The written testimony of those who testified to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee looking at election laws in the states, including the new elections law in Florida, is available on the committee’s web site here
Day-of voting in the GOP presidential primary had only been underway for about two-and-a-half hours Tuesday when Secretary of State Kurt Browning took to the podium at a Tallahassee press conference, but Browning said everything was going well. The only hiccup reported early was a polling location in Orlando that had to open in the parking lot because a supervisor of elections was late, but voters were allowed to cast their ballots.
As for turnout: 656,000 Floridians had already made their choice known through absentee ballots or early voting — including 392,000 absentee ballots and 294,000 early votes, despite the shortened time frame in 62 counties. Still, Browning wasn’t giving out any predictions. “But certainly I think when you look at the numbers that we’ve seen in absentee and early voting, it’s probably a good indication that we’ll have a good day today and a healthy day.”
Those banked ballots, by the way, are expected to heavily favor former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, whose organization is seen as superior to former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum; Texas Congressman Ron Paul has largely bypassed Florida.
Whatever the final result, Browning expects the state to find out relatively quickly. As part of the sweeping and controversial new elections law approved by the Legislature last year, counties have to report their early and absentee ballot counts within 30 minutes of the polls closing. Rolling vote totals have to be sent into the state every 45 minutes.
“I do expects our results will be more timely than we’ve seen in the past,” Browning said.
That could mean a big splash as soon as polls close in the Central time zone — with a ton of Eastern time zone votes already having been submitted to Browning’s office before official reports start going up around 8 p.m. ET. Results can be viewed at the department’s official returns website. (You’ll get a countdown to 8 p.m. ET until then.)
Browning, who is heading out the door soon, also briefly reminisced about his time as secretary of state. (His incoming successor, Kenneth Detzner, was on hand for the press conference and will be at the department throughout the day.)
“It’s fun to see everything come together at the end of the day and come together very well,” Browning said. “Am I going to miss it? You bet ya, I’m going to miss it.
“But it’s time. I’ve been away from my home for five years, and I’ve enjoyed serving under two governors, but half-an-hour phone calls at night with your wife just doesn’t cut it.”
The Florida Federation of Republican Women is commending Gov. Rick Scott for staying out of the presidential primary and not skewing the race, though it’s not clear which way he’d skew it if he did pick a candidate. Scott has pretty low approval ratings and some have suggested his endorsement isn’t particularly coveted. But the Republican Women aren’t casting any negativity on the governor – simply saying it’s better to let GOP voters decide without being swayed.
The federation also takes a big swipe at former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist – who did endorse in the last presidential primary, picking John McCain and, many observers believe – throwing the state to the Arizona senator and eventual nominee in 2008.
“As we reflect upon the whirlwind of presidential campaign activity in the last two weeks, we especially thank you for choosing not to endorse in the Republican Primary,” the federation said in an open letter to Scott. “A dark anniversary has come and gone where such an endorsement was made in the final hours of the Florida Presidential Preference that changed the course of the election four years ago.”
Scott’s refusal to endorse, they argue, has also helped a party that was split in 2010 when most of the leadership endorsed Scott’s opponent, Bill McCollum.
“Although surely no Floridian has a bigger stake in the outcome of the Florida Presidential Preference and the economic policies of the contenders, we appreciate your restraint and fairness on this issue,” the federation said. “You are also to be commended for your faith in the judgment of your fellow Florida Republicans as we join you in casting our private ballots this election day. By remaining neutral and ‘un-political’ in this process, you have carved a huge political advantage for our party, that of unity.” The letter was signed by the Federation of Republican Women’s president, Cindy Graves.
The remaining Republican candidates for U.S. Senate will be at a forum Sunday, Feb. 19 in Tallahassee in an event sponsored by the Florida Federation of Republican Women. The group announced Monday that Adam Hasner, George LeMieux, Connie Mack and Mike McCalister are confirmed as participants. Another GOP candidate, Craig Miller, announced Monday, he was getting out of the race. The event – which is sort of like a debate – will be at the Hotel Duval in downtown Tallahassee. “Our debate will not be like the debates we’ve come to know in recent years, rather recreated as an in-depth job interview of five realistically potential winners against Bill Nelson for Florida’s most significant federal job,” Fedderation President Cindy Graves said. “While some voters may have enjoyed the combative nature and sound bites of the recent presidential debates, our leaders often found the format to be a distraction from the issues. As committed grassroots leaders we have no need to be entertained. We prefer to be informed.” Each candidate will talk – without the others – to the 150 audience members, and then they’ll reconvene for closing remarks.
Politics roundup starting off the week
Today’s Q Poll on the race:
Peter Schorsch‘s Saint Petersblog rounds up the polling
http://saintpetersblog.com/2012/01/icymi-round-up-of-weekend-polling-of-floridas-gop-primary/
Romney rallied in Jax on Monday morning: economy on their minds
Gingrich was in Jax too
Even more than other recent elections – this GOP primary is a contest between the establishment of the party and the grass roots newly active members
Gingrich not doing well with Cuban outreach in Miami
http://hoh.rollcall.com/cubans-grill-gingrich/
Politico rolls out the quadrennial story about how diverse Florida is:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0112/72125.html
Politico’s Mike Allen on where the primary is
The quote of the weekend comes from a story by the Sun-Sentinel’s Anthony Man, who got this gem from the always quotable Sid Dinerstein, chairman of the Palm Beach County Republican Party:
“More than any election I can remember, the issue is, are you voting with your head or with your heart? And you don’t know until you actually pull the trigger,” said Sid Dinerstein ….”Mitt’s the head guy and Newt’s the heart guy.”
And in non-presidential campaigns, Craig Miller is quitting the Senate race to run for Congress.
More at www.newsserviceflorida.com
And the New York Times gets Justin Sayfie to help out its readers with a primer on recent Florida political history through a few archived articles
C-Span has video of both Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich’s appearances today at the Hispanic Leadership Conference event in Doral. Links to both videos can be found on the right hand side of this page
If you missed Rick Santorum’s speech today at the Latin Builders event in Miami, C-span is coming to your assistance. Here’s video of the speech.
Amid all the talk that Newt Gingrich took a beating in Thursday night’s Republican debate, his campaign fired back at one of Gingrich’s main protagonists: Mitt Romney. Gingrich uses a TV ad set to air in Florida to castigate Romney’s truthfulness during the debate on everything from his portfolio to his voting habits. The campaign hasn’t released a YouTube version of the ad (at least that your humble correspondent could find), but the transcript is pretty self-explanatory.
Governor Huckabee: “If a man’s dishonest to get a job, he’ll be dishonest on the job.”
Narrator: What kind of man would mislead, distort, and deceive just to win an election?
This man would be Mitt Romney. Romney said he has always voted Republican when he had the opportunity.
But in the 1992 Presidential Primary Romney had the chance to vote for George H.W. Bush or Pat Buchanan but he voted for a liberal Democrat instead.
Romney said his investments in Fannie and Freddie were in a blind trust.
But as reported in the National Journal, Romney earned tens of thousands of dollars from investments NOT in a blind trust.
Romney denied seeing a false ad his campaign used to attack Newt Gingrich. But Romney’s own campaign paid for the ad…Romney’s own voice is on the ad approving the content.
If we can’t trust Romney in a debate, how can we trust him in the White House?
A little context, at least on the 1992 voting claim: Romney voted for then-U.S. Sen. Paul Tsongas in the Massachusetts Democratic primary instead of casting a ballot in the GOP contest that year. (Romney has explained, alternately, that the vote was for the home-state candidate and meant to find the weakest opponent for then-President George H.W. Bush.)
A little pre-GOP debate politics roundup for this Thursday -with the national GOP contest focused on Florida this week, today’s edition is all about the pres race, starting with about 300 people earlier today for a Mitt Romney rally in Jacksonville, where the candidates will debate tonight:
From Politico
“Resurgent Republic today (releases) the results of a new Florida survey among 500 Hispanic registered voters (conducted Jan. 16-19). The survey, conducted in conjunction with the Hispanic Leadership Network, finds that President Obama falls short of his 2008 performance by double digits. The survey also delves into President Obama’s standing on the economy, how Florida Hispanics view his leadership, and whether they believe President Obama’s policies have made things better or worse. http://bit.ly/xo5I2O
National Journal: Mitt Romney’s Florida strategy
http://decoded.nationaljournal.com/2012/01/romneys-florida-formula-return.php
From up nawth: The Boston Globe’s Brian Mooney reports Romney’s cash edge in Florida is dwindling: “It’s not just wealthy GOP donors that have Romney in an unexpectedly close contest. Two labor groups and a pro-Obama super PAC have poured in more than $1 million to attack Romney. The two-front assault has the onetime front-runner from Massachusetts fighting to stave off a devastating defeat in next week’s Florida primary. … Until now, the Romney campaign and an allied super PAC, Restore Our Future, had dominated the Florida airwaves, outspending the Gingrich campaign and its friendly super PAC by a more than 20-to-1 ratio dating back to December.” http://b.globe.com/xNVFEa
Politico’s Morning Score was pretty much all about Hispanic voters in Florida this morning
http://www.politico.com/morningscore/
To the moon, to the moon
http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=6A563DF7-8BEA-4E22-8BDC-6347FB306836
But Rick Santorum isn’t over the moon about the idea
National Journal: Where’s Rick Scott been this week?
http://decoded.nationaljournal.com/2012/01/floridas-missing-governor.php
The Tampa Bay Times’ Adam Smith on RPOF winner-take-all rule and possible consequences
He’s focused on his own race for U.S. Senate, but former steakhouse executive Craig Miller took a moment Thursday morning to issue a statement endorsing former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich in the Florida GOP presidential primary. Specifically, Miller praised Gingrich’s record as a Ronald Reagan Republican at the same time that former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has assailed Gingrich as inadequately loyal to the Republican icon.
He was a warrior in the Reagan Revolution and applied those concepts as one of the most successful Speakers of the House in our Nation’s history. Newt is a visionary who’s Contract with America provided the blueprint for cutting taxes, balancing the budget, reforming welfare, and strengthening our National Defense.
Whether Miller’s own political calculus entered into the equation — the businessman has struggled to break out of a field dominated by Congressman Connie Mack, former U.S. Sen. George LeMieux and former state House Majority Leader Adam Hasner, not to mention the tea-party candidacy of Mike McCalister – is an open question.
Follow the jump to read Miller’s full statement.
