Florida’s not-so-good-at-public speaking governor wants to speak at the Republican National Convention, the Tampa Bay Times reports. Here’s the top of their story
“This is unwelcome news for Mitt Romney: Florida Gov. Rick Scott expects a high-profile speaking slot at the Republican National Convention.
“I would hope so,” he told a newspaper editorial board this week when asked if he anticipates giving a prime-time speech in Tampa.
Nothing says “Elect Mitt Romney!” like an unpopular multimillionaire awkwardly making the case on national TV.”
Aaron Bean was endorsed Friday by Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater in Bean’s bid for the newly drawn Senate District 4 seat. The seat covers part of Duval County and all of Nassau County. “Aaron is a true conservative candidate who has a record of cutting property taxes and holding government accountable for every dollar spent,” Atwater said in a statement. “We need a conservative, like Aaron, to represent Northeast Florida in the Senate.” Bean, a former House member from Fernandina Beach, has also been endorsed by former Gov. Jeb Bush, Sen. John Thrasher, R-St. Augustine, and Sen. Steve Wise, R-Jacksonville.
Rep. Mike Weinstein, R-Jacksonville, is also in the GOP primary, as is Wyman Duggan, a Jacksonville lawyer with the Rogers Towers firm.
Republican House candidate Travis Hutson was endorsed Friday by Rep. Bill Proctor, R-St. Augustine. Hutson is running for the newly drawn House District 24, which includes parts of Flagler, St. Johns and Volusia Counties.
“His real world business experience is just what we need in the Legislature,” Proctor said in a statement. “He understands the policies needed to free up small businesses to create jobs and lead our economic recovery.”
Former U.S. Rep. Dave Weldon has been saying for a few days he was very likely going to jump into the Republican primary for the U.S. Senate seat open this year in Florida. He’s made up his mind
On the site, Weldon says “someone has to provide a conservative solution to the problems the administration has created and the Senate has endorsed. I’ll work to change Washington, not be changed by Washington. That was why I left my medical practice in 1994 and ran and was elected to the U.S. House where I served 14 years before returning to medicine.”
This is good news for bar-hopping Republican convention goers. The Tampa City Council voted Thursday to let bars to stay open until 3 a.m. during the Republican National Convention in the city in late August.
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney talked yesterday about adding another house to his collection – musing about moving to Florida because it is a low tax state.
Here’s a roundup of coverage of Romney in Jacksonville yesterday, starting with the straight C-Span item, which includes video from WTEV in Jax, coverage from the Times-Union, which also includes video from First Coast News.
Here’s something you don’t see every day: A party’s presumptive presidential nominee wading into a primary fight in a swing state. But former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has done just that with a short statement today backing U.S. Rep. Connie Mack in the GOP primary for U.S. Senate over former U.S. Sen. George LeMieux and tea-party favorite Mike McCalister. Romney’s statement:
“Connie Mack is a friend, a strong conservative and the type of principled leader we need in Washington to restore fiscal responsibility. By electing Connie Mack, the people of Florida will be sending a clear message to Senator Nelson and President Obama that their failed policies have not worked to change the borrow and spend ways of Washington.”
In a way, Romney is simply returning the favor for when Mack endorsed the front-runner in the Florida primary. Romney got a badly needed win that solidified his standing when former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich was surging.
But it also highlights that some of the Republican establishment thinks Mack is the best bet to beat Democratic incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson, who is a close second on the list of GOP priorities in Florida this year. It might also be an effort to quiet repeated musings from some Florida Republicans who have mulled or are mulling getting into the race.
The general election might be almost six months away, but so-called Super PACs are already starting the air wars in Florida over whether President Barack Obama should be re-elected. Perhaps predictably, the ads are more about slamming the other guy than touting each group’s choice.
Obama’s Super PAC, Priorities USA Action, was the first to hit the air with an ad that the group says is going up in Florida and several other swing states. The commercial tells the story of the same steel plant that the Obama campaign focused on in a two-minute ad about former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s business record. (That ad, near as anyone can tell, ran for a day.)
Crossroads GPS, a Super PAC that backs Republicans, responded in a way with an ad that will also run in Florida and several other swing states, according to the group. This one focuses on Obama’s record — failing, in Crossroads GPS’s telling, to deliver on his major promises.
The group says it’s spending $1.5 million on Florida over the next two weeks. That’s a good deal more than what some observers say the Obama Super PAC has spent so far.
Used to be that to be Cuban and live in Miami meant you were not only Republican but staunchly so. It goes back to Kennedy’s Bay of Pigs, and the GOP’s stance over the years on communism and the Castro regime. But a half century after Castro took over, the picture of Cuban-Americans in Florida is now more subtle, and the GOP can’t take them for granted, reports Alex Leary:
