The same can't be said for the labor movement's bruised image. TV shots of the nation's mightiest city left in a lurch by striking transport workers, not to mention the $1 million daily fines imposed and jail time threatened by an irate judge, aren't the best marketing tool when unions are already suffering declining membership and influence.

featured on the campaign web site of Greg Rublee, a Democrat running to succeed Mike Bilirakis in Congress, are
kind words from Rahm Emanuel, an Illinois congressman and chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee:

"As a dedicated public servant with an impressive national security background,Greg is a strong Democratic candidate for Congress. His commitment to serving his community and preserving our moral values will mean a tremendous challenge to Republicans running in Florida's 9th Congressional District.''

So Emanuel's backing Rublee? Not exactly. The nice words about Rublee notwithstanding, Emanuel has been actively helping Democratic former Hillsborough County Commissioner Phyllis Busansky raise money for that congressional race. He has hosted two fundraisers for Busansky, in Tampa and Washington, and helped her raise more than $100,000 in just over a month.

"We'll be the envy of the country," said Susan MacManus, a University of South Florida political-science professor. "In presidential politics, bigger is better, and Florida is getting bigger while Ohio gets smaller."

MacManus and Brad Coker, director of the Mason Dixon Florida Poll, said Republican legislators probably will be able to grab two out of three new districts for their party. Depending on where Florida's growth is occurring, they said, a third new seat might be heavily African-American and Democratic.

"I wouldn't be surprised if two out of three new seats are Republican and that at least one of the Republican ones is in a Hispanic district," said Coker, who has been polling in Florida campaigns for several years.

Besides their redistricting advantage in the Legislature, MacManus said, Republicans stand to benefit from population growth in suburban counties north of the I-4 corridor. She said Pasco, Hernando and Levy counties have all had "intra-state growth" as newcomers first move to big cities, then retire to the suburbs or find jobs in less-dense areas.

With Democrats already having a virtual lock on California and Republicans normally favored in Texas, Coker said, "Florida will become the most important state" in presidential politics if it has 30 electoral votes - especially if the Sunbelt's gains take votes away from Pennsylvania, New York and Ohio.

ov. Jeb Bush stood up for Florida's voters last week when he said that the state should review the security of its electronic-voting machines. Now the governor should make sure that testing actually occurs.

At the secretary of state's office, which oversees Florida's elections, Acting Secretary David Mann downplayed the troubling results of recent tests by Ion Sancho, Leon County elections supervisor. The office will ''look into'' whether new tests are necessary, a spokesman for the office said Wednesday.

Florida Crystals, one of the state's two largest sugar cane growers, has thrived over four decades with the public's help. Drainage systems help to make farming possible. A loan program keeps prices stable. Yet the company still pays only lip service to its public partners.

Its refusal to get off South Florida Water Management District land to make way for a crucial reservoir probably will cost the public agency $8 million. The Fanjul family-owned company could have followed its competitors and left willingly. Instead, it exploited a technicality to force the district to pay. Giving in to Florida Crystals' threats is the correct decision, but it should not have come to this.

The questions and answers in the poll offer strong clues as to what this primary will look like. The poll tests themes that may prove to be weaknesses in each man that will be focus group-tested before appearing as TV ads.

Other nuggets from the poll: Bill McCollum blows away the field in the GOP primary for attorney general, and U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris scorches U.S. Rep. Mark Foley, 44 percent to 23 percent, in a hypothetical U.S. Senate matchup (Harris is in the Senate race; Foley isn't).

Finally, the poll suggests that GOP voters are more concerned with economic and social issues (defined as health care, education, environment) than moral issues (defines as the right to life, school prayer, and declining values).

Staying home is hardly a Rosa Parks moment, but for this bunch, it'll do.

A Senate investigation has concluded that four state lawmakers broke no laws when they took a $46,000 trip to Canada this summer on a gambling company's tab.

the Senate's top lawyer found that the four lawmakers -- Sen. Mike Bennett, R-Bradenton; Sen. Jim King, R-Jacksonville; Sen. Dennis Jones, R-Seminole; and Rep. Frank Farkas, R-St. Petersburg -- did not violate any gift laws by going on the trip. The junket included a trip to Canada, a visit to Niagara Falls, golf on a private course and tours of two casinos.

Magna, however, reported the $48,180 payment as an "in-kind" contribution to the Republican Party of Florida. In-kind contributions usually refer to goods and services that a contributor gives to a candidate or party, such as office rent, travel expenses or food.

The lawmakers involved in the trip insisted it was largely meant to serve as a fundraiser for the GOP, even though the party had not arranged it and a party spokeswoman later said the trip should not have been reported as a contribution. Gov. Jeb Bush also called the trip "inappropriate."

In addition, in a 27-page report detailing the trip, top Senate lawyer Stephen Kahn found that much of the discussion between Magna and the lawmakers focused on gambling issues.

Those conversations included how much lawmakers should tax slot machines in Florida, one of the key issues that remained unresolved at the time.

$35,500 on a charter jet, $3,300 on food, $4,280 for limousines and van transportation and $1,600 in golfing greens fees.

Amid all the reaction is this reality: FPL Group and Constellation Energy are getting together to benefit shareholders, not Florida Power & Light customers. And there's no guarantee that FPL Group will retain a corporate presence in South Florida. The company will be called Constellation Energy, and there will be another headquarters in Constellation's hometown of Baltimore. If there really will be no adverse effect on those who get power from the state's largest utility, it's far too early to be sure.

For those who have followed Florida Power & Light's recent history, there's a sense of irony to this deal, which makes FPL Group such a player in deregulated markets. Throughout the 1990s, FPL Group prepared for energy deregulation in Florida. The company cut Florida Power & Light's payroll nearly in half and didn't build one generating plant, fearing that it wouldn't be able to recover the costs when other companies arrived to build competing "merchant" plants, which would seek out customers by offering lower rates. So when Duke Power wanted to build such a plant, FPL went all the way to the Florida Supreme Court to block it, even as the company sought to build "merchant" plants in other states.

Gov. Bush said that he only was suggesting the idea, not recommending it. Good thing, because it's a really bad idea.

Last week, the governor mentioned that perhaps Citizens Property Insurance Corp., should limit hurricane-only building coverage to $500,000. He spoke after the Citizens board recommended a statewide 44 percent rate increase, which the state must approve, to cover losses and build up reserves. Going by the governor's "logic," the less Citizens has to cover, the less Citizens would have to pay.

From the public's perspective, however, just about everything is wrong with that idea. I

Whether one believes Leon County Supervisor of Elections Ion Sancho bent over backward to ensure that voting technology is as secure from sabotage as possible or went to unreasonable lengths in raising further security questions is not as important as the fact that he succeeded in putting the issue back in the spotlight.

Where it belongs.

Bush reminded Capitol denizens last week how conservative, and confident, he is. Not that anyone thought he might go wobbly in this final year, but there was a glimpse of Bush from his wilderness time of 1994-98 - when he was the idea man of his Foundation for Florida's Future.

"We've made some pretty big paradigm shifts in policy," Bush said, citing his 1999 "A-plus" education overhaul and his "Service First" personnel changes. "The debates at the time of a change in policy are totally different than they are once you've implemented the policies and they work."

The subject at his news conference was Medicaid. But some questioning focused on how the next governor(s) will deal with all that the most dominant Republican since Reconstruction has wrought.

"I think powerful ideas, implemented properly, sustain themselves," Bush said, as if he were tossing out a discussion topic for a government class. Then he put it a less lofty way: "If it does work, and I believe it will, how could any future governor want to go back to a system that no one says works?"

Democrats also have problems with allowing voters to pick commission members. U.S. Rep. Jim Davis of Tampa is challenging state Sen. Rod Smith of Gainesville for the Democratic nomination for governor.

"I think it is a bad idea," Davis said of electing commissioners. "It would make the PSC more political and more beholden to the special interests."

The solution is to "elect a governor who is going to understand the importance of the PSC" and make appointments of people who are as concerned about consumers as they are about the utilities, Davis said.

Smith does not oppose the idea of an elected PSC but said the issue would need more study before he could decide.

When anti-war activists set their sights on U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris' Sarasota office last week, they were hoping to send a strong message to the Longboat Key Republican about their opposition to the Iraq war.

But the 1960s it wasn't.

Instead, six well-mannered protesters arrived, and had to borrow Harris' photocopier to provide the media with copies of their protest letter.

Florida legislators were ordered to bring political fund raising out of the shadows, some are still skirting the rules.

Demand for more disclosure followed revelations that legislators took secret contributions of up to $50,000 from hospitals, utilities, tobacco-makers, trial lawyers and others with a stake in legislation.

The money flowed into accounts that can legally accept unlimited amounts of money, allowing legislators to evade a $500 limit on contributions to their election funds.

Starting in November 2004, a legislator who solicited or accepted money through a fund had to file with the Legislature. Every dollar raised and spent had to be listed on a Web site within 10 days.
Not everyone has complied.

the most recent A Statistical View of the United States reported that Florida ranks fourth in numbers of students enrolled in public schools, 28th in average teacher salary and dead last in per capita spending on both public education and higher education.

Perhaps it was inevitable. Either way, it's funny. Rush Limbaugh has compared the reporting on his legal case to the reporting on Iraq.

By that, of course, the Palm Beach talkmeister means that news organizations are portraying his latest partial loss, at best, in court as a loss when they should be calling it a victory. Anti-Limbaugh bias is as bad as anti-Operation Iraqi Freedom bias. Mr. Limbaugh so unburdened himself during Wednesday's show. That was two days after Palm Beach County Circuit Judge David Crow ruled that prosecutors could ask Mr. Limbaugh's doctors only questions relevant to the investigation into doctor-shopping for illegal amounts of prescription painkillers.

But prosecutors never have wanted information about anything else.

The survey found Florida's biggest health challenges included a high rate of violent crime and a high incidence of infectious disease. Add that to a large number of uninsured and a graduation rate in which just 55.7 percent of incoming ninth graders actually graduate in four years, and you have trouble.

Uncertainty has dogged Florida's biotechnology venture following November's partial court injunction against building on the former orange grove. Communication between the institute's top brass and its commission benefactors - when it happens at all —-takes place either in lawyerly letters or in private phone calls to the few commissioners viewed as open-minded enough to be swayed.

Meanwhile, the third partner in the half-billion dollar public venture is the state. Gov. Jeb Bush tends to send his signals cryptically, often either through lawyers or through one-sentence statements to news media.

Between 2001 and 2004, the average salary in the Orlando area went up 3 percent. The cost of housing increased 41 percent. In 2005,the gap widened even further when housing costs escalated faster than almost any other area of the nation.

Florida actually had a head start addressing the need for affordable housing in 1992 when lawmakers approved the William E. Sadowski Affordable Housing Act. That law created a trust fund that gets its money from a small tax on real-estate documentary-stamp fees. Money in that fund is used to help build affordable housing -- single-family homes and apartments -- throughout Florida. The money is matched with private, federal and local dollars. Apartments built with that money must be affordable for 50 years. Families of four who make 120 percent or less of the area's median income are eligible for the subsidies.

The problem is that the Legislature has gotten fickle. Though the documentary-stamp tax last year raised $692 million for the fund, lawmakers limited to $193 million the money that could go toward the subsidized housing. The money over that cap has been raided over the years for other needs ... .

Another egregious failure is that local government's comprehensive growth plans are supposed to address affordable housing but don't.

Following another disastrous hurricane season, Florida Power & Light Co. is looking to better protect its grid against powerful storms, which is good news. But be warned, FPL is saying it wants to share the responsibility for the new and improved grid with consumers, which means expect a bill in the mailbox.

Twenty members of the Florida delegation voted in October 2002 to send troops to Iraq for one reason or another. Some believed, then, that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein housed biological, chemical and nuclear weapons. Others felt the need simply to bring Hussein's regime to an end after, they said, he killed his own people and attempted to assassinate the former President George H.W. Bush.

Three years later, however, after U.S. forces were unable to locate "weapons of mass destruction" and more than 2,000 U.S. soldiers have been killed, lawmakers are fielding calls and e-mails from angry constituents who have concerns about the increasingly unpopular war.

With a new national fundraiser and improved financial efforts at home, U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris, R-Longboat Key, hopes for substantially improved fundraising in her U.S. Senate race in the last three months of 2005.

If that happens, it could dampen continuing criticism of her - much of it in the form of off-the-record comments to reporters - from within her own Republican Party.

If not, it will suggest that the party faces problems in its goal of unseating U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Tallahassee, and the prospect of negative "coattails" from the race at the top of the 2006 election ballot.