Lawmakers urged the Bush administration on Thursday to open an area of the eastern Gulf of Mexico to natural gas development, although the Interior Department has told Florida it considers the area off limits for the time being.

As you may recall, our governor has been bragging of late about Florida's ability to respond to hurricanes. Been there, done that. ...

The governor held out Florida as a national model but now admits Florida screwed up.

It was like New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin was running the show.

I imagine he is a more humble governor today, and one better prepared for next year's storms.

In what amounts to a congressional "do-over," a House committee Wednesday voted to give Florida and other coastal states a 125-mile buffer zone from oil and gas exploration but allow drilling in millions of acres of the eastern Gulf of Mexico where it is now prohibited.

"Make no mistake, drilling for oil and gas off Florida's fragile coastline is a risky scheme that jeopardizes our environment and our economy," said Rep. Connie Mack, R-Fort Myers. "It won't reduce the price at the pump, and it won't reduce our dependency on foreign oil."

But after years of voting as a bloc against drilling, the Florida delegation has fractured this year. Gov. Jeb Bush endorsed the measure that passed Wednesday and has said spiraling oil and gas prices and hurricane-related disruptions in energy supplies have caused a growing national pressure for drilling.

environmentalists have urged Florida lawmakers to continue fighting to keep new leases out of the entire eastern Gulf, saying spills can travel more than 125 miles and a future Congress could shrink the buffer.

"Once the oil industry has broken the precedent of no drilling rigs anywhere off the coast of Florida, and they have built drilling infrastructure closer to our coast than ever before, the momentum to drill nearer and nearer to our shores may well be insurmountable," said Mark Ferrulo of the environmental group Florida PIRG (Public Interest Research Group).

Phil Handy says he has worked hard "to try to get a new world order" in Florida education, which is no doubt a tall order for a man who by trade is a Winter Park financier. But the state's immodest education board chairman must have been out of town that day in November 2002 when voters took universities away from him. Otherwise, he wouldn't so freely condescend to the constitutionally empowered university Board of Governors.

Former Hillsborough County commissioner and longtime Democratic Party leader Phyllis Busansky plans to run for Congress against Gus Bilirakis, the son of retiring District 9 Rep. Michael Bilirakis.

Busansky, known for her work on social issues including health care and welfare reform, is the first well-known Democrat to take on Bilirakis, considered a strong contender to take over his father's seat.

He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, has been active with the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce and was an adviser to U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris, R-Sarasota, when she served as Florida's secretary of state.

It comes as no surprise that House Speaker Allan Bense and Senate President Tom Lee are challenging citizens' initiatives that would strip state lawmakers of the power to draw legislative and congressional boundaries. They want to protect their turf and keep the Republican Party in the majority.
In their mutual quest to defeat the initiatives, they have both hired lawyers. But they don't agree on how to pay the legal bills.

Bense plans to spend as much as $50,000 in public money to fight the initiatives. Lee refuses. Lee is right. Self- interested lawmakers should not use tax money to undermine citizens' efforts to change the constitution.

In the lurching, on-again, off-again campaign to allow more oil and gas drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, the march is on again.

With the backing of Gov. Jeb Bush, the U.S. House Resources Committee on Wednesday will consider a sweeping compromise that would allow drilling as close as 125 miles off Florida's coast in exchange for giving the Legislature and governor control of waters much closer to shore.

"It puts the future of Florida's waters squarely in the hands of Florida's elected officials," [State Environmental Protection Secretary Colleen] Castille said.

Bush's support could make it harder for Florida lawmakers to block the opening of new drilling in the eastern Gulf, said Rep. Jim Davis, D-Tampa.

"I'm speechless," said Davis, a candidate for governor. "This is outrageous to put a provision this dramatic and harmful to Florida into a spending bill."

Environmentalists also are unhappy with the Pombo legislation. Mark Ferrulo of Florida PIRG (Public Interest Research Group) said the billions in royalties and heavy lobbying and campaign donations from energy companies might sway future state legislators to allow drilling. It "creates long-term incentives and momentum to drill in our near-shore waters," he said.

Rep. Tom Feeney, R-Oviedo, said he was leaning toward voting for the bill. ... Rep. John Mica, R-Winter Park, will support the bill, according to his staff. And staff for Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Chumuckla, and Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Miami, said their bosses were favorably disposed toward it. But Rep. Mark Foley, R-Jupiter, and Rep. Connie Mack, R-Fort Myers, oppose the idea.

Florida's dismal 38-percent graduation rate among black teenage boys. Nationally the high school graduation rate for black males is 58 percent, which compares to 71 percent for non-Hispanic white males.

But in Florida, national test scores show a widening gap between Hispanic boys and girls in middle school, and a puzzling dropoff in scores among white girls.

Tate has tangled with three powerful entities: elite corporate leaders called the Council of 100; the Florida Board of Governors, which oversees the university system; and university presidents, most notably the University of Florida's Bernie Machen.

And so this month, Tate was dumped from the board. Tate says Gov. Jeb Bush told him that after 18 years as chairman, it was time to go.

Jim Davis rolls up his sleeves, grabs a microphone and shouts out, "I want to know if you're ready to win! Do you really want to win?" ...

Although the Democratic primary is still more than 10 months away, Davis has been campaigning statewide as if the election is just around the corner. Last week, he spent two days in Broward and Palm Beach counties visiting with Democratic clubs and holding a series of meet-and-greets and strategy sessions.

"Right now, speaking as a frustrated Democrat, the issue is elect-ability," said Harry Johnston, a former congressman and state Senate president from West Palm Beach who made his own run for governor in 1986. "He's got a good, moderate voting record, he's from Central Florida and … he's ahead in the polls."

Nearly one-third of Florida's 4.3 million registered Democrats live in Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties. If a Democrat wants to win statewide, he needs to cultivate this crowd.

Rep. Kendrick Meek, 39, of Florida recited a litany of GOP misdeeds -- mismanaging Hurricane Katrina and neglecting education and health care, for example -- and offered the Democrats' alternatives. ...

The two ... are part of a new generation of Democrats who are working to try to topple the GOP. Their fresh ideas, modern media skills and aggressive political tactics have inspired a party that has drifted for much of the past decade -- wedded to old notions and seemingly incapable of capitalizing on White House and congressional Republican miscues ... .

Another standout ... is Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, 39, who arrived in Washington 11 months ago after a dozen years in the rough-and-tumble Florida legislature. She lined up former Florida state senator Ron Klein (D) to run for the seat next door to hers, now occupied by Rep. E. Clay Shaw Jr. (R), a veteran legislator.

When Shaw heard the news, he confronted Wasserman Schultz on the floor and told her that the tradition among members of the Florida delegation is to refrain from working against one another. Wasserman Schultz reminded Shaw that several Florida Republicans had worked against Rep. Karen L. Thurman (D-Fla.), who was defeated in 2002.

"I was really polite and said the pact didn't seem to have held very solidly," Wasserman Schultz recalled. "I guess he thought he was speaking to someone who had just begun their political career that day."

Now that the federal government has approved Gov. Bush's plan to stunt Medicaid, it is up to the Legislature to make sure that Florida's poorest and neediest residents retain access to the health care they need. ...

The state must be careful not to simply shift a $15 billion program wrought with fraud into private hands with no greater accountability. ...

Yet, the state is banking on private companies being more vigilant against fraud than the government has been. From juvenile justice to school vouchers, there is nothing in Gov. Bush's privatization record that suggests real accountability will happen.

Florida is setting itself up for a downward spiral of harm and misery for young African-American men and their families, in particular, if we don't support immediate and effective educational intervention. ...

Florida's dismal 38-percent graduation rate among black teenage boys. Nationally the high school graduation rate for black males is 58 percent, which compares to 71 percent for non-Hispanic white males.

U.S. Rep. Jim Davis boasted about fighting President Bush in Washington, while state Sen. Rod Smith touted his record opposing Gov. Jeb Bush at the state Capitol. ...

Smith said he was at a campaign stop in the Panhandle recently and hundreds told him, "A lot of us voted for Bush. We made a mistake. We're going to be back with the Democratic Party this time."

That's why, he said, he was able to pick up the endorsements of several North Florida sheriffs who have recently voted Republican.

Davis cited the case of Terri Schiavo, the brain damaged woman who died earlier this year after a years-long rightto-die case, as the breaking point for some Republicans.

"I will not let this remarkably out-of-touch, out-of-control Legislature play politics with anybody else's personal life or body," Davis said.

He also said he recently gained -- someone who raised at least $200,000 for the president's 2004 re-election.

"He said, `I've had it. I'm done. Terri Schiavo pushed me over the edge. It's not conservative for the government to inject itself into your personal life," Davis said.

Jeb Bush last week tried his hand at the tricky balancing act.

"I think gambling stinks," he said. "And I think gambling contributions stink, too. But it doesn't mean that if you accept gambling money, you're for expanding gambling."

The issue of gambling could make or break candidates in next year's primaries. At least one-third of voters in Florida Republican primaries describe themselves as evangelical conservatives who view gambling as inherently bad social policy, pollsters say.

"We are very much opposed to expanding gambling in Florida," said Bill Stephens, executive director of the Orlando-based Christian Coalition of Florida, an influential force in Republican primary politics. "And I imagine that most of the people who think like we do would not vote for someone seen as gambling-friendly."

"When I decided not to run for U.S. Senate, I think I sort of put myself in a box," Bense said. "I will tell you, if I do decide to run for something, it would be after this session's over."

Would he consider joining a Republican ticket as lieutenant governor?

"I doubt they want me on a ticket," he conceded. "I'm from a rural part of the state, so I'm not sure I'd make a good second person."

He paused, adding, "[I] hope they would think about me, maybe."

"I don't sweat."

That was Katherine Harris's deadpan response to WESH-Channel 2 reporter Greg Fox's offer of a paper towel before they began an interview.

This heavily Republican crowd (only about a third said they were Dems) cast 54 percent of their ballots for Nelson in the straw poll.

•Judges, not juries, ultimately determine whether a defendant receives the death penalty, though judges are expected to give "great weight" to jury recommendations about what sentence to impose. That system, however, seems to conflict with the 2002 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Ring v. Arizona, which requires jurors make the decision.

• Juries in Florida need only a majority vote to decide whether an aggravating circumstance exists and to recommend a death sentence. Legal experts say Ring presents a strong case for requiring unanimity in recommending death and possibly in enumerating aggravating circumstances -- factors that provide legal justification for imposing the death penalty.

By comparison, juries must reach a unanimous decision to convict someone in a criminal case.

"I think the state death penalty statute is ripe for a constitutional challenge and a successful constitutional challenge," said Robert Batey, a professor at Stetson University College of Law.