White House comes to Tampa for Hispanic outreach

Posted Feb 1, 2012 by William March

Updated Feb 2, 2012 at 11:11 AM

President Barack Obama’s attempts to connect with Hispanic voters, who were partly responsible for his election in 2008, will come to Tampa Friday.

The White House will hold an Hispanic Community Action Summit at the University of Tampa, including “senior administration officials,” to discuss issues with Hispanic community leaders, according to an invitation for the event.

It says the event, from 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m. at the University of Tampa’s Vaughn Center, is free and open to the public.

It will include business and community leaders to discuss issues important to the Hispanic community—“an innovative open space dialogue where participants work together to define the agenda and shape outcomes.”

Obama won Hispanic voters by a large margin in 2008 but has since lost ground among them, largely because of the poor economy.

The event is part of a series of such meetings in The Administration will hold Hispanic community action summits in Phoenix, Tucson, Elyria, Ohio; and San Antonio in the coming weeks.

Attendees will include Frank Sanchez of Tampa, undersecretary of commerce for international trade.

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Hasner announces campaign switch

Posted Feb 1, 2012 by William March

Updated Feb 1, 2012 at 05:53 PM

Adam Hasner has made it official, announcing he’ll leave the U.S. Senate race and run for the U.S. House from the 22nd District instead.

Hasner’s move is the result of a series of falling dominoes involving U.S. Reps. Allen West and Tom Rooney.

West, who currently represents District 22—even though he doesn’t live there—is going to run for the new 18th district being created in the state Legislature’s redistricting. That’s because District 22 will get more Democratic under the redistricting plan.

Much of the new 18th District consists of the old 16th District, which is essentially cut in half in the redistricting plan, and has been represented by Tom Rooney. Rooney has announced he’ll run in the new District 17—unless the district map changes signficantly in the courts.

In the Senate race, the net effect is to leave the Republican primary a contest between Rep. Connie Mack IV of Fort Myers, and George LeMieux, with Mike McCalister the dark horse, who hasn’t been able to get traction so far in the primary.

The change only solidifies Mack’s position as frontrunner in part because of the name recognition he inherits from his father, former Sen. Connie Mack III, and in part because of LeMieux’s need to overcome his long association with former Gov. Charlie Crist.

Earlier this week, another comparatively little-known candidate, Craig Miller, former head of the Ruth’s Chris steak house chain, announced he’ll also leave the Senate race to run for the House in the new District 7, on the east coast from St. John’s to Putnam counties.

The reaction from LeMieux: “The US Senate race is now in clearer focus.  Connie Mack Jr. (meaning Connie Mack IV) currently leads in the polls but there is no doubt his lead stems entirely from having a well known name, inherited from his respected father and great-grandfather.”

He added, “Florida Republicans deserve a campaign, not a coronation. ... There is too much at stake to simply hand the Senate seat over to someone with a famous last name.

 

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Oops! Burgin leaves ALEC fingerprint on bill

Posted Feb 1, 2012 by William March

Updated Feb 1, 2012 at 04:32 PM

Most legislators aren’t eager to have it known when their legislative initiatives are dictated by an outside group, including the American Legislative Exchange Council, a well-funded, conservative business advocacy group.

ALEC courts state lawmakers with deluxe conferences and seeks to get conservative legislation passed in state legislatures around the country.

But when state Rep. Rachel Burgin of Riverview filed a bill in November, she accidentally left a clue in the text of the bill.

The bill is a resolution by the Legislature asking Congress to cut corporate tax rates. If passed, its only effect would be to put the state GOP-dominated Florida Legislature on record favoring the move.

When Burgin filed the bill as House Memorial 685 on Nov. 16, it included an opening paragraph that didn’t belong there: “Whereas it is the mission of the American Legislative Exchange Council to advance Jeffersonian principles of free markets, limited government, federalism, and individual liberty ... .” That’s a sentence attached to ALEC’s legislative proposals, which they distribute to lawmaker-members.

Burgin quickly withdrew the bill Nov. 17 and refiled it the next day as HM 717—identical, but without the ALEC fingerprint paragraph.

Burgin said she’s a member of ALEC, went to an ALEC conference last year in New Orleans, and is on the group’s tax policy committee.

“I have no qualms whatever about ALEC‘s model legislation,” she said. “I think they did a fine job.” She said she can’t think of any other ALEC-produced legislation she’s filed, but “concepts I’ve worked on may have come from them,” and noted that many organizations produce model legislation.

“I don’t know why it’s a big deal,” she said.

Democrats say ALEC was the source of more controversial Florida legislation passed last year limiting early voting hours, imposing strict requirements on voter registration drives and making it harder for voters to cast ballots if they have address or name changes.

Democrats say those changes were aimed at cutting the 2012 turnout of minorities, who use early voting heavily; and young voters and women, who tend to have address and name changes.

More than a dozen other states have passed similar new voting restrictions recently, measures known to be favored by ALEC. U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson has called for Congressional and Justice Department investigations over whether this amounts to a conspiracy to violate voting rights.

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Q poll: Gingrich surging in Fla since SC primary

Posted Jan 25, 2012 by William March

Updated Jan 25, 2012 at 10:49 AM

A new Quinnipiac University poll shows Newt Gingrich in a statistical tie with Mitt Romney among Republican voters in Florida, all but wiping out Romney’s former 12-point lead.

The numbers: Romney, 36 percent, Gingrich 34 percent, Rick Santorum 13 percent, Ron Paul 10 percent, someone else/don’t know, 8 percent. That’s from a sample of 601 likely GOP primary voters with a 4-point error margin, so Romney’s 2-point lead isn’t statistically significant, and Quinnipiac pollster Peter Brown called it “a dead heat.”

In a Jan. 9 installment of the Quinnipiac poll, Romney led with 36 percent to Gingrich’s 24 percent.

But the effect of Gingrich’s South Carolina win may have been even more dramatic than the change suggests.

The new poll was done Jan. 19-23, while the South Carolina primary was on Jan. 21—and Brown noted that Gingrich led by 40-34 percent among those respondents reached after the South Carolina primary. That resuilt, in a smaller sample, would have a higher error margin.

Gingrich also led 43-30 percent, again with a higher error margin, among those who describe themselves as white, born-again evangelicals.

It’s the third poll in three days showing dramatic movement by Gingrich.

A Public Policy Polling survey released Monday showed Gingrich with a 5-point lead on a 3.2-point error margin, and a poll by Cherry Communications for the Florida Chamber of Commerce Tuesday showed the two in a virtual dead heat—Romney 33.1 percent and Gingrich, 32.9 percent.

You can see the full results of the new Quinnipiac poll here.

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Chamber poll: Gingrich, Romney tied

Posted Jan 24, 2012 by William March

Updated Jan 24, 2012 at 04:11 PM

A new poll by the Florida Chamber of Commerce shows Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney in a tie among Florida voters in the primary race, with Rick Santorum and Ron Paul a distant third and fourth.

The numbers: Romney, 33.1 percent; Gingrich, 32.9 percent; Santorum 10.3 percent and Ron Paul, 6.1 percent.

Romney, however, led narrowly when voters were asked whether they had a favorable or unfavorable impression of him, as 65 percent said they had either favorable or unfavorable opinions, compared to 60 percent for Gingrich.

The poll by Cherry Communications sampled 504 registered Republicans Jan, 22-23, with a 4.4-point error margin.

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