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 Sunday, September 11, 2005

Trolling in Tampa

    Rod
    Smith was trolling for campaign dollars in the home territory of a couple of gubernatorial rivals, Democrat Jim Davis of Tampa and Republican Charlie Crist of St. Petersburg. Among those helping Smith raise money: Tampa lawyer Stacy Frank, daughter of Clerk of Court Pat Frank; and St. Petersburg lawyer Ken Blackwell, a registered Republican who also has given $500 to Crist's campaign.

    About 60 people, including lawyers and teachers, attended the fundraiser at Blackwell's St. Petersburg home. While Blackwell is friends with Crist and acknowledged raising money for a little known candidate in Crist's home county is tough, he said he sees Smith as a force to be reckoned with.

    "If he gets past the primary, I think Rod Smith can beat Charlie or Tom Gallagher," Blackwell said. "The guy kind of reminds me on a state level what Bill Clinton was in 1992 on a national level."

    Tampa lawyer Barry Cohen, one of Smith's most vocal advocates, predicted he'll wind up with lots of Tampa Bay support: "The money is not locked up at all. People are perfunctorily nice to Jim because he's a nice guy, but they know he can't win. As people get to know Rod Smith, they see he can win."
    "Smith Works Tampa Bay".

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