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Florida Tag

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on October 29, 2016 14 Comments
The Florida Senate race is starting to look a lot like the presidential race, at least in terms of wildly fluctuating numbers amongst polls and significant changes reported almost daily. Marco Rubio (R-FL) is running against newly-mined Democrat and Representative of Florida's 18th district Patrick Murphy (D-FL), and the race currently stands . . . who knows?  Polls show that Rubio is up as much as 10 points, 6 points, or maybe only 3.6 points (the latter two down from a 7 point lead earlier this month). Murphy, so far, is not leading and has not led in any poll, but that hasn't stopped Democrats from taking another look as polls fluctuate and the race appears to tighten. Following the DSCC pulling its money out of the Rubio-Murphy race less than two weeks ago, Roll Call reports that two super PACs, one backed by Harry Reid, are quickly getting Murphy some small amounts of cash.
Florida Rep. Patrick Murphy is getting a cash boost from donors and a Democratic super PAC as his campaign shows signs of life in his Senate race against Republican incumbent Sen. Marco Rubio.

Posted by Mary Chastain on October 24, 2016 40 Comments
There is a possibility that Texas, a state typically owned by Republicans, could turn blue next month since Donald Trump only leads Hillary Clinton by three points. However, Clinton only leads Trump by three points in Florida. From CBS News:
The poll numbers show voters’ frustration about the dialogue in the race – and what may amount to a wasted opportunity for both. Sixty-nine percent feel Donald Trump is talking about things that he, himself cares about, while fewer, 46 percent say he’s talking about issues they care about. Clinton has much the same gap.

Posted by Mary Chastain on October 21, 2016 6 Comments
The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) chapter in Florida has sued Broward County Supervisor of Elections Dr. Brenda Snipes after citizens said their mail in ballots did not include Amendment 2 to legalize medical marijuana:
It asked a county court judge to require that the elections office distribute new ballots to all voters who have received vote-by-mail ballots and to include information that explains that Amendment 2 had not been included on previous ballots.

Posted by Mary Chastain on October 17, 2016 22 Comments
Do you ever think Hollywood will ever learn that not everyone thinks the way they do? Yeah, neither do I. Well, in Tampa Bay, people booed and stormed out of Amy Schumer's comedy show when she insulted Donald Trump, calling him an "orange, sexual-assaulting, fake-college-starting monster," and called for more gun control. The group of people was relatively small, but large enough for others to notice:
Schumer scanned the crowd for Trump voters, and invited one up to the stage. He identified himself as Dave, an attorney and RINO (Republican In Name Only) who hadn’t voted for a GOP candidate since Reagan. He said he just felt safer with the country in Trump’s hands than Clinton’s.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on October 17, 2016 20 Comments
Instead of election officials rejecting mail in ballots because the signature does not match the one on file, U.S. District Judge Mark Walker ordered that Florida extend the same courtesy it extends to those who don't sign their ballot at all: a chance to correct the problem. The Miami Herald reports:
Calling existing rules “obscene” disenfranchisement, a federal judge in Tallahassee declared late Sunday that Florida must provide a method for voters to fix signature problems that might arise when they vote by mail in the presidential election. U.S. District Judge Mark Walker’s ruling was a victory for the Florida Democratic Party and the Democratic National Committee, which sued the state Oct. 3 arguing Florida canvassing boards shouldn’t immediately reject a ballot if a voter’s signature doesn’t match the one on file. The state gives voters who forget to sign their mail ballots a chance to fix the problem before Election Day — but doesn’t offer voters with mismatched signatures the same opportunity. Walker ruled the “bizarre” double-standard was unconstitutional.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on October 14, 2016 8 Comments
The problem with Florida's death penalty began earlier this year when the Florida legislature rewrote the death penalty law in light of the Supreme Court ruling that its existing law was unconstitutional.  The rewrite was flawed and resulted in a challenge that resulted in today's rulings that Florida's death penalty is (still) unconstitutional. The Miami Herald reported at the time:
Lawmakers have approved a crucial rewrite of Florida’s death penalty sentencing law, hoping it passes muster after the current version was recently declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court. The bill, passed overwhelmingly by the state Senate Thursday, now heads to Gov. Rick Scott for his signature. . . . .  Florida’s new law requires juries to unanimously vote for every reason, known as aggravating factors, to warrant a death sentence. A trial judge must sign a written order confirming those findings.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on October 07, 2016 5 Comments
You may remember Lane Pittman, the Jacksonville-area rocker whose July 4, 2015 guitar riff of the Star Spangled Banner got him in hot water with the cops, Florida man arrested for playing Star Spangled Banner on 4th of July rejects plea deal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuEGn8Cn6ms The video of the performance received over 320,000 views on YouTube. Things turned out okay for Lane, as the charges were dropped and he became something of a legend, as I recounted in my post over a year later, Update: Remember Florida rocker charged for playing national anthem on July 4?

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on September 17, 2016 22 Comments
As Marco Rubio faces a tough battle for his Senate seat in Florida, he introduces a new gun bill aimed at limiting terrorist access to guns. The legislation, according to Rubio's Senate website, "builds on some of the best ideas that have been proposed, and improves them in ways that I hope will make a bipartisan solution more likely."
Rubio’s Terror Intelligence Improvement Act would:

Posted by Andrew Branca on August 31, 2016 34 Comments
Yesterday Angela Corey, the prosecutor who dragged George Zimmerman into a hapless politically-motivated trial for second degree murder for the lawful killing of Trayvon Martin, has soundly lost the GOP primary race for her re-election as 4th Judicial State Attorney in the Jacksonville area of Florida, reports the Florida-Times Union newspaper.  Corey was defeated by a relatively late entrant into the primary, former corporate lawyer and prosecutor Melissa Nelson.

Posted by Mary Chastain on August 29, 2016 2 Comments
On Tuesday, voters will decide if former DNC chairwoman Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz is worthy enough to advance to the election in November after a summer filled with controversy. She came under fire this summer when "leaked emails showed that staffers at her organization appeared to be plotting ways to undermine the presidential campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)." She resigned as chairwoman on the eve of the DNC.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on August 28, 2016 24 Comments
Back in May, I wrote about Harry Reid being "fairly certain" that Democrats can retake the Senate this year.  He has reason to be fairly certain in part because Republicans are defending far more Senate seats than Democrats: "Democrats need five Senate seats to retake the Senate, and while it’s not a lock, things don’t look good for Republicans who are defending 24 seats to the Democrats’ 10." Watch Bret Baier's overview: With the Senate hanging by a thread this November and the high stakes involved in losing it to the Democrats, we've been paying close attention to the Senate races across the country. The Florida primaries are on Tuesday, and judging by the way Marco Rubio (R) and Patrick Murphy (D) are running their campaigns, they are each confident they will win their respective races.
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