’s infrastructure issues, fleshing out the ideas she unveiled Monday. Her five-year, $275 billion plan intends to build and repair not only roads and bridges but also address the nation’s needs with public transit, freight rail, airports, broadband Internet, and water systems. It’s the most expensive domestic policy proposal she’s made to date, and it comes simultaneously with Congress apparently finally coming together to pass such an infrastructure bill.
Congressional leaders in D.C. said Tuesday that the $300 billion FAST ACT will provide “long-term certainty for states and local governments” as well as “improvements to the programs that sustain our roads bridges and passenger rail system.”
However, The New York Times reports that the bill doesn’t address the shortfall in financing for the Federal Highway Trust Fund, which has been dwindling for years because it relies on the federal gas tax.
Interestingly, Clinton’s program fails to deal with this as well, since nobody wants to talk about raising taxes in an election year – or any year, in this era.
In other news …
Speaking of Clinton’s two-day fundraising swirl in Florida, the Republican National Committee took a shot at the hostess of her first stop in Miami Beach.
• • •
On World AIDS Day, the city of Tampa unveiled its new and improved AIDS Memorial Park.
• • •
Tampa denizens woke up to the news that excited some, and no doubt bored others, but hey, Channelside is getting a Publix!
• • •
Pinellas County U.S. Rep. David Jolly was scheduled to take his delayed honeymoon to Paris — right after the terrorist attacks occurred. He and his new wife went anyway … read his take here.
• • •
And might we get rid of the 140-year-plus law in Florida banning unmarried couples from living together?
