Young stands by his 'no' vote on bailout

Rep. C.W. Bill Young stands by his vote against the $700-billion economic bailout, arguing Congress didn't have time to thoroughly review it.

Young, R-Indian Shores, told the Times editorial board on Friday that he did not like the way the legislation was twice rushed to a full House vote without proper scrutiny by committees. He criticized Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's failure to warn Congress of the financial problems quickly enough and called his answers leading up the crisis evasive.

Young also called President Bush a lame duck president and acknowledged the awkwardness of dealing with such a crisis so close to a presidential election. Politically, he said, the smartest course of action for members of Congress was to vote against the bailout.

Young said he believed Congress should have remained in session and continued to work on the problem, holding hearings and calling the some of the country's brightest economic minds to Washington to testify. "We're relying on the people who got us into the problem to help try to fix it," he said.

Palin piles up cash for McCain

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin showed her fundraising skills during last week's trip to Florida. Her appearances in Boca Raton and Naples brought in $1.5-million apiece and a Jacksonville stop netted an estimated $1.2-million, according to Brian Ballard, co-chairman of John McCain's national finance team.

Hispanics snub Obama

A poll by the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Educational Fund finds that while Barack Obama overwhelmingly leads McCain in other states with big Hispanic populations — Colorado, New Mexico, and Nevada — Florida Hispanics are closely split, with 38 percent backing McCain and 35 percent backing Obama.

Biden: Obama crying the baseball blues

Sen. Joe Biden explained to the crowd at USF on Wednesday that part of the reason he instead of Obama was there is the whuppin' Obama's beloved White Sox took from the Rays. "The man's hurting right now. That's the only reason he's not here right now."

Dems lead in signups

The Florida Democratic Party says it is winning the voter registration war. Citing figures from the Department of State, the party said 72,189 Floridians registered as Democrats while 52,070 people registered as Republicans in September. Between Jan. 1 and Sept. 30 of this year, 803,909 people have registered to vote, including 360,478 Democrats, 253,294 independents and "no party affiliation," and 190,137 Republicans.

Martinez on TV

Check out Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., today on Political Connections on Bay News 9. The show airs at 11 a.m. and 8 p.m.

Alex Leary, Jennifer Liberto, Adam C. Smith and Steve Bousquet contributed to this week's Buzz.