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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
"every political insider should be reading right now."

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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 Sunday, May 08, 2005

"Sting of Defeat"

    From the New York Times; savor it:
    For most of his time in office, Gov. Jeb Bush has all but walked on water, pushing through changes that a less confident or pedigreed politician would not have dared. But with less than two years left in power, Mr. Bush is experiencing something strange: defeat.

    His mind was plainly on his legacy in March, when he used his State of the State address to call for "bold, brave ideas" to "define us as dreamers, builders and problem solvers." Among his top goals were expanding a school voucher program that has been found unconstitutional and is under review by the Florida Supreme Court and scaling back a costly constitutional requirement to reduce class size in public schools.

    Mr. Bush, who wants most to be seen as an education reformer and architect of government efficiency, also proposed overhauling the state's Medicaid system, making it harder to sue businesses and planning more responsibly for the state's unfettered growth. But as the two-month legislative session spun to a close this week, Mr. Bush suffered some of the sharpest losses of his tenure - at the hands of his own Republican party.

    On Thursday, the State Senate rejected the governor's proposal to ask voters to scale back the class-size limits they approved in 2002, which he has said would cost taxpayers billions of dollars. It also killed his plan to expand the voucher program, which would have allowed struggling readers to transfer to private and religious schools.
    "After Florida Legislative Session Ends, Governor Bush Feels Sting of Defeat". See also "Legislature hands Gov. Bush disappointing crumbs" ("Republican leaders snub governor's 'bold' ideas, agenda"). The Miami Herald puts it this way, "Rebuffs reduce Gov. Bush's power":
    For a governor who has accrued unparalleled power in Florida and fashioned a national profile as a GOP leader on education and healthcare, it was an abrupt snap to an unprecedented winning streak. And it was fueled, observers said, as much by Bush's aggressive, imperial style of governing as by the fact he's term-limited and will be leaving office shortly after a new governor is elected in November 2006.
    "Aggressive, imperial style"; that's putting it politely.

6:15 PM

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