Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Mitch PerryJanuary 13, 2016

The Republican Party tapped South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley to give the official response to President Obama‘s final (and very boring) State of the Union address Tuesday night, and if anything, it exposed the fissures that are ongoing with the GOP nationally. Although the first few minutes of her speech bashed Obama in ways that […]

Mitch PerryJanuary 8, 2016

The popular perception is that the Democratic Party as a whole stopped debating gun control after Al Gore lost his home state of Tennessee and Bill Clinton‘s Arkansas in the 2000 election. Looking back on that perspective 16 years later, it’s evident that yes, they did stop debating the issue nationally, but that it doesn’t […]

Mitch PerryJanuary 7, 2016

James Tracy was fired last month, though the Florida Atlantic University communications professor still can file a grievance to maintain his job. Although he would certainly dispute being labeled a conspiracy theorist, that’s essentially how I learned about him when I wrote a story about conspiracy theories in Creative Loafing. Tracy claimed the Sandy Hook elementary school massacre […]

Mitch PerryJanuary 6, 2016

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South Florida U.S. Rep. and Democratic Senate candidate Patrick Murphy says the sheer number of gun violence tragedies has created a shift in American public opinion on gun control. He also says if that sentiment continues, Congress will follow suit and no longer be intimidated by the National Rifle Association. “Quite frankly, the NRA is […]

Mitch PerryJanuary 6, 2016

Since we don’t know who the presidential nominees are yet, it’s insanely premature to speculate on who might be the vice-presidential candidates, right? Of course not. Actually, the reason I’m even thinking of this today is that my original story idea for this column is being banked for a future story. But I thought about […]

Mitch PerryDecember 18, 2015

Like President Barack Obama, I’m flying to California today. I’m leaving for vacation but in the president’s case, his California trip is to speak with the victims of the mass shooting in San Bernardino, before departing for Hawaii for the next few weeks. I’ll be spending time back home with family and friends in the […]

Mitch PerryDecember 7, 2015

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Once upon a time, Florida’s 11th Congressional District – which now encompasses Hernando, Citrus, Sumter and Marion counties – was held by a Democrat. Her name was Karen Thurman. Thurman lost to Republican Ginny Brown-Waite in 2002, and since that time, the seat has remained safely in GOP control, and that scenario doesn’t appear to be changing […]

Jim RosicaDecember 7, 2015

Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush repeated his call for a declaration of war against the Islamic State, criticizing President Barack Obama for viewing the conflict with the jihadist group as a policing “exercise.” Bush appeared Monday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” program via satellite from Miami. “If this is a war, which I believe it is, then we need […]

Mitch PerryDecember 7, 2015

There’s a lot of angst in the country and political world about how we are dealing with domestic terrorism, five days after San Bernardino. Well, that’s what the media tells us. I’m not so sure. There were a lot of big football games over the weekend with sellout crowds. Restaurants and bars seemed to pretty […]

Mitch PerryDecember 1, 2015

If you don’t know of anyone who is caught up in the Florida corrections system, stories about the care of prisoners may not matter much to you at all. But they have been disturbing, particularly regarding the state of health care for those who incarcerated. Rick Scott ran for office in 2010 promising to privatize […]

Tag: President Obama

Mitch Perry Report for 1.13.16 – The right hates Nikki Haley’s response on the SOTU

Mitch Perry Report for 1.8.16 — No, Obama still isn’t going to take away the guns

Mitch Perry Report for 1.7.16 – Florida academic fired for unpopular (and um, questionable) views?

Patrick Murphy contends NRA feels changing shift on guns

Mitch Perry Report for 1.6.15 – Are Nikki Haley and Julian Castro top picks for VP?

Mitch Perry Report for 12.18.15 – Obama making course correction on optics of being a wartime president?

Justin Grabelle about to be challenged in CD 11 race?

Jeb Bush renews call to declare war on ISIS after President’s speech

Mitch Perry Report for 12.7.15 – Obama speaks on threat of Islamic State, GOP reacts

Mitch Perry Report for 12.1.15 – Corizon Health Care terminates contract with Florida prisons. That’s not a bad thing