The Political Whore

Lots of good videos to get caught up on this past week, with the DNC, McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin and primary elections. To get started, here is John McCain’s gracious and sincere message to Sen. Obama on the night of Obama’s nomination:

Vlogbrother’s introduction to Sarah Palin:

Gov. Palin on Glenn Beck, talking about “the polar bear lawsuit:”

Pat Buchanan <3 Obama’s speech:

Hotties <3 Obama:

“Democrats are devil-worshiping Satanists:”

“Jesus, Joe, why don’t you get a shovel?”

And finally, our No. 1 political video of the week:

As we await the official announcement that John McCain has picked pro-life, pro-gun, former sports reporter, former commercial fisherman, tax-cutting Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, here are a few facts about her:

• Earlier this year, she had good things to say about Barack Obama’s energy plan.
• Evangelicals are saluting her selection.
• She did inhale.
• She was featured in Vogue in February.
• She was the subject of a Draft Palin for VEEP website.
• She was dubbed the GOP’s fastest-rising star by The Weekly Standard.
• She vetoed 13 percent of the state budget to hold the line on the size of government.
• She was Miss Wasilla.
• She beat an unpopular incumbent governor to win the office two years ago.
• Bill Kristol predicted in June that Palin would be the veep.
• Palin’s oldest daughter is named Kristol Bristol. (The same name of the bay she and her husband fished.)

Heavy word is that John McCain has selected Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, a wildly popular right-winger in her state who is 44 years old.

New name for this post each day, and a new feature: I’m going to update the day’s best and breaking political stories in Tampa Bay and beyond throughout the weekday. So check back with the Daily Roundup Update box (on the right) 2, 3, even 118 times a day for new headlines. It’s not like you’re doing anything else at work or flying around the state in a private plane:

last updated: 12:10 p.m.

• Crist needs $672 million to plug budget hole.
• It’s a woman for McCain.
• And the supply-siders like her.
• Remember Rielle Hunter? John Edwards’ mistress? Former University of Tampa student? Turns out that she grew up in South Florida with a dad just as, umm, colorful as she is.
•  Has there ever been a TV camera that Gov. Charlie didn’t find a way to get in front of?
• State Rep. Luis Garcia in Denver: “Howard Dean must go.”
• Progress Energy plans 300 layoffs.
• Tampa Democrat Ana Cruz becomes part of Jamie Foxx’s entourage. Yeah, that’s how she rolls.
• Pushing Rope live blogs the speech last night.
• Sen. J.D. Alexander: Keep growing sugar on US Sugar property.
• Blast from the Past: Bartlett Park leader at the 1984 DNC.
• Olbermann rips AP’s review of Obama’s speech.

It’s so dumb that more than half of its residents believe Gov. Charlie Crist is doing a good or excellent job.

The exact number is 57 percent, according to the latest Mason-Dixon poll.

Directed by Davis Guggenheim, who directed Al Gore’s Oscar-winning An Inconvenient Truth, here’s the vid that introduced Barack Obama last night:

I’m here. Let’s rock this joint.

The good thing about having Al Gore go first is that there is nowhere for Obama to go but up.

(For those who missed last night, the speech is shown above. Take a look and let us know in comments how you think he did.)

Couldn’t afford the air fare to Denver to see Barack Obama accept his nomination tonight but want to party anyway? Here’s a few options, courtesy of the Pinellas Democratic Party:

St Pete’s Obama’08 Nomination Bash!   (click here to sign up)
 Please join us for this very exciting moment in history!  Together we will watch Senator Barack Obama accept the Democratic Presidential Nomination (live from Denver, Colorado) on one very large silver screen at the Beach Theatre. Please join the largest Nomination Watch Party in the county!

This is a FREE all ages event.  Popcorn, Hot Dogs, Pizza, Candy, Beer, Wine, Sodas – will be available for purchase.  (Please. No outside food or beverages)

Thursday, August 28 at 8 PM
Beach Theatre
315 Corey Avenue
St Pete Beach, FL 33706

Clearwater’s Obama ‘08 Nomination Party!!!  (Click here to sign up)
 Let’s All Celebrate Together! Please join us for this very exciting moment as we watch Senator Barack Obama accept the Democratic Presidential Nomination (live from Denver, Colorado). This event is for the entire family! This awesome event will take place at JJ CONCH’S ISLAND GRILL. Great food! Lots of BIG screen TV’s! And Games! This is the Party you don’t want to miss!!!!

For additional information please contact Loretta @ 727-488-9298, or lmitchell103@hotmail.com

Thursday, August 28 at 8 PM
JJ Conch’s Island Grill
18825 U. S. Highway 19 North
Clearwater, Florida 33764

In advance of the reviews of tonight’s acceptance speech, here are the reviews of Barack Obama’s 2004 convention speech:

•  An ABC News reporter is arrested trying to take pictures of the fat-cats in Denver.
• Just another sign of how effed-up this state is.
• Oh, and we’re broke, to boot.
• Developers oust two Sarasota Manatee County commissioners.
• He’s getting grumpy again.
• Another journalism innovation: news to the highest bidder.
• Gainesville and Ocala dailies merge operations.
• 15,000 scribes in Denver; half aren’t doing much.

Just a reminder, we’re taking the night off tonight from the convention open thread (how much excitement can you take, anyway?) and instead watching a replay of Mad Men on AMC HD, cuz I missed it on Sunday night.

I’ll open a thread Thursday night at 9 p.m. to catch the run-up to the main event, Barack Obama’s acceptance speech. Join us for commentary, wisecracks and various other observations.

According to the election returns map, Kevin Beckner did pretty well across the entire Hillsborough County yesterday in winning his Democratic primary and a shot at Republican incumbent Commissioner Brian Blair.

His campaign consultant says social networking media played a big role.

This from the consultant today:

Read the rest of this entry »

Quietly, behind the scenes in yesterday’s elections, there was a coup among Pinellas Democrats. The victim was party chairwoman, Toni Molinaro, who was generally credited with increasing the local party’s coffers and keeping infighting to a minimum.

Molinaro was defeated in an election in her south St. Petersburg neighborhood for precinct committeewoman by Blanche L. Ganey (described in news accounts as a church administrator and Obama supporter), by a vote of 88-40. In order to remain as chairwoman at the party’s December reorganizational meeting, Molinaro had to be an elected precinct committeewoman.

At least partially behind the back-door ouster of Molinaro was the man she replaced in 2006, former St. Pete mayoral candidate Ed Helm.

“I’m looking for new leadership,” Helm told me this afternoon.

The Pinellas Democratic Executive Committee for years has been among the most contentious and controversial in of the DEC’s in the state, with wild swings from faction. Helm’s five-month term was among the wildest, with accusations that his wife’s PAC violated elections laws and his own actions in endorsing some Democrats over others drawing the attention and censure of the state party, which withheld money from the Pinellas organization.

When she beat him out for the job, Molinaro told the St. Petersburg Times, “He alienates people, and he alienates good people.”

Looks like payback is a bitch.

Helm and his band of stalwart progressives used a little known state law that sees local political parties disbanded and reorganized every presidential election year. Only those people who signed notarized oaths during a weeklong window in June of this year could run for precinct positions that would give them a vote during the December reorganizational meeting. Not that Helm can take all the credit; the Barack Obama campaign has also been working hard to fill those precinct committeemen and committeewomen slots as part of its election strategy. The campaign had sent out at least two e-mails to local supporter alerting them to the signup procedure.

Nothing in the Obama effort, however, seemed to target Molinaro.

Helm said his dissatisfaction with Molinaro is because she didn’t recruit a full slate of Democratic challengers for the offices that were on this year’s ballot and because of a drop in precinct leaders in the party, from 350 during his term to less than 200 today. “We still aren’t doing what a good party does; recruiting good candidates and running those candidates,” Helm said.

I have not been able to reach Molinaro for comment. I’ll post it here when I do.

Democrats who work behind the scenes bemoaned the ouster.

“I’ve never seen anybody work so hard and get so much done and accomplish so much,” consultant Mitch Kates said. “If that is truly what happened, then it shows how their personal agendas are ahead of the party. That’s somebody’s personal agenda, and it’s sad.”

That leaves the Pinellas Democrats again on the verge of factionalism, just as their greatest chance for a Democratic president in eight years comes barreling toward them.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, we take pride in presenting a thoughtful address by Mr. Ronald Reagan:”

• Notice how at the 2-minute mark of the address Reagan alludes to evolution as a given?
• Fox aired just 2 minutes of Warner’s keynote speech; about 1 minute more than its viewers wanted.
•  Did the evil Don Young just barely hold onto his US Senate seat from Alaska?
• Chuck Todd tells it like it is re: Charlie Crist.
• Only one real reporter in the bunch.
• F U, AP.
• Turns out that an Orlando deputy was screwing the mother with the missing baby.
• It’s the one-year anniversary of Gonzo hitting the bricks.
• Any chance Clinton starts his speech tonight with the words, “Fuck all y’all”?

This just in from USF:

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. kicks off USF Lecture Series Sept. 4

TAMPA, Fla. (Aug. 26, 2008) – The University of South Florida’s University Lecture Series (ULS) commences with political speaker and activist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and continues with a stellar line-up featuring an eclectic range of public figures.

Kennedy will speak on the topic “Our Environmental Destiny,” Sept. 4, 7 p.m. in the new Marshall Student Center Ballroom on the Tampa campus.

Author of the 2004 Crimes Against Nature, Kennedy is a highly sought-after speaker. He serves as chief prosecuting attorney for the Hudson Riverkeeper and is president of the Waterkeeper Alliance . Both organizations seek to protect local waterways.

Other speakers during the coming academic year are:
• Dr. Drew Pinsky , Oct. 8 7 p.m. – “Loveline With Dr. Drew”
• Kelly & Becca , Oct. 21 7 p.m. – “Let’s Talk About it” (Free)
• Ben Stein , Nov. 5, 7 p.m. – “Ben Stein on Life”
• Austin Gutwein, Nov. 6, 4 p.m. – “Hoops of Hope ”
• Danny Glover & Felix Justice , Jan. 15, 2009, 7 p.m. – “An Evening with Martin and Langston”

All ULS events are free for students with a valid USF ID, alumni and faculty pay $5 with a valid ID and the general public is admitted for $10 (unless otherwise noted). Robert F. Kennedy Jr. tickets are now on sale at the Marshall Student Center Ticket Office located on the first floor of the new Marshall Center. The ticket office only accepts credit or debit, no cash or checks. For more information visit: http://uls.usf.edu/.

OK, so I have my bag of Cheetos, bottle of pain reliever and a 1.75 liter of Luksusowa, let’s rock. The keynoter is former Virginia Gov. and multimillionaire Mark Warner (not the Warner who schtupped Liz Taylor) who is running for the US Senate.

But the main feature is HRC.

So while we wait for her speech in the 10 p.m. hour, I start the ball rolling by asking: What will she say and/or what should she say?

Tonight and Thursday night I will open a thread for us to blog along with the TV coverage of the goings-on in Denver. So if you are watching and want to chime in, feel free.

Tonight it is Hillary Rodham Clinton’s turn. Will she forecefully endorse Obama? Will she be a fighter or warm and fuzzy (if that’s possible)? Will she get the job done? And if so, for whom, herself or her party’s nominee?

I will open the blogging at about 9 p.m. See you there.

Bonus cut: Tonight’s podium schedule follows the jump (remember the local times are two hours behind our EDT here in Tampa Bay) Read the rest of this entry »

Our fave former Times critic-Ronda Storms’ mockin’-coffee shop owner-former Weekly Planet contributor Gina Vivinetto takes the Newseum to task after a visit in which she found very little evidence of the alternative press. Here’s a sample:

The alternative weekly [industry] was summed up behind a glass display with exactly one cover of the Village Voice and a paragraph saying alt-weeklies were born in the turbulent 1960s to cover news outside of the mainstream press.

That’s it! It made me sad for the men and women who made their live’s work at alt-weeklies. Apparently, you weren’t really in the business of news distribution. Oops!

Damn. I feel so, well, useless now.

Of course, I am leaving aside the issue of just who in their right mind would even go to a museum devoted to the dying industry of the news.

The Democrats kicked off their four-day Obama infomercial with family night, a series of speeches aimed at humanizing Obama. The most effective was Michelle Obama’s conversational and heartfelt account of her life, especially the family aspects with her brother, a star basketball player and current coach at Oregon State, Craig Robinson.

She told the DNC audience:

As you might imagine, for Barack, running for President is nothing compared to that first game of basketball with my brother Craig.

I can’t tell you how much it means to have Craig and my mom here tonight. Like Craig, I can feel my dad looking down on us, just as I’ve felt his presence in every grace-filled moment of my life.At six-foot-six, I’ve often felt like Craig was looking down on me too…literally. But the truth is, both when we were kids and today, he wasn’t looking down on me – he was watching over me.

And he’s been there for me every step of the way since that clear February day 19 months ago, when – with little more than our faith in each other and a hunger for change – we joined my husband, Barack Obama, on the improbable journey that’s brought us to this moment.

Simple and effective, laying the groundwork to humanize Obama a bit after the mock-heroicizing of him that the McCain camp has so successfully done over the past month.

Of course, the money shot of the night was the Lion in Winter, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., who took to the convention for probably the last time. He spoke for only about seven minutes, and those (like me) who were looking for parting wisdom from Teddy were disappointed. He stuck to the Obama story arc and handed the baton to Obama, and the crowd loved it. But what an opportunity for Kennedy to make sense out of the “dream” of the New Frontier and Camelot 40 years on, as well as the legacy of liberalism. But he got the job done, and those in the hall were clearly overcome with the emotion of the moment and the Ken Burns film that introduced him:

Here’s the vid of Kennedy speaking, introduced by Caroline Kennedy:

Bonus cuts: Joe Bardi has lots more convention goodness/weirdness over at The Short List; Mark Halperin grades the speakers; Jesse Jackson Jr. impresses.

Breaking new ground for campaign tomfuckery, Team McCain impresses with its genuine concern for the plight of Democrat Hillary Clinton:

• The big Obama assassination plot unravels.
• Nobody gives a shit about the election today in Orlando.
• Nobody gives a shit about the election today in Sarasota.
• Vote today or else.
• Crazy liberal writer Cockburn: Barr’s my man!
• The cables are blowing the convention coverage.
• Pouring Gasolina on the campaign fire.
• Fla. Chamber: McCain 42 percent, Obama 39 percent in FLA
• Who better to pimp Michael Moore’s new, opportunistic election guide book than … Michael Moore!

Any chance that one of the 24-hour cable news weasels will get sucker-punched in the gut at this year’s Democratic National Convention?:

•  Our next storm?
• Sinfonian blogs from Denver.
• A sneak peek at Pelosi’s Denver speech; for the strong of stomach only.
• The swift-boating of Obama begins … literally.
• Special Interests fete Florida Dems in Denver.
• Florida Dem delegation gets lousy hotel rooms in Denver … waaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!
• Embedded in the Polk County GOP e-mail loop.
• Inside the GOP War Room in Denver.
• Johnnie Byrd’s blog is quoting Jay-Z (if misspelling his name).
• An interview with Hooters co-founder and GOP fundraiser Ed Droste.
• Channelside’s tenants hate each other … waaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!

The text message went out at 3:26 a.m. “Barack has chosen Senator Joe Biden to be our VP nominee. Watch the first Obama-Biden rally live at 3 p.m. Eastern on www.barackobama.com. Spread the word.”

We’ll have much more on the Democratic ticket on Monday.

As for that text message, the Obama campaign blew a prime opportunity. By sending the message at 3:26 a.m., they gauranteed that the recipients would almost all be asleep. Had they sent it on Friday, say right before lunch on the east coast, they would have caused a ruckus throughout offices across the country. My guess is that was the original plan, but the campaign didn’t want to knock John “I don’t know how many houses I own” McCain from the headlines.

Read the rest of this entry »

Missing your fix of Joe Bardi each morning? PoHo misses it, too, like a phantom limb. “Short List” has moved over to our new news blog, Daily Loaf.

Dubya reportedly has no plans to watch W., but after seeing this trailer for the new Oliver Stone film, you gotta wonder if anybody will have plans to watch this flick:

• Obama drops veep hints to Time; the conclusion? He will pick somebody.
• Missing White House e-mails still … missing.
• Click-through Journalism.
• Nader wants into the debates; no, that is not an 8-year-old headline.
• Orlando GOP evangelical rethinks accepting DNC invocation invitation.
• Pumpkins show was great; Pumpkins show was annoying.
• South Florida candidate drops out: “”I can’t do the backstabbing shit they do.”
• Florida goes (more) whacko: record number of perfect scores for legislators on Christian Coalition report card.
• Partying with Rachel Burgin.
• Worth the click just for the shot of the latex-clad nun.

Tampa Tribune City Hall reporter Ellen Gedalius is leaving 200 S Parker for the warm and comfy confines of politics. Ironically, she replaces Agustina Guerrero, who left for PricewaterhouseCoopers, the destination for nearly a dozen other Trib scribes.

Here’s the Castor news release:

U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor (D-FL) announced today that Tampa Tribune journalist Ellen Gedalius will serve as Castor’s new Press Secretary effective September 8, 2008.

Gedalius has a familiar byline to Tampa Bay area residents as a primary reporter on Tampa City Hall, the Hillsborough County Commission and government for The Tampa Tribune since February 2002. Gedalius also served as the Tribune’s South Tampa bureau education reporter and covered the Florida Legislature and politics, including the 2004 Florida U.S. Senate race. Her primary assignment since April 2005 has been Tampa City Hall. “Ellen Gedalius is a talented writer and communicator. Her work ethic, experience and knowledge of the Tampa Bay area will serve the community well as we advocate for a change in the direction of the country, high quality affordable health care and access to education,” noted Castor.

Before joining the Tribune, Gedalius was the county government reporter for The Courier News in Bridgewater, N.J. She has graduate and undergraduate degrees from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism with a minor in Spanish.

Castor’s former press secretary, Agustina Guerrero, joined the accounting firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers in Tampa as a Communications Senior Associate. Guerrero’s hard work, creativity and zeal for public service helped get Castor off to a strong start from her first day in Congress. “Agustina Guerrero is a true professional,” said Castor. “Her communication skills helped bring hope to our neighbors by communicating the efforts and accomplishments of the New Direction Congress and tackling the many challenges that face families today.”

Before joining Castor’s staff, Guerrero, was a reporter in her native Argentina, in Chicago, New York and with the Tampa Bay Business Journal. Guerrero also hosted programs on Bay News 9 En Espanol.

Ellen Gedalius, like her predecessor, will be based in the Tampa Bay District Office. She will begin working with Castor on September 8.

 Remember the good old days, when the presidential campaign used to be nothing but shits and giggles? Way back in Nov. 2007?

• From the Difference Between Democrats and Republicans Dep’t.: Targeted Congressman Feeney, a Republican, secretly supports the weaker Democrat in the primary. Sneaky.
•  The surest sign yet of the coming of the apocalypse: Uber-annoyer Billy Mays is getting his own reality show.
• Semi-reliable robo-poll puts McCain barely ahead in FLA.
• 13 days in August.
• From the Difference Between Democrats and Republicans Dep’t., Part 2: Jennings and Buchanan both face FEC complaints, but Jennings’ comes from someone formerly in her own party.
• Congresswoman Ginny Brown-Waite loses her husband to cancer.
• From the Difference Between Democrats and Republicans Dep’t., Part 3: The Democrat running in the seat suddenly being vacated by Trey Traviesa isn’t actually a Democrat.
• It’s official (again): e-voting sucked.

Today marks the launch of a new staff blog at CL, Daily Loaf. Wander over when you get a chance and take a look and let us know what you think. The idea is to provide you a one-stop news source for all things creative in Tampa Bay.

Our food writing from Brian Ries, formerly found in Eat My Florida, moves to Daily Loaf, as does Fix It Now civic activism blog posts from our guest bloggers Kelly Cornelius and Spencer Kass. We’ve also recruited some new guest bloggers for Daily Loaf, adding some new and interesting voices to the mix.

As part of that launch, Joe Bardi’s wonderful morning Short List moves to Daily Loaf as of this morning. He’s already let you know that, though, didn’t he?

With Joe moving, I’m going to reinstate my Morning Roundup, which will pointedly focus on political stories and angles you may have missed, plus media biz stories and fascinating reads. I will be shooting to have the Roundup online each morning by 9. Just not today.

Let me know what you think of the changes and what else you would like to see in Daily Loaf and PoHo.

You may recall that I blogged a while back about Jessie DaSilva, a Tampa Tribune intern whose blog post defending the new direction at the Tampa Tribune, as elucidated by editor Janet Coats, drew lots of praise and criticism online.

Now, a former Trib reporter who left just before that incident, Billy Townsend, has weighed in on the issue with a very thoughtful analysis of the problems of the news biz. I point this out not only because he says nice things about my piece but because he hits the nail on the head:

Mass audiences don’t pay to read content. They never have, at least not since the rise of free television.

Advertisers, who have funded the major newspapers, have never cared about journalism. They paid for the press – the means to reach a mass audience. With the rise of the web and Google, advertisers can now reach almost infinitely larger audiences with measurable, local precision. The marriage of journalism and advertising, which I think never existed, is undergoing an ugly, irreversible divorce.

I also had a chance to meet DaSilva last week at Bill McKeen’s book-signing and found her a very bright journalist. She’s headed back to Gainesville, where she will start a term as the editor in chief at the Independent Florida Alligator. I wish her good luck.

Faithful readers please note: The Short List has moved. Starting this morning, my daily roundup of news and happenings will make a new home on CL’s latest and greatest blog, The Daily Loaf. You can view today’s List here.

See you on The Daily Loaf!

Been covering politics or in it for nigh on to 25 years in Florida and I have never seen anything like last night’s candidate forum at the Metropolitan Community Church in Tampa. Don Kruse, who is running in the primary against anti-gay rights Commissioner Brian Blair, showed up to speak to a storm-dwindled audience of about 35 people at the event co-sponsored by Equality Florida.

A few days ago I asked in a blog post, “What does somebody have to do to lose newspaper endorsements to Blair?” Last night I might have received my answer.

So let me set this up: I was a panelist at the forum, along with EF Executive Director Nadine Smith and moderator Chris Krimitsos of The Bleepin’ Truth on public access. It was later in the evening that Kruse’s turn came, and he was solo on the stage, as Blair did not show up to the gay-friendly event.

So I asked the first question: Given Blair’s anti-gay record (voting against gay pride displays, criticizing the anti-bullying Day of Silence in public schools), where did Kruse stand on gay rights?

Kruse started in explaining that he wanted some enlightenment from the audience. “Educate me,” he said. Then he veered to the issue of hate crimes. Crimes are crimes, there are no distinctions of shades of right or wrong depending on the skin color or sexual orientation of the victims involved. “They are crimes against humanity,” he said.

Read the rest of this entry »

A fitting video of the arrival of Fay, a storm we in the CL Weathercenter 4000 find highly suspect. Stay dry, folks.

• A weakened Fay lands at Cape Romano as a minimal hurricane (at worst).
• The NOAA storm track predicts a hard left turn near the FL/GA border.
• Large swath of Florida under tornado a tornado warning (but not the Bay area).
• Hillsborough and Pinellas counties call off evacuations.

And in non-storm news:

• The choice is made.
  
• Tampa Bay’s water supply sure is leaky.
• College presidents rethink the drinking age.
• The Rays win again.

Fully 40 percent of the locally experienced work force there over the age of 50, reports the Times media critic Eric Deggans:

In a memo to staffers this morning, St. Petersburg Times editor, CEO and [c]hairman Paul Tash tells staffers that strong response to the company’s early retirement incentives means “we can avoid the general layoffs I warned might be coming” when the voluntary retirement offer was closed.

Tash says 200 staffers across the company, 150 full time and 50 part time, accepted the enhanced retirement benefit, or 40 percent of all staff aged 50 and up with five years’ service or more.

Today’s feature presentation: Baracky II. (Which somehow uses Rocky III as its inspiration, skipping Rocky II entirely.)

• The latest on Fay.
• Down goes Pakistan’s Gen. Pervez Musharraf.
• Who’s it gonna be for V.P.?
• The candidates give their opinion on how much income makes you “rich”? Obama: $250,000. McCain: $5 million.
• Obama rakes in $51 million in July.
• Did McCain rip off one of his prison camp anecdotes?
• R.I.P. Jerry Wexler.
• The Bucs beat down the Patties.

Charles McKenzie is a Democrat trying to unseat brand-new state Rep. Darryl Rouson in District 55, including St. Pete south of Central and parts of Bradenton, Sarasota and Hillsborough, and logged three new endorsements today.

This from the campaign:

Three additional civil rights organizations have announced their support of Charles S. McKenzie, Jr. in the House District 55 race.  The Florida Chapter of the National Organization for Women (NOW PAC), Equality Florida PAC and the Suncoast Stonewall Democrats have announced their support of McKenzie.  McKenzie was also endorsed by the Stonewall Democrats of Pinellas County a few weeks ago.  These endorsements come on the heels of two large newspaper endorsements this past week, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

In their recommendation of McKenzie, the Tampa Tribune praised McKenzie’s record of community activism and his service in defense of civil rights.   According to the Tampa Tribune recommendation, “McKenzie has an impressive civil rights resume.”

Upon hearing news of the endorsements, McKenzie said, “My life has been committed to protecting civil rights and rooting out discrimination wherever it exists.  I do not believe the law should ever discriminate against anyone and I will work to see that all people are treated fairly and with dignity and respect in the eyes of the law.”

Cut Taxes Now, the anti-tax effort fronted by St. Pete neurosurgeon David McKalip, has issued a “Final Report” wrapping up its efforts to put tax-cutting referenda on the ballot. McKalip writes:

It is a bittersweet moment for me and for Cut Taxes Now.  In August of 2006, a small number of fed up taxpayers met in the City Council Chamber of St. Petersburg.  We quickly grew into a new grassroots organization that joined with others around the state to work for smaller government and lower taxes.  Today, it is time to close one chapter and begin a new one.  Cut Taxes Now is officially disbanded as an organization.  The www.CutTaxesNow.com website will remain open for a month or two so anyone who likes can copy the files and research freely and use in any way.  This it the last email from Cut Taxes Now.

Full text after the jump:

Read the rest of this entry »

Obama does a little social work, helping care for — and foster a sense of community in — a certain elderly gentleman. Have a good weekend everyone.

• Welcome back Cold War. We apparently missed you.
• Obama camp swings back hard at The Obama Nation author Jerome Corsi.
• Despite being less popular than a smallpox outbreak, President Bush can still rake in the cash.
• Cable companies turn to the McCain campaign to hand them full control of the Internet after the election.
• Peter Pan hauled off in cuffs!
• At Oakland, The Rays pull out a 7-6 win in the 12th.
• Donald Trump (!) comes to Ed McMahon’s rescue.
• Sorry kids, Harry Potter’s next big screen adventure has been bumped to 2009.