Two major NPA candidates (Crist & Chiles) the fun billionaires trying to buy their election (Greene & Scott), the lack of attention on cabinet races… yes, I think I can feel the pull.

I’m still busy as ever at my day job, and I’m rehearsing for a play… so it’s really hard to find time to blog.

But, my friends, I can feel the pull calling my name…

Things have gotten busier for me and posts have become less and less often. This was always meant to be something I did in my spare time, and I have less and less of that these days.

So I have come to the decision to officially put the blog on hiatus for an indefinite period of time.

I thank my loyal readers who kept up with my posts, including those on Creative Loafing “PoHo” blog.

You can still follow me on Twitter (@StateOfSunshine) as I can type 140 characters from time to time.

Feel free to explore older posts and comment… who knows, the spark of interest might come back sooner rather than later.

- Jim Johnson, Publisher

The answer: crappy stadiums.

Since the Rays joined MLB in 1998, the average age of the eleven All Star venues at the time the game was played, is 12 years 2 months. If you remove Fenway Park, host of the 1999 game, off the list, the average age drops to four years and eight month old. Major League Baseball loves new stadiums for All Star Games.

Both the Marlins and the Rays have been campaigning hard in their communities for a new stadium. The Florida Suncoast Dome/Thunderdome/Tropicana Field is already 19 years old the tenth oldest in all of baseball. Dolphin/Joe Robbie/ProPlayer/LandShark Stadium is 22 years old, the eighth oldest. The Marlins play in a true football stadium, sharing their field with the Miami Dolphins and University of Miami. Meanwhile, Tropicana Field was built for a different baseball economy.

So, as we watch the fun and festivities it yet another area, we will continue to be among the “have nots” for the All Star Game.

Maybe by 2020, the Rays will have their new stadium and Tampa Bay will have an All Star Game.

Currently polls are indicating the Crist is in the lead, however we still have over a year left in the campaign season.  Creigh Deeds, in Virginia, is a good example of how early polls don’t fly nowadays by beating Terry McAuliffe by over a 20-point margin on election day.  Look what happened to Giuliani as well last year. If polls were done online or on social networks today, the results would indicate that Rubio takes the commanding lead. 

Speaking of internet, as soon as Deeds got the endorsement from the Washington Post he spent over half of his online ad budget on a Google surge of displayed advertising.  Within 28 hours of this Google blast about 8.8 million impressions ran.  Could we expect the same from Rubio? Possibly. 

Even if he does not get an endorsement from the press there is lots of positive remarks already marked on tv and print which he can use to his advantage when campaigning.  Right now Rubio is the media darling and the more the press allows Rubio to speak the less he needs to spend on paid advertising which then leaves him more time to do the one-on-one with citizens like Deed.

Another example of his appeal with the media is a recent conversation I had with a friend of mine, who is a reporter for one of the major networks.  She told me that she is considering switching parties just to vote in the Republican primary and would vote for Rubio.  Why?  She explained after interviewing him and watching other reports that he is not a typical politician who dodges questions or wedge issues.  Although she may not agree with all his positions the fact that he is very direct in responding showed her that he has the ability to lead.

In conclusion, take it from Patrick Ruffini, a Republican online strategist, who was quoted saying, “In the modern campaign, early money and establishment support matters far, far less than it used to, and could actually turn out to be a handicap — particularly when money becomes the story.” He adds, “As a campaign manager, I’d much, much rather be running the guy with a message and no money versus the guy with money and no message.”

Rubio has… um… well… let’s see. I know there is a big grassroots push behind former Florida House of Representatives Speaker Marco Rubio. But, my fellow Republicans, ask yourself when the last time a “grassroots” effort actually mattered in the Republican primary.

I know it irks many people to see Crist get this kind of attention. Heck, Rubio may actually be better for the Republican Party. The list of positive qualities about Rubio is longer than my arm… (I just disagree with some of his positions on issues; the same way my more conservative colleagues disagree with Crist’s positions on issues).

That said, the Republican Party exists to win elections. It’s all well and good to have a discussion about issues, but why waste time, effort, energy, and money — all of which are in limited supply — without having the best chance to win an election.

Some misguided folks are actually calling for a boycott of the NRSC because of this. Hmmm. Let’s see. The Democrats are about to get 60 Senators thanks to Specter and the voters of Minnesota. In 2010, the Democrats are likely going to win in Ohio, Missouri, New Hampshire, and maybe Kentucky. And people want to deprive them of the financial capability of defending these and taking back other seats. Do you really LIKE being in the minority and letting Harry Reid run roughshod over us?

In my book, the Florida Senate seat will remain Republican. The NRSC has a limited pocketbook, and Crist in the general will be less expensive than Rubio. Seems to me backing Crist is a fiscally conservative thing to do…

Even if it’s not politically conservative.

• Crist leads Rubio 53% to 18% — this is a minor change since an April Quinnipiac poll showing Crist with a 54% to 8% lead. Rubio’s numbers have gone up as he’s toured the state, but Crist’s have not changed.
• Among Republicans, Crist has a huge advantage in “name ID” - 100% of Republicans recognize him and his favorability/unfavorability is 50/19. Rubio, on the otherhand, only has a 44% “name ID” with a 20/2 favorability rating. Rubio will have to spend a lot more money introducing himself to Floridians…

The poll also compared Crist to Gelber and Meek and looked at the Governor’s race… but I am wondering why they did not ask about Rubio facing Gelber or Meek. Perhaps Quinnipiac or another poll will include that information.

Unfortunately, that is not reality. Republican and Democratic party leaders get involved in just about every race. They play favorites well before the primary. They attempt to anoint their preferred candidate. It happens all the time.

Here is a case in point: Dennis Ross. The Lakeland Ledger is reporting Ross is getting the backing of most party bigwigs, from Jeb Bush to Eric Cantor. The party is attempting to “clear the field” for Ross. Where is the outrage from conservatives complaining about backing a candidate before the voters have had a chance to speak?

Don’t get me wrong, I like Ross. He will make a great Congressman. But if our party leaders are really going to sit back and shout because party leaders backed Crist over Rubio, they need to have the same standard for Congressional, legislative, and county races. But I won’t be holding my breath for a resolution on the GOP’s early involvement in the CD 12 race…

Many readers know that I used to manage campaigns in a former life. I also ran for state representative in 2002. I have seen first hand how the Republican Party gets involved in races before the primary. It happens in almost every race. Yet this is the first time we’ve seen this kind of widespread agitation over a common practice.

If our local leaders are that adamant about party meddling, they need to oppose it every time… even when the meddling benefits candidates they personally support.

Many Republican activists toss around the term RINO - “Republican In Name Only” - to describe fellow Republicans with whom they disagree on a few issues. Yes, I said a few.

Take Florida’s Republican Governor - Charlie Crist.

During his tenure, he decided to be a vocal leader on issues that are clearly not part of the Republican party’s core beliefs:

• He led the effort to make it easier to restore civil rights, including the right to vote, to convicted felons who have served their time.
• He supported efforts to reduce Florida’s dependence on fossil fuels by requiring 20% of our electricity produced in 2020 to come from renewable energy sources, from solar to wind to nuclear power.
• He understood the Federal stimulus bill pushed by President Barack Obama, borrowing money by selling bonds, could patch some glaring holes in the state’s budget. This includes money to pay for major capital projects that would otherwise be cut.
• He indicated during the 2006 campaign that he supports a form of civil unions, but does not support allowing same-sex couples to marry.

But at the same time he has supported issues that are core Republican principles:

• He pushed an effort to reduce property taxes. In 2008 Amendment 1 expanded the homestead exemption, granted portability, and capped value increases on non-homestead property. This year he pushed the legislature to lower the non-homestead property cap and create an additional exemption for “first-time” home buyers.
• He supports efforts to expand safe exploration for oil, including waters off the coast of Florida. New sources of oil would reduce our dependence on foreign sources, and improve our national security.
• He has publicly supported changing the Federal income tax, replacing it with a flatter, more fair tax system.
• He strongly supports our Second Amendment rights, including signing legislation expanding our legal rights to carry a concealed weapon
• He helped hold the line on state spending, before the economic downturn affected Florida’s budget. As such the CATO Institute gave him an “A” on their 2008 fiscal report card, one of only three governors to earn such a grade.
• He supports the TABOR bill to limit and cap future government revenue. The bill failed to pass the legislature in 2009.

Former Speaker Marco Rubio recently (before today’s announcement) said that when Republicans start acting like Democrats, Republican’s fail. Sure, but look at the list - is Crist really that much different from most Republicans?

We never agree 100%.

You may not agree with Crist’s decisions on some issues, but clearly he is more Republican than some will admit.

A Statement from Mayor Iorio May 11, 2009

There has been a lot of political interest generated since Florida’s Senator Mel Martinez made his announcement about stepping down in 2010. I have gotten my share of phone calls and letters from people wanting to know what political plans I had for the future.

Over the past several months, I have given much thought to this and have concluded that 2010 is not the right time to pursue a statewide or national office. My four-year term as mayor does not end until March 2011 and I believe that running both the city of Tampa and a statewide campaign at the same time over the next eighteen months would shortchange the citizens of Tampa. Properly balancing the city’s budget in these difficult economic times deserves my full attention, as does the completion of the major capital improvement projects I began with the new Cultural Arts District along our downtown waterfront. Of particular importance to me, and to the entire region, is the major initiative of light rail, which needs time and strong support to become a reality.

I appreciate the words of encouragement and support from many friends and constituents but will not be announcing for any other office this year.

What a relief! Former Florida House Speaker, Marco Rubio, is in the run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Mel Martinez.  He indicated his desire for the post on Univision-Miami, however the official announcement is to be aired on Cinco de Mayo on his website www.MarcoRubio.com at 10:00am. 

Why not a press conference?  Who cares about speaking in front of reporters and supporters because at that point everyone knows why they were invited.  What Rubio is doing is a great way to keep people talking and keep the enthusiasm alive. 

By communicating through Univision, a website, and social networking tools clearly indicates his awareness of the important role Hispanics and the youth will play in the upcoming election.  Besides being bilingual, studies show Hispanics spend more time online than any other group mainly because the average age of Latinos is 27.  They are part of the larger “Millennial” generation, a cohort with political muscle. 

When you think about it, the Republican Party needs a catalyst like Rubio, who will bring a little Sazón (flavor) to the party and expand the party’s base by attracting the youth and Latino vote.  Sorry, if I am about to offend some of you, but enough with the blue-hairs in office!  Most people who don’t follow politics will say, “I want someone who I can relate to and looks like me.”

Let’s see where the moderate Charlie Crist stands later this week.  Some Republicans are disappointed with Crist and are looking for the light at the end of the tunnel with the more conservative Rubio.  Others have stated that Crist is still a shoo-in in a primary alluding to his 2006 win against a conservative Gallagher. 

Times are a changing!  In 2006, we did not have “Tea Parties” nor was there a strong presence of campaigning via social networking tools and YouTube.  Although Gallagher tried to paint Crist as “too liberal,” today Republicans are opening their eyes and feeling a little buyers remorse. 

Please tune into www.marcorubio.com today at 10:00am and come back for your comments.  

And so, the next thing for Florida politicos to discuss: Will Governor Charlie Crist run for re-election or for the United States Senate? And when?

So today on Twitter, there is a new #cristcountdown discussion.

What do you think? Post your tweet on Twitter:

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Bartlett correctly points out that the Republican Revolution led by Newt Gingrich in 1994 was because Democrats purged their more moderate members in 1974. And Democrats regained control only after adopting a “big tent” approach - by no longer insisting their members adhere to every plank on the platform.

History should be a dire warning to my fellow Republicans. Stop making the party a difficult place for the Arlen Specters and Olympia Snowes and Charlie Crists and John McCains. This party needs moderate voices, as Bartlett points out:

The party is now widely viewed as corrupt, incompetent, ideologically rigid and out of step with the American mainstream. It should be engaging in self-examination, developing an agenda that addresses the real problems faced by Americans and reaching out to the millions of voters who have left the GOP in recent years. Instead, Republicans are pushing out the last of the party’s moderates as if that will somehow make them more popular with the very moderates whose votes are essential if they are to regain power.

If Republicans really want to take back Congress and win back the White House, then we have to abandon ideology and adopt a pragmatic approach. Snowe wrote:

There is no plausible scenario under which Republicans can grow into a majority while shrinking our ideological confines and continuing to retract into a regional party. Ideological purity is not the ticket back to the promised land of governing majorities — indeed, it was when we began to emphasize social issues to the detriment of some of our basic tenets as a party that we encountered an electoral backlash.

It is for this reason that we should heed the words of President Ronald Reagan, who urged, “We should emphasize the things that unite us and make these the only ‘litmus test’ of what constitutes a Republican: our belief in restraining government spending, pro-growth policies, tax reduction, sound national defense, and maximum individual liberty.” He continued, “As to the other issues that draw on the deep springs of morality and emotion, let us decide that we can disagree among ourselves as Republicans and tolerate the disagreement.”

I couldn’t agree more. We can’t continue to fold our philosophical tent into an umbrella under which only a select few are worthy to stand. Rather, we should view an expansion of diversity within the party as a triumph that will broaden our appeal. That is the political road map we must follow to victory.

We are at a crucial crossroads for the GOP. In one direction lies the return to national prominence by broadening our philosophy. In the other lies the perpetual minority of true ideological principles. Which do we choose?

This Wednesday, as few could ignore, was the filing deadline for federal income tax forms.  While approximately 138 million Americans are responsible for lawfully complying with this annual requirement, not all are satisfied with the way in which their tax dollars will likely be, or already have been, spent.

Consequently, large numbers of individuals decided to participate in organized rallies nationwide, disapproving of federal fiscal policy and budgetary decisions.  In arguably the largest collection of citizen gatherings since the campaigns of the 2008 Presidential election, these rallies, appropriately titled “Tea Parties,” expressed opposition to several recent acts of Washington officials.  They held up signs decrying Congress’ irresponsible spending and gave speeches warning of our country’s historically high and swiftly increasing federal debt.

They protested increasing taxes and decreasing preparation for our country’s fiscal future.  For at least one day, people paid part of their attention to the highest levels of elected government in this country.  Local community leaders and others speaking at the assemblies drew attention to a political climate in Washington which has perhaps too frequently produced or cultivated politicians – Republican or Democrat – who appear out of touch with the very people whom they were elected to represent.

It is true that we will never experience a shortage of those who act to promote themselves personally, especially in the political realm, or to promote the agenda of a narrow interest group or a political party.  Plato wrote of this in 380 BC, Cicero in 44 BC, and James Madison in 1787, when he explained the dangers, but recognized the inevitable existence, of factions in Federalist No. 10.  One distinction with the issues of the April 15 Tea Parties that may be drawn, however, is that few issues affect all persons in this nation so broadly and in such a real way as that of taxation.

As a teacher, when highlighting Florida’s spending process and comparing it to that of Congress in Washington, I have noticed that students tend to wonder, “What’s the difference?”  They have wanted to know, specifically, why national government officials can expend unlimited funds without any necessary correlation to revenues from taxes, fees, investments, and other sources of income, while our state officials may not.  I explain that, in Florida, legislators operate under a balanced budget requirement.  This provision was added to our state constitution in 1868.  The safeguard is solidified in state statute as well.

For Congress – in fact, for both the executive and legislative branches of the federal government – no balanced budget requirement exists.  The President is not required to submit to Congress a budget that is balanced, and Congress is not required to balance its annual appropriations with actual revenues received by the U.S. Treasury.  At the federal level, nothing similar to a balanced budget requirement has had much likelihood of passing since 1997.  Then, after passing the U.S. House, one such proposal to amend to the U.S. Constitution failed, by simply one vote, in the U.S. Senate.  That is not to suggest that nobody has since tried again.  Several recent attempts were made by members of Congress in February and July of 2005, in 2006, and in 2007.  Yet none was successful.

At the present, for you, me, and fellow Floridians, what does this mean?  For taxpayers who would like lawmakers in Washington to operate under the spending limitations of a balanced budget, of what possibilities should they be aware?

Three things:

1) We may consider encouraging state legislatures to follow the lead of Florida and 31 other states voting in favor of petitioning Congress to call a constitutional convention.  The only way in our system of government to call a constitutional convention is for at least two-thirds of state legislatures, or 34 total, to request it.  Ohio’s legislature held a vote last year to become the 33rd state in agreement, however, the measure was voted down.

2) We may wish to engage in a more concerted support of the election and re-election of those candidates and members to Congress that will sponsor or support a balanced budget amendment.  If the proposed amendment were to pass Congress, it would not necessitate a signature from the President to be considered for ratification by the states.  The amendment would be a joint resolution, not ordinary legislation subject to a veto or other influence after passage.

And 3) We should be pleased, thankful, and joyful that our state legislators will wind-up their annual session in two weeks’ time, with a balanced budget for Florida for Fiscal Year 2009-10.

(Further, as a bonus: 4) The state budget and its myriad of components, due to this year’s “Transparency Florida” initiative announced in March by leaders in the Florida Senate, is scheduled to come online to the public in about three months.  This online version is expected to be current, detailed, and easily searchable.)

On Thursday, the Florida Senate unanimously passed their appropriations bill.  The Florida House passed their version on Friday.  Our beloved State of Sunshine may be operating within some presently cloudy economic times, but, with the assurance of a balanced budget compromise forthcoming from our legislature, Floridians may remain confident that, at least for now, no new Tea Parties may be necessary – unless they are next located on Washington’s National Mall.

After hearing speeches from yesterday’s Tea Parties, GOPers are making a mistake in attacking the Obama administration or Democrats.  The basis of Tea Parties was that we as Americans are tired of big government spending; this includes both Ds and Rs.  We have to admit that some of our guys are responsible for signing off on pork-barrel projects and sweeteners as well.  Hmmm, is that maybe one of the many reasons we lost a majority up in DC?  Is that not when some of us started to act like Democrats and go on a shopping spree?  Yes, now it is in the hands of the Democrats for passing and signing off on the largest spending bill, but it was just yesterday when some off us agreed to passing some bailouts.   

The more we show that we are Americans first before Republicans, then the rest of the nation will see our way.  The more we challenge ourselves to take a stand and hold even our fellow GOP elected officials accountable, the more others will give us credit for having “cojones.”  Although some of Reagan’s opinions were not popular at the time, people still admired him for having the “cojones” for taking a lead.  Heck, this also means that we should not be afraid to challenge an incumbent if he or she has a record of tax and spend.  Look what is currently happening in Pennsylvania with Toomey v. Specter.  It may be a Democrats dream to have a Republican incumbent lose a primary but not if we continue to remind Americans that all Americans should be upset with tax and spend policies, which obviously Democrats will continue to do so.  Democrats have not and will not learn the lessons we recently experienced however we also have to accept that some of our fellow Republicans did not fail just us but all Americans.  

So who is next in line and ready for the challenge?