FLORIDA POLITICS
Since 2002, daily Florida political news and commentary

 

UPDATE: Every morning we review and individually digest Florida political news articles, editorials and punditry. Our sister site, FLA Politics was selected by Campaigns & Elections as one of only ten state blogs in the nation
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Welcome To Florida Politics

Thanks for visiting. On a semi-daily basis we scan Florida's major daily newspapers for significant Florida political news and punditry. We also review the editorial pages and political columnists/pundits for Florida political commentary. The papers we review include: the Miami Herald, Sun-Sentinel, Palm Beach Post, Naples News, Sarasota Herald Tribune, St Pete Times, Tampa Tribune, Orlando Sentinel, the Daytona Beach News-Journal, Tallahassee Democrat, and, occasionally, the Florida Times Union; we also review the political news blogs associated with these newspapers.

For each story, column, article or editorial we deem significant, we post at least the headline and link to the piece; the linked headline always appears in quotes. We quote the headline for two reasons: first, to allow researchers looking for the cited piece to find it (if the link has expired) by searching for the original title/headline via a commercial research service. Second, quotation of the original headline permits readers to appreciate the spin from the original piece, as opposed to our spin.

Not that we don't provide spin; we do, and plenty of it. Our perspective appears in post headlines, the subtitles within the post (in bold), and the excerpts from the linked stories we select to quote; we also occasionally provide other links and commentary about certain stories. While our bias should be immediately apparent to any reader, we nevertheless attempt to link to every article, column or editorial about Florida politics in every major online Florida newspaper.

 

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The Blog for Saturday, January 29, 2005

Morgan

    "One subject legislators always look forward on":
    We barely have the votes counted from 2004 and legislators already are raising money for 2006 and 2008. ...

    We never seem to get out of fundraising mode anymore.

    Everyone complains about it, but nothing ever seems to change much. Even the $500 contribution limit means little in a system where clever lobbyists become "bundlers" and deliver envelopes full of checks.

    It leaves a message: "I am an important lobbyist with well-heeled clients and you should remember where all this money comes from."

    In 2004 legislators spent almost $25-million getting elected to jobs that pay them $29,000 a year. The average Senate race cost $227,176 while the average House race cost $159,000. The most expensive race was that of Sen. Jeff Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, who spent more than $516,000 running against a write-in opponent.

    It will cost more in 2006 when all the legislative candidates have to divert attention from a hot governor's race and open Cabinet seats.
    More.

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