Gov candidate Nan Rich faults Fla Dem senators on Medicaid expansion

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Nan Rich is campaigning in Pinellas County today, where she caught up with The Buzz at the Safety Harbor Library. It's time Democrats nominate a south Floridian for governor, she said, and whether Bill Nelson or Charlie Crist runs, she's staying in the race.

The former Florida Senate Democratic Leader also suggested that Democratic senators this year misplayed their hand on Medicaid expansion. Rather than immediately embracing the Senate GOP's proposed alternative to Medicaid expansion, Rich said, Democratic senator may have been better off calling for straight Medicaid Expansion. That could have helped persuade the Florida House to view the Senate Medicaid alternative as a more palatable compromise....

Winner and loser of the week in Fla politics

Winner of the week: Florida House members. Wouldn't it be grand to have taxpayers subsidize your health insurance so you only have to pay $8 a month for your insurance or $30 for your entire family? Even as the GOP majority thundered against $51 billion in federal money to insure more than 1 million low-income Floridians, no one suggested trimming the cushy plan that comes with their part-time jobs....

Obama's gifts to Marco Rubio

TAMPA — Sen. Marco Rubio's efforts to reform immigration may be drawing skepticism from many conservatives. But scandals facing the White House have allowed him to shift his message back to the one that made him a star in the first place: The threat to America posed by excessive government.
 
Rubio captivated more than 700 people at the Hillsborough GOP's annual Lincoln Day Dinner on Saturday night with a familiar speech that resonated more strongly than ever amid revelations that the Internal Revenue Service targeted conservative groups, the U.S. Department of Justice spied on Associated Press reporters, and administration staff carefully calibrated their explanations of the Benghazi attack.
 
"What we've seen in the last seven or eight days have really shaken me," Rubio said. "History teaches us that when government is too large and too powerful, no matter who's in charge, it will lead to abuses."...

National attention on Fla House special election victor

The big state House special election victory by Northwest Florida tea party leader Mike Hill, an African-American conservative, taking on some establishment favorites, is generating national attention. Former Panhandle congressman Joe Scarborough suggested Hill's victory may partly reflect fallout from the IRS's targetting of tea party groups.

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Fla GOP launches "Prevent Pelosi Project" fundraising campaign

The Florida GOP is kicking off a fundrasing campaign to protect incumbent Republican U.S. House members and Republican challengers, with the first fundraising pitches hitting mailboxes this week. The message is clear from the name of the campaign: the "Prevent Pelosi Project."

"Using Nancy Pelosi as the focal point for what's wrong in Washington D.C. helped Mark Sanford overcome a lot of setbacks to win his race in South Carolina," said Florida Republican party chairman Lenny Curry. "Down here in Florida, the chance to prevent Nancy Pelosi from returning to power will be just as successful in most of our 29 congressional districts."...

Fed up, RNC's Fla Hispanic outreach director becomes Democrat

Presumably few Republican operatives have a better handle on the national Repubublican party's efforts to court Hispanic voters than Pablo Pantoja, a native of Puerto Rico, and Florida State University alum appointed by the Republican National Committee to oversee Hispanic outreach in Florida last year. He also worked as a field director in the 2010 midterm elections....

Don't underestimate Rick Scott re-election prospects

It's way too early to count out Rick Scott for a second term. • His poll numbers are stubbornly bleak — only one in three voters say he deserves a second term — and despite plenty of coaching, he still displays the natural charm and warmth of an automaton. • But 77 weeks before Election Day, Democrats lack a consensus candidate, Scott is methodically raising money for his re-election and every day the political landscape improves for him as Florida's economy perks up.
 
"It's working" is the governor's mantra, and whether credit belongs to Scott's policies, the White House or inevitable economic cycles, Florida's economy is rebounding under Scott's leadership. ...

Winner and loser of the week in Fla politics

Winner of the week: Rick Scott. After a week when Hertz announced it's moving its corporate headquarters from New Jersey to South Florida, and Coca-Cola announced it will spend $2 billion on Florida oranges over the next two decades, the Scott administration's slogan — "It's working" — sounds pretty defensible.

Loser of the week: Don Gaetz. The Justice Department says the hospice company founded by the Florida Senate president engaged in Medicare fraud for more than 11 years, including during the time Gaetz was vice chairman. Yeesh. Our governor got rich leading a company accused of Medicare fraud and our Senate president got rich with a company accused of Medicare fraud?...

Charlie Crist touts big-tent appeal of Democratic Party

TAMPA — Charlie Crist, the lifelong Republican who could be the Democrats' best hope at taking back the Governor's Mansion in 2014, told activists in Tampa Saturday night that his old party has changed to the point that he's far more comfortable as a big-tent Democrat.

"It's about blacks, it's about whites, it's about gays, it's about wherever you come from, you're welcome in this party," said the former Republican governor, recounting how former Democratic Gov. LeRoy Collins stood beside civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. despite political repercussions such as the ones Crist faced after embracing President Barack Obama and his stimulus package....