Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Mitch PerryAugust 3, 2017

No one in Florida has worked harder than Desmond Meade to expand felons’ voting rights. Starting in 2015, Meade and his organization, the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, have blanketed the state, collecting signatures to place on the ballot an initiative that would overturn the automatic ban on felons voting. Although the group fell short for the […]

Joe HendersonApril 20, 2017

The damage wrought by state Sen. Frank Artiles’ racist rant has ripples that extend far beyond the seats of power in Tallahassee. All it took to confirm that was to type his “Senator Frank Artiles” into Google. Within seconds, a collection of stories popped up that confirms how much impact the bile from his bigoted […]

Mitch PerryFebruary 12, 2017

Pasco County Republican Executive Committee Secretary Bill Akins is under fire after a story about his history of pushing out racist jokes and conspiracy theories on social media was published Sunday by the Washington Post. The reason that the previously little-known local Republican even earned the interest of the Post was because of what happened on Saturday at Congressman Gus Bilirakis raucous town hall meeting in […]

Martin DyckmanFebruary 10, 2017

When President Harry S. Truman threatened in December 1950 to punch out a Washington Post music critic who had panned his daughter’s singing, he wrote the letter in his own hand, affixed his own postage stamp, and did not make it public. Neither did the Post. But America knew all about it once it had […]

Martin DyckmanDecember 19, 2016

There’s a scene in the musical “Chicago” that could be adopted virtually intact when they make the one I’d call “Trumpistan.” It’s the number in which a cunning criminal defense attorney, Billy Flynn, works the press as a chorus of puppets, dangling from strings, as they dance to his tune and parrot his words. That […]

Mitch PerryNovember 4, 2016

It was the Thursday night before the 2000 general election when Fox News’s Carl Cameron reported George W. Bush had been arrested in 1976 in Maine on a DWI case. It was definitely an “October surprise,” and it definitely seemed to stop Bush’s momentum in that contest — a contest in which he ultimately lost the […]

Bob SparksNovember 2, 2016

Donald Trump may be on his way to winning Florida. Is that really possible? Of the seven polls taken in the past week, Trump leads in three surveys, each by four points. Hillary Clinton leads in three of them, each by one point. In what may be another ominous development for Democrats, Florida is into […]

Mitch PerrySeptember 24, 2016

With his twice-weekly forum on The New York Times Op-Ed page, along with weekly gigs on NPR’s All Things Considered and the PBS NewsHour, David Brooks is regarded as one of the pre-eminent political pundits in the country. So when I had the opportunity to speak with him about an hour-and-a-half before his scheduled appearance at the Palladium […]

Scott PowersSeptember 21, 2016

For the second time in a week, Florida Democrats blasted the campaign donation Donald Trump‘s foundation made to Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi‘s committee. This time, it was Dan Gelber saying Wednesday he knows of no prosecutor who would do what she did. Gelber is a former federal prosecutor and a former Democratic member of the […]

Jenna Buzzacco-FoersterSeptember 6, 2016

With nine weeks until Election Day, the race to the White House remains close. A new CNN/ORC poll shows Donald Trump leads Hillary Clinton among likely voters, 45 percent to 43 percent. Libertarian Gary Johnson is at 7 percent, while Green Party candidate Jill Stein is at 2 percent. Both Clinton and Trump remain deeply […]

Tag: Washington Post
Debate party at Sports Grill Kendall. Image via AP.

ACLU plans to spend millions on campaign to restore felons’ voting rights surprised Desmond Meade

Joe Henderson: What damage could follow as Frank Artiles’ rant reverberates around the globe?

Pasco County GOP official in trouble after social media posts go national

How can we respect the presidency, when Donald Trump clearly doesn’t?

Martin Dyckman: In post-truth America, responsible news more important than ever

Mitch Perry Report for 11.4.16 — What will be this year’s decisive October surprise?

Is Donald Trump on his way to winning Florida?

David Brooks on Donald Trump voters, Colin Kaepernick and growing loss of connection in U.S.

Dan Gelber: No prosecutor would do what Pam Bondi did with Donald Trump’s donation

New poll shows Donald Trump leading Hillary Clinton