The cameras rolled this week when Tea Party billionaire and fired CEO Rick Scott chose Florida Rep. Jennifer Carroll (R-Orange Park) as his running mate in his quest for governor. Fortunately, they also rolled a couple of weeks ago, when Carroll addressed her county RPOF chapter and stated all the reasons you should not support Rick Scott. Watch until the end, when Carroll really drives it home.
Florida Dist. 13 Rep. Jennifer CarrollFinding a running mate hasn’t been easy for Florida Governor candidate Rick Scott. The disgraced former HCA/Columbia Healthcare CEO left scorched earth between himself and the Republican Party of Florida in his primary campaign with state Attorney General Bill McCollum. And while state party partisans were quick to claim “unity” after the voters’ decision, they aren’t casting their personal fortunes with Scott.
The long list of people to turn down a chance to be Scott’s Lieutenant Governor include state Sen. Paula Dockery, former Lt. Gov. (under Jeb Bush) Toni Jennings, University of North Florida Pres. John Delaney, and state Reps. Mike Weinstein and Juan Zapata. It got to the point earlier in the week that Florida politicos were tweeting in jest, “Deeply honored but must turn down Scott running mate offer. Would take too much time from family.”
As Scott finds the field of Number Twos narrowing, persistent rumors point to his selection of state Rep. Jennifer Carroll (R-Orange Park). Like Scott, Carroll has had more than her share of ethics questions during her years of pubic service.
The votes today have been tallied and I accept the voters’ decision…No one could have anticipated the entrance of a multimillionaire with a questionable past who shattered campaign spending records and spent more in four months than has ever been spent in a primary race here in Florida. While I was disappointed with the negative tone of the race, I couldn’t be more proud of our campaign and our supporters for fighting back against false and misleading advertising…
— Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum, conceding victory in the Republican primary for the governor’s seat, but not endorsing former opponent tea bagger Rick Scott, despite attempts by Florida Republicans to claim unity after the slugfest.
Meek, left, shakes hands with Greene during primary debate
It’s finally primary day in Florida, which means, if you’re a Democrat, you can stop screening your calls. The battle between U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek and billionaire jet setter Jeff Greene ends today, not a minute too soon. And while the postal service will miss the business, those of us on the receiving end of the deluge of mailers won’t.
For all I know, Republicans are going through the same thing in the contest for governor between disgraced HCA Columbia CEO Rick Scott and state Attorney General Bill McCollum. I’m hoping Scott will prevail in that match-up, because a general election campaign between Florida CFO Alex Sink on the Democratic side and McCollum on the GOP will make paint drying seem like the next Harry Potter movie. In 3-D.
Kendrick Meek
4:30 a.m., AFSCME Member Bus Terminal Stop-in, 16150 Northwest 42nd Avenue, Miami.
6:15 a.m., Breakfast at Jimmy’s Place, 11901 NW 7 Ave., North Miami.
7:15 a.m., Polling site stop, South Kendall Community Church, 16550 SW 147 Ave., Miami.
8:45 a.m., Polling site stop, Palm Beach Co. Fire and Rescue No. 42,. 14276 Hagen Ranch Rd., Delray Beach.
5 p.m., Sign waving, N. University Dr. and Sunrise Blvd., Plantation.
5:45 p.m.,. Polling site stop, Hollywood Hills High School, 5400 Stirling Rd., Hollywood.
Evening, Watching election returns, Westin Diplomat Hotel, 3555 S. Ocean Dr., Hollywood.
Wow, 4:30 a.m., huh? Meek is working it. Wonder what Greene will be doing to ensure every vote he can get.
Jeff Greene
9 a.m., Voting, Palm Beach Fire Station #3, 2185 S. Ocean Blvd., Palm Beach.
7 p.m., Watching returns, Marriott Hotel, 1001 Okeechobee Blvd., West Palm Beach.
All righty then.
If you live in Florida and didn’t vote early, please do so today. These races will be decided by a relatively small number of voters, but we’ll all be stuck with the choices for a long time. Go vote!
— The amount of debt the Republican National Committee revealed in its July fundraising report. The RNC started the month with $10.8 million in cash on hand, received $5.5 million in contributions, and spent $11.1 million, leaving $5.2 million in cash on hand and the aforementioned debt. CNN noted that the press releases and fanfare normally associated with RNC fundraising announcements were absent this month, as the organization attempted to keep the bad news on the down-low.
Disgraced HCA Columbia Healthcare CEO Rick Scott (who was forced to resign rather than face criminal charges in the nation’s largest Medicaid fraud case, resulting in a $1.7 billion fine) sums up all the Republican lies about the Islamic Center in New York in one TV spot, going FOX News one better by tying construction of the facility to health care reform. Why Scott, who is running for governor of Florida — a state which will have little if any say in the issue — would chose this as a campaign platform is unclear.
Are people finally growing weary of chronically aggrieved snark? Or do they just not care to toss hundred dollar bills at Sarah Palin anymore?
Slow ticket sales have bumped Sarah Palin’s appearance next week in Jacksonville to a smaller venue.
“An Evening of Hope with Sarah Palin” was moved from the 2,936-seat Moran Theatre to the 609-seat Terry Theatre…Mark Nelson, Florida director for Heroic Media, said the event was moved to the Terry Theatre because there weren’t enough tickets sold to hold it in the larger Moran.
“We would rather have a packed theater than a theater that’s not so packed,” Nelson said.
Yes, I just imagine those 600 people sharing that 3,000-seat theater would feel a little silly at the money they wasted. Money? Let’s talk. Preferred seating is $100 but a few general admission tickets are also available for $50. But if you’re willing to be a sponsor, you can buy all the Palin you want.
According to polls, Democratic Florida Governor candidate Alex Sink is benefitting from the hatchet jobs her Republican opponents are doing on one another. In a debate summed up as a “race to the bottom” in Florida newspapers, Attorney General Bill McCollum and disgraced CEO Rick Scott got personal, but said very little about…what is it candidates are supposed to address? Oh yeah, how to fix the state. In this video, Sink continues to point out that Republicans offer pretty much nothing in the way of ideas.
I have to hand it to Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (NPA), whose wardrobe choice for a recent roundtable with the president in Panama City helped him stand out. Charlie and the First Lady went with aqua, while the business owners, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, and others stuck to neutrals. If you’re going to go, go bold, Crist seems to say, while sitting as far from Obama as possible without leaving the room. No doubt Crist wants to avoid more photos of himself seeming friendly with the president. The endless repetition by Republicans of a shot of Crist doing the one-armed man hug with Obama last year could have been one reason for his departure from their party as a candidate for U.S. Senate. Well that, and the fact that they are soulless jerks.
From Trump’s “stolen election” lies, we can’t get no relief,
He carps on about stolen votes, but he never names the thief.
Somebody needs to tell this guy
Americans aren’t buying his lies,
And that he’s turned us into the United States of Disbelief.
“If you are committing fraud against the American people, all of us in public leadership should be trying to stop it and throw you in prison for enriching yourself off the American taxpayer.”
“We are done, Americans are done with endless conflict in the Middle East, spending trillions of dollars, American lives… this is insane and we have to call it for what it is.”
“The U.S. State Department announced on Monday that it has revoked more than 175,000 visas during President Donald Trump’s administration so far,” Fox News reports.
President Donald Trump is asking for $1,500,000 million for the military for next year. That’s close to $600 billion (adjusted for inflation) more than we were spending on the military in fiscal year 2025, before Trump took office, Alternet reports. This increase is huge by any measure. It comes to around $4,600 per household. It is around 8% of the total budget.
A new Emerson College survey of likely 2026 voters finds the Democrats with an 11-point advantage over the Republicans on the generic congressional ballot, leading 53% to 42%. President Trump holds a 39% job approval rating, consistent with the past two months, whereas his disapproval increased another point, to 57%.
A new American Research Group poll finds just 30% of Americans say they approve of the way Donald Trump is handling his job as president and 67% say they disapprove.
Wall Street Journal: “Around 40% of voters in the 2024 election said the economy was their top issue, far outstripping any other matter. And those voters favored Donald Trump by 60% to 38%. Many say they were moved by his pledges to tame inflation, rebuild U.S. infrastructure, cut red tape and trim government waste. … About a year and a half later, more voters disapprove of Trump’s handling of the economy than approve, 61% to 35%, an average of polls by the Cook Political Report found this month.”