The Political Whore

Sen. Dan Gelber, a candidate for the U.S. Senate and a Democrat, warns of a rumor to that regard. From his Twitter account earlier today:
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By Mitch Perry
PoHo contributor
Mitch Perry is the anchor of the WMNF Evening News on 88.5 FM community radio.

This is the story of a little-known South Florida mayor, a progressive anti-automatic weapons kinda politician with little name recognition and labeled with the tag “the gay candidate” in his quest to be the next U.S. senator from Florida. His name is Kevin Burns. More about him after we set the rest of the field.

Charlie Christ’s decision to wait until the end of the legislative session before declaring his political future has frozen most Republicans with fanciful ambitions of higher office through the first part of 2009.

But with three weeks to go before the popular chief executive announces whether he’ll run for re-election or opt to set his sights on Mel Martinez’s seat in Washington, some members of the GOP last week realized they can’t wait any longer.

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South Florida legislator Dan Gelber was in Tampa this weekend for one of his campaign workdays as he travels the state to raise his name recognition. He was a very progressive and aggressive Democratic leader in the Florida House, helping engineer the gains the party made in the 2006 elections.

Gelber writes on his blog:

P.E.T. stands for personal energy transportation. PET, located in Tampa (1109 E. Osborne Ave), is a workshop where volunteers build all-terrain wheelchairs for people in need in developing nations. Many of the recipients are children or victims of land mine explosions. The recipients live across the globe and are people who couldn’t afford the cost of a wheelchair because of extreme poverty. Because traditional wheel chairs are too expensive and don’t work so well in regions without paved roads and transportation infrastructure, PET creates wheelchairs that are low cost and designed for off-terrain use, replete with space for water or goods, and long and durable life expectancy.

PET was created by missionaries who saw the great despair of children and adults imprisoned by their disability first hand. So they designed these devices and created workshops around the country to assemble them. The Tampa PET is organized by Jeff whose passion, commitment and faith are the foundation of the Tampa effort. He has been on missions all over the world and has helped other countries like Sierra Leone in Africa create their own PET workshops.

First, any prognostication made this far in advance has to be taken with a grain of salt. So, keep that in mind as you read what I am about to say: Kendrick Meek will lose his bid for the U.S. Senate.

Now, there will be quite a few people up in arms about this. I’m sorry. Maybe this will make them work harder to prove me wrong. One of those things where knowing the future could change the future… but I digress.

There are quite a few reasons why I think he will lose, and none are related to the color of his skin. Read the rest of this entry »

Former House Minority Leader and current Florida Sen. Dan Gelber, to no one’s surprise, is set to announce his Democratic candidacy for Mel Martinez’s seat. The Miami Herald:

Democratic state Sen. Dan Gelber of Miami Beach will announce tomorrow what everybody already knows — that he’s running for the U.S. Senate in 2010.

The race is a Miami-Dade family feud so far, with Democratic U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek of Miami as the only other announced candidate. Former House Speaker Marco Rubio of Miami is also expected to run.