Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Mitch PerryOctober 23, 2015

Sarasota County GOP Chairman Joe Gruters has been selected as the state chairman of Donald Trump‘s campaign in Florida. Susan Wiles, managing partner of the Jacksonville office of the lobbying group Ballard Partners, will serve as co-chairwoman. Wiles is perhaps best known for managing Rick Scott‘s successful 2010 campaign for governor. “My message is clearly resonating […]

Associated PressOctober 23, 2015

Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush is drastically slashing campaign spending, including an across-the-board pay cut for staff, as the one-time front-runner seeks to salvage his bid for the GOP nomination. The moves will reduce the campaign’s payroll by 40 percent, while also cutting travel costs by 20 percent and eliminating extraneous overhead costs. Most campaign […]

Mitch PerryOctober 23, 2015

One is an outlier, two a trend. Donald Trump’s hegemony in the GOP presidential polls has been cracked this week in the socially conservative state of Iowa. A day after Dr. Ben Carson took an eight-point lead over Donald Trump in a Quinnipiac survey, a Bloomberg/Des Moines Register poll out on Friday has Carson up […]

Mitch PerryOctober 23, 2015

Will Iowa voters be getting trashed again by Donald Trump today? (Or by one of his interns?) We saw the unprecedented action of a Trump apology yesterday, after he re-tweeted a tweet from one of his interns who wrote, “#BenCarson is now leading in the #polls in #Iowa… Too much #Monsanto in the #corn creates issues in the brain? @realDonaldTrump #GOP“ That came after the […]

Bob SparksOctober 22, 2015

One month ago the Republican Party of Florida’s Sunshine Summit was in the news for reasons other than those intended. With only former Gov. Jeb Bush and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio committed to appear before those gathering on November 13 and 14, some drastic action to boost participation was contemplated. Those presidential candidates failing to […]

Mitch PerryOctober 22, 2015

Donald Trump, the solid front-runner in Florida and nationally in the GOP presidential race, will be the sixth and final candidate to speak at the Republican Party of Florida’s Sunshine Summit taking place Nov. 13-14 at Rosen Shingle Creek in Orlando. Twelve candidates in all will participate in the event, a fundraiser for the RPOF and one that looked […]

Mitch PerryOctober 22, 2015

Thanks in large part to female support, Ben Carson has taken an eight-point lead over Donald Trump in Iowa, home of the first caucus, according to a Quinnipiac poll released on Thursday. Carson is at 28 percent, and Trump is at 20 percent. A month ago, a Q poll had Trump at 27 percent, and […]

Mitch PerryOctober 21, 2015

Hillary Clinton is dominating the Democratic contest in Florida, and there appears to be little appetite for a Joe Biden candidacy. A new University of North Florida statewide poll of Democratic primary likely voters shows that if the primary were held today, 54.6 percent would vote for Hillary Clinton. Bernie Sanders is in second place with […]

Mitch PerryOctober 21, 2015

Donald Trump leads the GOP presidential field in a new ABC News/Washington Post poll released Wednesday. That’s not unusual, as he’s dominated the race since July. What is noteworthy is how many Republicans – 42 percent – believe he will be the party’s nominee at their convention next summer in Cleveland. The next best choice […]

Mitch PerryOctober 20, 2015

Last week in Tallahassee, we heard Florida House Speaker Steve Crisafulli say sort of a remarkable thing. Referring to the conflict between his House of Representatives and the Senate that has dominated Florida politics in 2015, he said it was a “extraordinary” that anything gets passed between the two bodies. The latest fissure between the House and […]

Tag: Ben Carson

Joe Gruters to run Donald Trump’s presidential campaign in Florida

Jeb Bush slashing spending, shifting staff amid campaign woes

Ben Carson up by 9 points in Iowa in new Bloomberg poll

Mitch Perry Report for 10.23.15 – Friday follies

Bob Sparks: 30 days later, Sunshine Summit boasts full agenda

Donald Trump to close out first full day of RPOF Sunshine Summit

Ben Carson takes 8-point lead over Donald Trump in Iowa

Joe Biden distant 3rd in new Florida Democratic presidential poll

New poll says 42% of Republicans expect Donald Trump to be their presidential nominee

Mitch Perry Report for 10.20.15 -Friction begins immediately between House and Senate in special session