Joe Henderson, Author at Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Joe HendersonAugust 8, 2016

Mosquitoes don’t ask for a person’s political party affiliation before they bite. So now that the bug-borne Zika virus is a certified health emergency you might think this is one time red and blue can come together. (Insert laugh track HERE.) It’s no laughing matter though. If a pregnant woman contracts Zika, her child could […]

Joe HendersonAugust 5, 2016

It may have seemed for the past few weeks/months that the only news was bad, political — or both. But now, a welcome distraction is on the immediate horizon, along with a return to the regular rhythm of everyday living. The arrival of sales tax-free weekend heralds the start of a new school year, much […]

Joe HendersonAugust 4, 2016

Things really got nasty around the Hillsborough County School Board in early 2015. That’s when four of the seven members voted to fire Superintendent MaryEllen Elia. They didn’t like her brusque and dismissive style. They felt Elia believed the board worked for her, not vice versa. The move was, to understate matters, highly controversial. Oh, […]

Joe HendersonAugust 2, 2016

Since the start of his campaign for Hillsborough County Commission District 6, Jim Norman has understood he has a lot of explaining to do. Right off the bat, he tried to address his checkered political past during a meeting last year with The Tampa Tribune editorial board. As a metro columnist for that late, great […]

Joe HendersonJuly 29, 2016

A convention two weeks that marked plagiarism from Donald Trump’s wife and a small-but-noisy insurrection by Bernie Sanders’ supporters has concluded with … what? Good question. It appears the American public is flummoxed over the choice of an obnoxious and potentially dangerous billionaire against a scandal-coated representative from the nation’s ruling class. Or, maybe it’s […]

Joe HendersonJuly 28, 2016

Florida Democrats have long since undertaken the groundwork to deliver the Sunshine State to Hillary Clinton in November. In fact, you could say that began in 2008 and continued four years later when Barack Obama carried Florida in both of his presidential campaigns. The local operatives, so critical in big elections, who turned out the […]

Joe HendersonJuly 27, 2016

If you weren’t saying it out loud Tuesday night, you had to be at least thinking about Bill Clinton’s multiple marital infidelities as he spun the story of his courtship and undying love for Hillary. I assume this was a calculated risk by Camp Clinton to show Hillary as a woman of strength, smarts and […]

Joe HendersonJuly 26, 2016

After the first night of the Democratic National Convention, it’s clear Hillary Clinton’s biggest problem has less to do with emails and big donors and more to do with apathy. That much became apparent after watching Bernie Sanders’ supporters shower their candidate with the kind of full enthusiastic passion that has thus far eluded Clinton. […]

Joe HendersonJuly 25, 2016

The Democratic game plan heading into their convention in Philadelphia would seem simple enough. Stay positive, show unity, stay on message, don’t respond to Donald Trump’s tweets, and, by all means, don’t try to scare the bejeebers out of America. Do all that and you should be peachy keen, unless WikiLeaks sends out 19,252 damaging emails […]

Joe HendersonJuly 22, 2016

It was a dark and stormy night … That oft-mocked opening to novelist Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s 1830 work “Paul Clifford” — hey, no plagiarizing here; I give credit — seems to have inspired Donald Trump’s downbeat vision of America today. Shining city on a hill? More like Dracula’s castle at the bottom of a deep ravine. What Trump was […]

Joe Henderson
The Yankees organization is generous with Helene relief in Florida. Image via AP.

Joe Henderson: The Zika crisis should be above party politics

Joe Henderson: After months of bad news, a return to ‘everyday living’

Joe Henderson: Supporters of MaryEllen Elia now get chance for revenge at ballot box

Joe Henderson: Jim Norman’s climb to Hillsborough Commission steeper than he realized

Joe Henderson: Convention wrap up — is it November yet?

Joe Henderson: DNC Day 3 — organization is everything

Joe Henderson: The Big Dog has his say

Joe Henderson: DNC Day 1 — Hillary Clinton’s apathy problem

Joe Henderson: Email leaks prove DNC fix was in, disgusting and Nixonian

Joe Henderson: Making America afraid again