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 Saturday, November 12, 2005

"Jeb!"'s "Capitulation"

    Regarding "Jeb!"'s no-drilling campaign pledge,
    Bush abandoned his pledge last month, encouraging a key committee in the U.S. House to approve drilling 213 miles from Tampa Bay. U.S. Reps. Jeff Miller, Mike Bilirakis and Cliff Stearns went along with it -- along with local Reps. Tom Feeney and John Mica.

    Bush and Colleen Castile, secretary of the state's Department of Environmental Protection, say the deal they struck will protect Florida coastlines. That's silly: Drilling off Florida's coast is illegal now. If the deal Gov. Bush struck becomes law, 2.4 million underwater acres would be open for oil exploration.

    With the possibility of more. The deal, approved last month by the U.S. House Resources Committee and last week by the House Budget Committee, gives state officials the authority to approve natural gas drilling within 25 miles of the shoreline and oil drilling within 50 miles (and gives the state half the royalties paid by energy companies that win leases inside a 125-mile buffer).

    The obvious implication is that state officials can and should be trusted to say no to energy companies wanting to drill. Bush's capitulation proves how flimsy that assumption can be.
    "Oil in their ears". See also "Holding The Drillers At Bay".

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