Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Associated PressMay 31, 2017

President Donald Trump has been handing out his cellphone number to world leaders and urging them to call him directly, an unusual invitation that breaks diplomatic protocol and is raising concerns about the security and secrecy of the U.S. commander in chief’s communications. Trump has urged leaders of Canada and Mexico to reach him on […]

Joe HendersonMay 25, 2017

Um, Sally Boynton Brown? If you’re trying to explain why Democratic voters didn’t turn out in sufficient numbers last November to deliver Florida to Hillary Clinton, I suggest a different approach than saying basically “they don’t get it.” That’s not a direct quote from the newly hired executive director of the Florida Democratic Party, but […]

Steve SchaleMay 24, 2017

In my earliest days on the Barack Obama campaign in 2008, one of our first statewide polls showed a weakness with Black voters, at least compared to other states. It wasn’t necessarily that John McCain was doing better than elsewhere, just that there were more voters on the sidelines. It didn’t take long to figure […]

Mitch PerryMay 23, 2017

Though the 2018 congressional elections are still a year and a half away, the news headlines continue to make Democrats believe that 2018 will be a wave election that could see them take over the House of Representatives. It won’t be easy, even if the daily revelations from Washington continue to chip away at President Donald […]

Associated PressMay 16, 2017

President Donald Trump defended revealing information to Russian officials, saying in a pair of tweets Tuesday that he shared “facts pertaining to terrorism and airline flight safety” and had “the absolute right” to do so. Trump was responding to reports Monday that he revealed highly classified information to senior Russian officials during an Oval Office […]

Mitch PerryMay 15, 2017

Near the end of Rick Baker‘s 36-minute speech announcing a re-election challenge to Mayor Rick Kriseman, the former two-term mayor invoked his mantra of St. Petersburg being a “seamless city” — and that includes the LGBT community. “A lot has been said about me and the LGBT community by my opponent and by others,” he said on the […]

Associated PressMay 12, 2017

President Donald Trump, in an apparent warning to his fired FBI director, said Friday that James Comey had better hope there are no “tapes” of their conversations. Trump’s tweet came the morning after he asserted Comey had told him three times that he wasn’t under FBI investigation. “I said, ‘If it’s possible, would you let […]

Mitch PerryMay 11, 2017

On Election Night 2016, at approximately 7:45 p.m., Steve Schale was at an Orlando brewpub. The Democratic strategist opened his laptop to review his state’s election returns. “It’s in real bad shape,” Schale told Hillary Clinton pollster John Anzalone and campaign consultant Jim Margolis in a phone call. “What the f**k are you talking about,” Anzalone asked disbelieving, according to “Shattered,” a riveting look behind the scenes […]

Joe HendersonMay 11, 2017

As students at Bethune-Cookman University turned their backs and lustily booed commencement speaker Betsy DeVos, the rattled education secretary pleaded, “Let’s choose to hear each other out.” It’s ironic that DeVos chose those words to find middle ground, considering Republicans across the land, and particularly in the Washington establishment she now represents, have demonstrated no […]

Darryl PaulsonMay 4, 2017

Florida’s Republican Party has governed Florida for less than a third of the past 150 years. After the Civil War, a coalition of newly enfranchised blacks, a small number of native white Republicans and northern carpetbaggers dominated Florida politics from 1865 to around 1885. After the blacks were stripped of their voting rights at the […]

Tag: Hillary Clinton
Aerial photo courtesy Jesse Biter.

Donald Trump’s cellphone diplomacy raises security concerns

Joe Henderson: If some Democrats don’t care about ‘issues’ maybe that’s leaders’ fault

Steve Schale: Dear Dems, one 2018 project — Caribbean voters

GOP mocks national Dems for ‘zero chance’ of beating Vern Buchanan in 2018

Donald Trump defends sharing ‘terrorism’ facts with Russians

Rick Baker recognizes previous stances on LGBT community will be campaign issue; Will it make a difference?

Donald Trump to James Comey: Better hope there are no ‘tapes’ of talks

Steve Schale on the night the lights went out on Hillary Clinton in Florida

Joe Henderson: Betsy DeVos pleaded for students to listen, but shouldn’t she do the same?

Darryl Paulson: Should the Florida GOP feel blue?