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 Thursday, June 16, 2005

Martinez: The Enviromental Warrior

    The moratorium on oil drilling off the state's coast is extended. How did it happen?
    Nelson succeeded by sheer persistence. As the Senate opened debate Tuesday in the first day of a two-week debate on the massive energy bill, Nelson repeatedly asked for the language Domenici had promised that would preserve the moratorium on oil drilling in the eastern Gulf. After 6 ½ hours, Nelson had grown inpatient. He threatened to ''talk all night'' and hijack Senate business unless changes were made to the bill.
    But what does Nelson say?
    "We had to go through quite an exercise to get there," Nelson said. Sen. "Mel Martinez and I had a big win . . . because we finally got the committee leadership to back down. But that's just the first step."
    "Senators shore up ban on drilling".

    A bit too gracious for my taste. Especially since Martinez has already vowed to help knock of Nelson. And of course Mel's office issued the infamous memo (which 'ole Mel distributed) saying politicizing the Schiavo affair would help the GOP defeat Nelson.

    I realize Nelson must recognize Martinez for the dim witted Rove artifice he plainly is, and of course being gracious is Nelson's style, but it grates that Martinez is getting this much credit for his role in Nelson's victory in this fight. I can hear Mel in a few months:
    I stood shoulder to shoulder with Bill Nelson against big oil - just ask Bill - and I won that fight. Now I need Katherine Harris in the Senate with me to fight big oil.
    Yuck. See also "Offshore drilling still a no-no".

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