"The true Republican"?

"House Speaker Marco Rubio is the only powerful politician in Florida consistently challenging Crist's middle-of-the-road, let's-all-get-along agenda. By his words and actions, Rubio makes it clear that he believes that he - not Crist - is the true Republican." "Rubio duels with Crist".




Sea cows

"Florida officials can claim significant gains in protecting the endangered and beloved manatee. Yet it boggles the imagination to think that the gentle mammal, with fewer than 2,500 adults left in the wild and increasing mortality rates, is out of danger." "Saving the manatee". See also "Manatee's downlisting, up again for a vote, must not happen" and "Keep protecting manatees".




Gambling

"Crist appears to have scored a financial touchdown, but the Legislature is challenging the play. House Speaker Marco Rubio says Crist stepped over the line when he negotiated a gambling tax to be paid by the state's tribal casinos. Crist should back down and send the Legislature the plan for ratification. He shouldn't wait to be ordered to do so by the Florida Supreme Court, to which Rubio has appealed. Once the wrangling stops, the focus will return to the substance of the deal. Crist negotiated well, to the benefit of taxpayers and the tribes. There's a chance lawmakers will spoil Crist's work just to appear tough on gambling. That's a risk Crist must take. He is, after all, managing a democracy, not a private company." "Political Quibbles On Gambling Threaten Loss For State Treasury".




Whatever

"If House Speaker Marco Rubio ever runs for higher office, he won't be the first politician to ride the populist wave of a citizen tax revolt. " "Rubio gets behind tax reform drive".




"Pay no attention"

"For Florida's private property insurers, profit went up again this year. But pay no attention. That was the message last week from an economist for the Insurance Information Institute, a trade group." "Insurance 'profit'? No way".




Sex offenders

"The Georgia Supreme Court struck down that state's law restricting where sex offenders can live, providing at least a small bit of sanity in a debate that - as we've seen in Florida - often finds emotion crowding out good sense." "State sex-offender policy gets out-of-state backing".




"There goes the neighborhood"

"Well, there goes the neighborhood. No, really, in the next few years, state government is moving. Not all of it, of course, but a significant part of Tallahassee's main reason for being more than an exit on I-10 will soon get out of town." "Downtown changes as government packs up".




Banana Rebublicans

"The rules of the Republican straw poll at Wednesday's CNN/YouTube debate were simple: Buy a ticket for $20 a pop and vote for your favorite candidate. The money would benefit local Republican parties."

Yet when hundreds of Ron Paul supporters arrived by trolley and shuttle, dominating the estimated 1,000 or so guests at the Vinoy Park fundraiser, the event quickly became a heated contest between Paul's people and Mitt Romney supporters.

At stake? The very integrity of the democratic process, to hear some tell it.

Lined up at the voting machines, Paul supporters flaunted their single tickets and pledged to vote only once.

Meanwhile, some Romney supporters openly admitted to using rolls of tickets to vote multiple times. Romney won the poll with 893 votes, while Paul finished with 534. The rest of the candidates weren't even close; Giuliani came in third with 39.

It was all caught on tape, and the local Paul supporters rushed to share their complaints with the rest of the world.

"Straw poll has some in snit".




Mitt

"With 32 days before the Iowa caucus, Romney continues to trail Giuliani. In Florida, where Romney lags Giuliani by double digits, he is fighting with Thompson and Mike Huckabee for second place -- despite spending more money and making more appearances here early on than any candidate. Romney is leading in Iowa and New Hampshire, although some Iowa polls now show Huckabee is on his heels." "Romney gets some help from his family as wife and sons hit campaign trail".




Local delegations

"Upcoming: Legislative delegations hold annual meetings". More: "A little lost in the Thanksgiving rush was the passing of leadership in Miami-Dade's legislative delegation. On Nov. 20, lawmakers tapped Reps. Juan Zapata as chairman and Luis Garcia as vice chairman." "Miami-Dade delegation has new leader".




Nukes

"Managers of the national park that abuts Turkey Point power plant want Miami-Dade County to pause before a vote on approving two more nuclear reactors." "Environmentalists: Delay vote on nuclear reactors".