By Catherine Durkin Robinson
PoHo contributor Catherine Durkin Robinson is a “feminist mother of twins” and a political blogger, working under the title Out in Left Field.
Muslims, African-Americans, poor people, homosexuals and other targets of discrimination — listen up:
Here’s how you beat bigotry with some style.
How many of you are familiar with the story of the Irish? It ain’t about green beer (oh the horror), corned beef and cabbage.
What is it about, you ask? What did we celebrating yesterday?
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Mar. 9, 2009, at 12:03 pm
Jennifer Stone-Anderson called Friday in a near panic. For those who don’t recall, she is the Tampa Bay artist who covered her 2004 Saturn Ion with her own art depicting Barack Obama, his agenda and hope. She’s behind in her car payments and is trying to sell the Obama Car, which I wrote about back in October:
The south St. Petersburg resident showed off her rolling campaign ad in our parking lot today, pointing out the giant globe that’s really a lit-fuse bomb; Arlington National Cemetery (”where our soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan are buried”); a pink ribbon for breast cancer awareness; and the admonition to recycle (curbside or otherwise) in St. Pete but not to “recycle Bush-McCain.”
Stone-Anderson said she painted the white Ion with acrylics she had leftover at home, on and off, weather permitting, for two months.
But her attempts to sell the Obama Car aren’t meeting with much success. She put it up for auction on eBay and got only one bid. For 99 cents. It cost her $60 to list it, she says.
The problem? She isn’t really selling a car, in her way of seeing it. She’s selling her artistic creation on the car.
“People are looking at the car, and I’m looking at the art,” says Stone-Anderson.
She won’t name her price but asked interested buyers to contact her (ASAP!) at twentyfivecats@yahoo.com.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Mar. 9, 2009, at 7:08 am
For those who missed it over on Daily Loaf last week, Michael Jackson has announced a comeback/curtain call concert tour. I only watched the video to see if his nose would fall off during the press conference.
Never underestimate the lengths to which an overworked, overstressed mother of twins will go to get out of the house.
Creative Loafing has a new website and I’m one of their contributing writers. They invited me to their launch party and I thought it’d be fun.
That’s what I get for thinking.
I put on my hot mama jeans, did my hair, and even applied some goddamn makeup. One of my favorite Republicans, Jim Johnson, said he’d meet me there so I stuck the boys with my mom for the evening and took off for South Tampa.
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. Read the rest of this entry »
By Catherine Durkin Robinson
PoHo contributor Catherine Durkin Robinson is a “feminist mother of twins” and a political blogger, working under the title Out in Left Field.
I’ve read all the arguments about Nadya Suleman’s story – welfare mom giving birth to eight children when she has six of her own back home – and the national outrage associated with it.
Some of the arguments lead to other arguments. I’ve talked with women who have used IVF successfully and yet feel free to say that other women should be banned due to socio-economic factors.
So I asked if Nadya Suleman should have used selective reduction, a medical procedure where a doctor reduces higher-order multiples to a more manageable number, usually two.
Although, I’m here to tell you, two ain’t always so manageable.
But I digress.
These IVF moms, who consider themselves pro-life, are quick to say that abortion, no matter how it’s phrased, should not be an option.
At that point, such women get confused and then usually drop the subject.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Feb. 27, 2009, at 5:29 pm
Undoubtedly his resignation letter cited wanting to “spend more time with God,” but Focus on the Family evangelical leader James Dobson has stepped down.
Hold off on the celebration: he’s not leaving the anti-everything-fun organization, just shucking some duties so he can no doubt be more destructive to personal liberties in America.
Dobson, 72, will continue to host Focus on the Family’s flagship radio program, write a monthly newsletter and speak out on moral issues, Daly said.
Dobson’s resignation as board chairman “lessens his administrative burden” and is the latest step in a succession plan, the group said. Dobson began relinquishing control six years ago by stepping down as president and CEO.
“One of the common errors of founder-presidents is to hold to the reins of leadership too long, thereby preventing the next generation from being prepared for executive authority,” Dobson said in a statement. “… Though letting go is difficult after three decades of intensive labor, it is the wise thing to do.”
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Feb. 22, 2009, at 2:27 pm
Today brings a break in the 2001 Chandra Levy murder case. You remember, the Hill intern for then-Congressman Gary Condit, who was suspected of killing his secret lover and dumping her body in a D.C. park.
Now, it turns out it was a different scumbag who did it. This from the AP:
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Feb. 18, 2009, at 9:37 am
The answer would seem to be: Hail Yeah!
From the AP: “Japanese Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa’s resigned Tuesday after a seemingly drunken performance at a recent G-7 summit in Rome. Video footage of his final press conference shows the 55-year-old confused, drowsy and slurring his speech.”
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Feb. 17, 2009, at 7:14 am
A wrongful-death lawsuit blames the Church of Scientology and its Clearwater-based Flag Service Organization for the 2007 suicide of Kyle Thomas Brennan.
The lawsuit claims the 20-year-old fatally shot himself while visiting his father in Clearwater.
More details and download the full lawsuit after the jump:
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Feb. 11, 2009, at 8:40 am
It was just a matter of time. Because, despite what common sense might tell us fun-loving guys, you can be buddies with a stripper, loan her lots of money and take trips across the country to see her AND be a federal district judge at the same time.
Thomas Stringer resigned his post yesterday, as he faced a judicial inquiry into the relationship and its related finances.
If Stringer was found to have helped exotic dancer Christy Yamanaka hide assets from creditors, he could have lost his post, the commission said.
The commission’s six-page filing from the commission came after News Channel 8 and The Tampa Tribune outlined Stringer and Yamanaka’s financial dealings last year.
According to the six-page report:
*Stringer opened bank accounts in his name and the name of a friend of Yamanaka’s to hide assets and income from 2004 to 2007, when she was obligated to pay two creditors about $315,000 plus interest.
*He allowed himself to be listed as the sole titleholder of a house in Hawaii purchased with Yamanaka’s money to hide her interest in the property from creditors.
*He allowed Yamanaka to use bank accounts in his name to make large cash deposits and transfer money to other accounts.
What’s up with Pope Benedict? While I was in Atlanta last week, Dude went and took a giant step to the right. He welcomed back into the fold a few crazies who organize under “the Society of St. Pius X.” This is a society of pissed-off Catholics (read: Mel Gibson’s heroes), angry about the reforms brought under Vatican II.
What were the offensive reforms that took place back in the 1960s? Vatican II changed mass from Latin to English and absolved Jews of that whole Christ-killing nonsense.
Right. That’s about it.
A bunch of wingnuts freaked the f*ck out and were excommunicated. Until now. Pope Benedict XVI brought them back. One such prodigal son is Richard Williamson, a bishop who believes the Holocaust didn’t really happen and American politicians planned 9/11 in order to justify going after the Arab world. (His blog here.)
As HuffPo points out, Wall Street apparently has no problem with not paying taxes (Geithner) while the medical establishment was gunning for Daschle because of his views on health-care reform:
Of course Daschle should have been more careful and concurrently paid the more than $100,000 he owed in taxes for the use of a car and driver. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner should also have known that he owed the IRS $34,000 in back taxes when he worked for the International Monetary Fund from 2001 to 2004. The question is why is Geithner, who now oversees the IRS, confirmed as Treasury Secretary and Daschle out as ObamaCare cheiftain?
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Jan. 29, 2009, at 6:14 pm
Our favorite indicted, removed-from-office-on-Thursday governor, Illinois’ Rod Blagojevich, is a uniquely Chicago phenomenon. So why does so much of his back story take place in Tampa?
It turns out that Blago’s family, a friend’s campaign money, his publicist and even the former governor himself all — at some point — spent time in the Cigar City. (Blago did a stretch at the University of Tampa in the 1970s. But more about that later.)
Robert Blagojevich, left, at the UT 2008 commencement. (University of Tampa)
The most recent Tampa-factoid in the Blago saga emerged in the past two weeks, as the Illinois Senate prepped for his impeachment trial and new tapes came out detailing various cell phone conversations by the governor and his associates. Blagojevich had quite a cast of characters surrounding him, including one named Betty Loren Maltese, who was once the mayor of Cicero, Ill., and is now in prison. ABC 7 in Chicago reported:
For more than two years, Maltese’ bulging campaign fund had invested millions of dollars through a company headquartered in Tampa, Florida, the firm Invest Financial Corporation. Its CEO at the time was Robert Blagojevich, the governor’s older brother.
Former Rep. Dick Armey was scolded after losing his cool during an appearance on Hardball last night, where he told Salon editor in chief Joan Walsh he’s “so damn glad” she isn’t his wife.
Walsh and Armey were in a heated debate about the relevance of Rush Limbaugh in the GOP.
“I am so damn glad that you could never be my wife, ’cause I surely wouldn’t have to listen to that prattle from you every day,” Armey said.
“Well, that makes two of us,” Walsh shot back.
New York Times columnist Bob Herbert, waiting off camera for an appearance, later said on-air: “Dick Armey was so far out of line in the last segment with his sexist comments, and he owes Joan Walsh and your viewers an apology.”
Matthews later apologized on behalf of the former House Majority Leader, and said the comments were “overboard.”
Posted by David Warner on Jan. 23, 2009, at 7:55 am
ABC Action News reports that Marion Lambert’s pet project, that huge, controversial Confederate flag at I-4 and I-75, has been refurbished and is due to be hoisted today at 2 p.m. Landscaping for the surrounding park area is near completion. Thanks, Marion, for making your flag nice and pretty for our Super Bowl guests — and, of course, national TV coverage.
See past CL coverage of Lambert and his flag here.
Below is the full 17-minute version of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I have a dream” speech from the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, Aug. 28, 1963 from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Jan. 16, 2009, at 12:24 pm
A federal judge in Alexandria, Va., has dealt another blow to Sami Al-Arian’s quest to leave the country that has treated him like shit. From the AP:
Former University of South Florida professor Sami Al-Arian is charged with contempt after refusing to testify to a federal grand jury about a cluster of Muslim organizations in northern Virginia, even though he’d been given immunity for his testimony.
Defense lawyers say Al-Arian is being unfairly singled out and that prosecutors had improperly drafted the paperwork compelling Al-Arian’s testimony.
At a hearing Friday, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema rejected the defense arguments and set a March 9 trial date.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Dec. 30, 2008, at 7:00 am
Here’s Nos. 3 & 4 on our countdown. Tina Fey could have comprised an entire Top 10 list with her imitation of Sarah Palin, but this was our fave, with guest Will Ferrell. The best political video of 2008 will be on this blog tomorrow, New Year’s Eve.
4. Joe the Plumber
3. SNL: Tina Fey as Sarah Palin, Will Ferrell as an endorsing President Bush
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Dec. 28, 2008, at 7:00 am
I started the Top 10 countdown on Friday, and the No. 7 video shows a bit of frustration between Keith Olbermann and conservative Joe Scarborough. Check back daily for the rest of the Top 10 as I unveil the No. 1 political video of 2008 on New Year’s Eve:
7. Keith Olbermann to Joe Scarborough: Get a shovel
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Dec. 27, 2008, at 12:01 am
I started the Top 10 countdown on Friday, and today’s installment bring us No. 8. Check back daily for the rest of the Top 10 as I unveil the No. 1 political video of 2008 on New Year’s Eve:
8. Amy Goodman of Democracy Now being arrested at Republican National Convention
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Dec. 19, 2008, at 1:09 pm
For those Howard Stern listeners (and yes, I count myself among them), you won’t have to worry about hearing the mock histrionics of Bubba the Love Sponge’s contract negotiations any more. The Tampa Bay Business Journal’s Michael Hinman reports that Bubba has re-signed for another tour of duty on Howard 101 in the afternoons:
Despite expanding his terrestrial show into additional markets, Todd Clem — better known as radio personality Bubba the Love Sponge — has signed a two-year agreement to remain at Sirius XM Radio.
Clem joined the satellite channel — previously known as Sirius Satellite Radio before its merger with XM Satellite Radio last July — in 2005, joining “shock jock” Howard Stern with an afternoon show airing on Howard 101.
Terms were not disclosed, but Clem’s deal will help him reach a far larger audience than he had previously. With the creation of Sirius XM (NASDAQ: SIRI), Clem’s show is now available to XM subscribers through the “Best of Sirius” package and now reaches nearly 19 million subscribers.
For those not familar with him, here’s Bubba, the Trailer:
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Dec. 17, 2008, at 12:19 pm
From the TCPalm website (which covers small dailies down in Stuart and Port St. Lucie):
Port St. Lucie police seek warrant for alleged beater of genital smeller
The story, by a reporter I met back in the 1980s when he was a grad student at UF, tells a sordid tale of suspected infidelity, genital CSI’ing and (finally) violence:
PORT ST. LUCIE — Police are seeking an arrest warrant for a man accused of hitting his wife after she asked to smell his penis to determine whether he was cheating with another woman, according to a police report released Wednesday.
The 37-year-old victim told investigators her husband of three years punched her face and kicked her arms and legs Monday night after she accused him of having an affair.
The victim said she told her 25-year-old husband as he used the restroom “to display his penis to her so that she can smell it,” the report states.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Nov. 28, 2008, at 11:59 am
This from the local chapter of the Sierra Club:
The Tampa Bay Sierra Club is proud to announce that Tampa City Council member Linda Saul-Sena is being awarded the prestigious 2008 Black Bear Award, the group’s highest honor.
The award will be presented at the club’s holiday party on Weds. Dec. 10 from 7 to 11 p.m. at Latam restaurant at the historic Centro Asturiano in Ybor City. Ms. Saul-Sena will be present to accept the award during a brief ceremony at 8:30 p.m. The party will include heavy hors d’oeurves of traditional Spanish foods, live entertainment, a short awards banquet and a silent auction fund-raiser.
Linda Saul-Sena is being honored for her longtime support of Sierra Club goals and initiatives for the betterment of Tampa and the environment. She has served on the Tampa City Council since 1987 and has been a solid supporter of establishing sustainable practices for a greener and healthier community.
Her initiatives include developing a city tree ordinance, establishing a light rail plan, creating a River Roundtable and Preservation Roundtable, establishing livable roadways and a utilities task force, refurbishing Sulpher Springs Tower and Park, and many other improvements for our community. She is a strong advocate for mass transit, a longtime member of the Metropolitan Planning Organization and an avid supporter of the arts.
This gala is open to the public; a donation of $5-$10 is kindly requested at the door. A cash bar will be available and a DJ will be serving up some dance music. Centro Asturiano is located at 1913 N. Nebraska at the corner of Palm Avenue in the heart of Ybor City. Latam’s is on the lower level; doors open at 7 p.m. Gated and secure parking is adjacent to the building, enter from Nebraska Ave.
For more information, call the Tampa Bay Sierra Club at (727) 797-6261.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Nov. 26, 2008, at 4:13 pm
Here’s my column from this week’s print edition of CL. Happy Thanksgiving to you all:
It’s time to give thanks.
Enough with the things we hate: the recession and mindless campaign commercials and cash-strapped schools and unceasing cries to blindly cut taxes and congressional sex scandals. (Actually, I’m very grateful for congressional sex scandals.)
As we prepare for the holiday season, I feel grateful.
I’m grateful to have a job in journalism in a year where hundreds of my friends, colleagues and former students across Florida have been laid off from their journalism positions.
I’m grateful to continue to have a platform to write about issues that matter, like our suburban sprawl and need for better transportation. A year ago, I wrote that we needed to “Fix it now,” citing 10 problems our community and state faces. We’re not much closer to solving them today.
I’m grateful for people like Mariella Smith, Kelly Cornelius, George Nieman, Dee Layne and countless other civic activists in Hillsborough County who stood up for protecting our wetlands and never let up on Republican blowhard politicians. I’m grateful for their moral courage, even as Hillsborough commissioners demeaned their own Moral Courage Award by naming it after a late partisan ideologue.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Nov. 24, 2008, at 3:17 pm
Sarah Palin was just the start, if Andrew Breitbart’s commentary in the Washington Times is any indication:
The future of the Grand Old Party needs to be dangerously youthful, devastatingly attractive and outrageously fun.
Throw the liberal baby boomer bums out. And let’s elect to higher office some good-looking, freedom-loving Net Generation babes. Face it: Democracy needs a face-lift and a youth movement. (I’m from Los Angeles, what can I tell you?)
Sounds like a night clubbing in downtown St. Pete.
I hate to tell Breitbart, but TMZ already beat him to this brilliant deduction.
I have been a resident of Macomb County my whole life. I graduated from Chippewa Valley High School. I also have a degree from Macomb Community College. I have a very supportive family, whose morals, religious and political views have shaped my ambitions to be active in community events. My Wonderful husband is a Macomb County business owner. My Father USMC Sergeant Larry DeJaeghere was a Vietnam Veteran. He was laid to rest in 2005 at Arlington National Cemetery. My Mother was a spokesperson and survivor for Ovarian Cancer awareness for over 20 years. She passed away in 2007, but has inspired me to carry on her message. My father-in-law has been a doctor in Macomb County for almost 40 years. My mother-in-law is a public schools teacher.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Nov. 21, 2008, at 11:52 am
Throughout modern political history, just about every time there has been an epic dirty trick played, Roger Stone was nearby. Who tipped the cops about Eliot Spitzer frequenting hookers? Stone. Who got a hand in Nixon’s dirty tricks? Stone. Close to Lee Atwater? Stone. The Michelle Obama “whitey” tape rumors? Stone. Bumrushing the Miami-Dade County 2000 presidential recount, halting it and catapulting George W. Bush to the White House? Stone. The alleged Charlie Crist sex tape? Stone again.
While the Republican Party usually claims Ronald Reagan as its inspiration, Stone represents the less discussed but still vigorous legacy of Richard Nixon, whose politics reflected a curious admixture of anti-Communism, social moderation, and tactical thuggery. Stone believes that Nixonian hardball, more than sunny Reaganism, is John McCain’s only hope for the Presidency.
Now, The Daily Beast’s Bejamin Sarlin has an interview with Stone in which the GOP operative says he is sorry for his role in pushing FLA over to the W column:
“There have been many times I’ve regretted it,” Stone told me over pizza at Grand Central Station. “When I look at those double-page New York Times spreads of all the individual pictures of people who have been killed [in Iraq], I got to think, ‘Maybe there wouldn’t have been a war if I hadn’t gone to Miami-Dade. Maybe there hadn’t have been, in my view, an unjustified war if Bush hadn’t become president.’ It’s very disturbing to me.”
Stone voted for Bush in 2004 as well (“John Kerry was an elitist buffoon”) but he pulled no punches in his assessment of the last eight years. Stone’s own political philosophy is libertarian, and he says it conflicts with Bush’s penchant for expanded executive power.
“I think across the board he’s led the party to its current position, which means losing both houses of congress and now the White House,” Stone said. “How can you be conservative and justify wiretapping people without a warrant? We’re supposed to be the party of personal freedom and civil liberties. Big brother listening in on your phone calls—I got a problem with that.”
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Nov. 17, 2008, at 12:05 pm
I was out of the office last week but was in town and heard all about the latest round of layoffs at Media General in Tampa (including some high profile folks at the Tampa Tribune). I had a few vodkas with Phil Morgan, a three-decades features reporter, after he got the axe last week, And in the past day, a few of the ex-Tribsters even won a mention in a New York Times article on the failing media biz:
Last week, Media General, a company that owns newspapers, television stations and Web sites in the Southeast, eliminated 80 positions in Florida, including a prominent columnist and the editorial page editor at The Tampa Tribune. “The Book of Ruth,” a long-running wiseacre feature by the longtime columnist Dan Ruth, will be missed, now and then. He and the editorial page editor, Rosemary Goudreau, follow a political columnist, Joe Brown, the movie critic Bob Ross and the classical music critic Kurt Loft to the exit.
Readers, especially the ones cranky and serious enough to still be buying newspapers, have not missed the trend.
“Fire your best employees and watch your business go out of business, just like Circuit City is finding out right now. Who wants to read old news when one can find quality articles outside of the TampaTribe. Bye Bye TampaTrib, you have fired one too many of your excellent personnel and now I am firing you!” said a reader, Bob, in a comment posted to The Feed blog at TampaBay.com, a media blog by Eric Deggans, a media and television reporter at The St. Petersburg Times.
The verdict at StopBigMedia.com is that greed and profit-motive is blame, in an article titled “Bloodletting in the Newsroom”:
Greed and Profit
The Internet has transformed the media industry and how the public consumes news. More people are reading their local newspapers online than ever before. Online ad revenue grew for 17 straight quarters until its recent decline. Nevertheless, the NAA expects online ad revenue to continue its growth next year.
Despite the changing industry, newspapers remain extremely profitable. The Project for Excellence in Journalism (PEJ) reported that the average pre-tax profit margin for newspapers was 18.5 percent in 2007. Some newspaper profits remained above 20 percent. “The industry remains profitable, but it has come time to take the ‘obscenely’ out of that commonplace observation,” PEJ said in its annual State of the News Media report.
But the majority of newspapers are publicly traded companies for which any decline in profits is unacceptable. As a result, newspapers are trying to please Wall Street by axing jobs and scaling back coverage.
With fewer reporters on the beat — and less quality local coverage — it’s no wonder people aren’t subscribing to the paper. While these cuts may please stock analysts, they harm the public. There are fewer journalists covering the business of government at city halls and state capitals across the country. Media companies are closing their Washington and foreign bureaus, while the number of lobbyists pushing the legislation agendas of their corporate clients at the local, state and national levels has increased under the diminishing watchdog eye of the Fourth Estate.
I take no glee in any of the layoffs. With Creative Loafing working to reorganize its finances in Chapter 11 bankruptcy court, the view from here is nothing but sadness about this industry and our clear failure now to provide the information that people will need to make good decisions in a democracy. You can blame Wall Street, but there is plenty of blame to bring home to this industry, which spent almost nothing on R&D for technology and new products until it was too late, did little training of its employees to give them digital skills and continues to wander mindlessly from technofad to technofad in search of eyeballs.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Nov. 6, 2008, at 3:30 pm
Why should our president-election have all the fun? So join me in helping to pick Obama’s Cabinet and key staff. Just add your nominations in comments and I will add them to our speculation list, as well as coverage of individuals who are under serious consideration.
Red = Selected
Chief of Staff:Ill. Congressman and former Clinton hatchetman Rahm Emanuel (accepted the job on Thursday)
Secretary of the Treasury: FDIC Chairwoman Sheila Bair; Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers; NY Fed Reserve Banker Timothy Geithner, former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker (interim only in some rumors); PoHo choice Warren Buffett
Secretary of Defense: (from Politico) possibly keep Robert Gates, or choose“former Navy Secretary Richard Danzig, former Deputy Defense Secretary John Hamre, Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and Democratic Senators Jack Reed of Rhode Island or Jim Webb of Virginia;” retiring Sen. and Republican Chuck Hagel.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Nov. 4, 2008, at 10:18 am
We’ll conclude our election series that looks at the opinions of a variety of people in Tampa Bay about who should be our next president. You can make your voice heard in two ways: take our unscientific survey after the jump and Get Out To Vote!
Paul Pelak, professional photographer and college educator in Tampa
He’s voting for: The registered Independent hasn’t yet made a choice. “I am still torn.”
Why? “My dad’s a Democrat because he’s a union carpenter. I have my own business, so I can see where the Republicans make a lot of sense. It’s a malaise. I think everyone is waiting for something that is not business as usual. You keep on hoping for an independent third party.”
Local candidate who most interests him? No one. “My time factor at work … has torn me away. I have not gotten into the local races because I feel they have the least effect on my life.”
T. Hampton Dunn, founder of [5]art gallery in St. Petersburg
He’s voting for: Barack Obama Why? “Although there are a number of reasons, my current motivation is to vote against the possibility of President Palin.” What he would say to a McCain supporter: “Can you really vote for a group that thinks nominating Sara Palin was a good decision?” Local candidate who most interests him: “With everything else that’s going on in the world, local politics usually takes a back seat.”
Gregory Giordano, chief legislative assistant to state Sen. Mike Fasano He’s voting for: John McCain Why? “The life issue is very important to me, and I believe John McCain has a very solid record of standing for the rights of the unborn. As well, I believe he has the most experience, not only legislatively, but through his military and what it means to be a front-line soldier and what they have to experience and as commander in chief, I believe he would use his military experience to understand the needs of the soldiers on the front line as well as have the strategic or tactical understanding of being head of the worlds strongest military.” What he would say to an Obama supporter: “I would suggest that an Obama supporter truly understand the background of that individual and how their experience would translate into the US. Does he have the wide-ranging experience to run the military, to understand the legislative process in grave detail? Does he have the experience as an executive? I would just encourage an Obama supporter to look at that, all the items, as well as make certain that the voters core beliefs in whatever issues life, taxation, health, match up with the positions that Mr. Obama has professed.”
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Nov. 3, 2008, at 8:26 am
A Tampa Bay crabber weighs in with his choice in tomorrow’s presidential election, and you can, too, by taking our unscientific survey after the jump.
Gus Muench, Tampa native and professional crabber
He’s voting for: “Not McCain! But [it] makes no difference who is elected. U.S. policies will not change. Too many people on the government payroll. Are we going to put them out on the street? I don’t think so!”
Why? “Republican policies. The Bush administration has acted as dictators in the world and USA.”
Local candidate who most interests him: Hillsborough County Commissioner Al Higginbotham. “Al has not sat on the sidelines, and he wants to know what is happening in the community and the environment. You’ll see the commissioner attending Chamber [of Commerce], Agency on Bay Management, county and community meetings. The commissioner is a big asset to Hillsborough County.” Read the rest of this entry »
