By Peter Schorsch
PoHo contributor
Peter Schorsch is a political consultant and writes St. Petersblog 2.0.
Just getting caught up on the elections returns in some of the smaller local cities from last week’s balloting. Voters re-elected incumbents in Belleair, Belleair Bluffs and Indian Rocks Beach.
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By Peter Schorsch
PoHo contributor
Peter Schorsch is a political consultant and writes St. Petersblog 2.0.
You may not have known it was Election Day on Tuesday by the low number of voters who headed to the polls, but there were several important municipal positions up for grabs in Dunedin, Kenneth City, Safety Harbor, Seminole and several other Pinellas towns.
“County Election,” by George Bingham
“Let each citizen remember at the moment he is offering his vote that he is not making a present or a compliment to please an individual — or at least that he ought not so to do; but that he is executing one of the most solemn trusts in human society for which he is accountable to God and his country.”
That quote is some pretty heady stuff from Mr. Samuel Adams (who, I believe, fought the British for the right to distribute Octoberfest beer here in America), and it may be a little over-the-top for such provincial matters as elections in Gulfport, Dunedin, Safety Harbor, Seminole and other Pinellas beachcombers, but elections have consequences, even small-town races for mayor or city commissioner. So I urge any gentle reader of this blog who lives in a city with an election today to not only head to the polls themselves, but to bring at least one friend with them so they may cast their own ballot.
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The last two months have been rather gloomy times for term-limited St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker. First, it was the news that Alex Sink would not run for the U.S Senate, thereby keeping the CFO position to herself. Then it was Bill McCollum passing on a senate bid to stay on as Attorney General. All the while, every city council member since Connie Kone served popped-in to City Hall to measure the drapes in your office.
For Hizzoner, it’s like what any bartender will tell you at closing time, ‘You don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here.’ Fortunately for Baker, Charlie Crist may be ready to throw him an after-party. Read the rest of this entry »
Watching Rush Limbaugh’s address to CPAC on Sunday, I couldn’t figure out at first who he reminded me of. That morning, I had watched Karl Rove get owned by Katrina Vanden Heuvel on This Week and, for a moment, I saw a similarity between the two Republicans … the protruding foreheads, the same doughy skin, the similar anti-everything rhetoric. You’ll have to pardon me for mistaking the two. Except Limbaugh is a much larger man, and in that black-on-black wardrobe he wore at CPAC and with his larger-than-life mannerisms, Limbaugh reminded me of Orson Welles in Citizen Kane.
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By Peter Schorsch
PoHo contributor
Peter Schorsch is a political consultant and writes St. Petersblog 2.0.
I just returned from mass and taking part in Ash Wednesday. It was uplifiting to see so many of my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ take a moment out of their busy day to attend afternoon services. If only so many people would show up for the twelve o’ clock mass on the other 364 days out of the year.
My receding hairline on Ash Wednesday.
But that kind of holier-than-thou sentiment reminds me, first, to humble myself, and, secondly, of a statistic I once read. It said that while 140 million Americans watch some part of the Super Bowl, more than 180 million put on the Sunday Best for Easter services.
According to Wiki, Ash Wednesday gets its name from the practice of placing ashes on the foreheads of the faithful as a sign of repentance. The ashes used are gathered after the Palm Crosses from the previous year’s Palm Sunday are burned. In the liturgical practice of some churches, the ashes are mixed with the Oil of the Catechumens (one of the sacred oils used to anoint those about to be baptized), though some churches use ordinary oil. This paste is used by the priest who presides at the service to make the sign of the cross, first upon his own forehead and then on each of those present who kneel before him at the altar rail. As he does so, he recites the words: “Remember (O man) that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
One of the most important aspects of the Lenten season is sacrificing something that you really care about as a sign of your devotion. Not that kind of sacrifice! More like not eating chocolate for forty days.
So what am I giving up for Lent this year?
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By Peter Schorsch
PoHo contributor
Peter Schorsch is a political consultant and writes St. Petersblog 2.0.
There is a mis-editorial in yesterday’s St. Petersburg Times claiming that early, mail-in voting is causing frustration in several municipal elections in Pinellas County:
Some candidates were surprised, too. Local election campaigns don’t typically kick into high gear until about six weeks before Election Day. But in mid-January candidates, started hearing from residents who had ballots and were frustrated that they had seen no information about the people running for office. Candidates scrambled to try to connect with those voters, and in some cases had to order more campaign materials — and incur extra costs — for a campaign season that grew by weeks.
I’m sorry but if the only frustration with Supervisor of Election Deborah Clark’s promotion of voting by mail is with candidates caught off guard by early balloting, then spare me the hand-wringing. Serious candidates for local office should hire political consultants and staff knowledgeable enough to help prepare them for the accelerated election calendar.
By Peter Schorsch
PoHo contributor
Peter Schorsch is a political consultant and writes St. Petersblog 2.0.
Two of my passions are gourmet food and politics. When I’m not walking door-to-door for a candidate, I’m in front of a stove or near a wine bin or doing something otherwise epicurean. So the fundraising event for a candidate running in Dunedin I recently attended was a real McFlurry, a seemingly contradictory juxtaposition that comes out wonderfully by the time you’re finished. Read the rest of this entry »
By Peter Schorsch
PoHo contributor
Bracketology for Mayoral Madness
It’s a month earlier than college basketball’s March Madness, but with both Rick Kriseman and Ken Welch deciding this week not to run for mayor of St. Petersburg, political observers are now left with a much clearer “playoff picture.” The race is still in the first round, but the paths to victory for some candidates are now better defined.
In my analysis, I thought only either Deveron Gibbons or Ken Welch could move forward by consolidating the African-American vote. Although it may be passe to view the black vote in such monolithic terms, Gibbons is now the default leader of an entire voting bloc.
The other big winner this week was Jamie Bennett (disclosure: I am a volunteer on Jamie’s campaign). With Kriseman’s withdrawl, Bennett was ceded a huge swath of political geography in the south and west districts of St. Petersburg. More importantly, he is now the standard-bearer for the city’s Democrat and progressive voters. And don’t discount the fact that he is also the only candidates still in office. Read the rest of this entry »
When Disraeli said, “there are lies, damn lies and statistics,” he must have been referring to crime statistics, because if there is one set of numbers that are just outright lies, it’s the bullshit the St. Pete Police Department feeds us about crime being up or down. Read the rest of this entry »
He is the popular mayor of the fourth-largest city in the fourth largest state with a proven record of achievement and yet Rick Baker may have hit the ceiling as far as his political career is concerned. With Bill McCollum announcing that he will not run for the US Senate – thereby guaranteeing a bid for re-election as Florida’s attorney general — and Alex Sink’s decision to remain as CFO, Baker now finds himself without an open office for which to run. Read the rest of this entry »
By Peter Schorsch
PoHo contributor
Not only is it light years away from November 2010, but the prospect of another grueling campaign in Florida — this time to replace Mel Martinez in the U.S. Senate — has yet to excite me. I’m obviously not alone in this feeling either, as the two biggest names in both parties, Jeb Bush and Alex Sink, decided not to run for the seat. That leaves both sides of the aisle with candidates for whom the word ’senatorial’ does not immediately come to mind.
Allen Boyd? He just doesn’t scream Daniel Patrick Moynihan to me. Florida’s congressional delegation is already weak enough relative to the other large states, such as California and none of the expected contenders are likely to change that. Bill McCollum? He tried to impeach Bill Clinton! Now we’re going to reward him with a membership in the most exclusive political body in the history of the Western world? Read the rest of this entry »
