Florida’s billionaire Gov. Rick Scott paid for his first campaign out of his own incredibly deep pockets. This time around, he promised to fund his reelection efforts through more traditional means, but as Charlie Crist’s camp has seen an incredible last-minute fundraising surge, Scott has changed his mind. He’s writing…
After the bizarre #Fangate moment during last week’s gubernatorial debate between Rick Scott and Charlie Crist, don’t expect any similar shenanigans tonight. CNN is hosting the event, and they run a tight ship. The 24-hour news channel has explicitly banned fans from the podium. Oddly, they’ve also banned other media…
For all the Colbert and Daily Show hilarity and the week’s worth of Twitter hot takes, did Fangate actually matter in the race to decide who will be Florida’s next governor? Not according to a new poll out this morning. The Republican-leaning 0ptimus firm finds the two candidates virtually tied…
Almost as soon as #fangate went down, people were already tweeting, “Well, The Daily Show ought to have a field day with that.” Naturally, last night’s comedy shows couldn’t help but take on Rick Scott and Charlie Crist’s bizarre debate tiff over an electric fan. In fact, Jon Stewart decided…
When Miami Mayor Tomás Regalado pitched voters this summer on developer Jeff Berkowitz’s eye-opening plan to erect a gigantic paperclip on the bayfront, he repeatedly made a simple promise in ads: “Taxpayers win without putting in a cent.” It remains to be seen if anyone will win with the massive…
Politicians and fans have one thing in common. They both spin furiously. So it’s no surprise that Rick Scott and Charlie Crist are trying to spin last night’s bizarre brouhaha over a fan. Mind you, there are actually important issues to talk about, but let’s talk about #fangate. See also:…
Long before they could tackle issues like Florida’s economy, education funding or crime rates during tonight’s televised debate, Gov. Rick Scott took a proud stand on a far more important issue: Charlie Crist’s fan. Crist, for the uninitiated, has always insisted on having a fan blowing his direction during live…
Tonight, Gov. Rick Scott and ex-Gov. Charlie Crist will take a break from sliming each other in TV ads to share a stage at Broward College, where instead they’ll slime each other in a statewide televised debate. Voters will continue reviling both men, whose unfavorable ratings have each trended toward…
There’s been some low-key agonizing in Democratic circles over whether a visit from President Barack Obama to campaign for Charlie Crist would be a help or a hindrance. On one hand, Crist’s Democrat bonafides are still questioned by some tried-and-true Democratic voters who still remain loyal to Obama. On the…
Charlie Crist took campaign donations from owners of a strip club, and Rick Scott’s campaign is kicking up a fuss about it. Which is really actually funny because back in 2010 Rick Scott had to fend off criticism about his business connections to the Mexican edition of Playboy. What a…
You’re George Sheldon. You’re a Democrat running for attorney general against Pam Bondi, a woman whose name is always in the news for one controversy or another. Despite that most Floridians have no idea who you are, and you’re not doing so hot in the polls. So what do you…
With less than a month left before the election, most recent polls have shown Charlie Crist and Rick Scott switching slight leads well within the margin of error. The Real Clear Politics average of polls shows Crist with a 1.4 lead while Huffington Post’s Pollster gives Scott the 0.8 percent…
Local activists hope to bring the 2013 death of teenager Israel “Reefa” Hernandez at the hands of Miami Beach Police to the attention of the United Nations Committee Against Torture. The Dream Defenders and the Community Justice Project of Florida Legal Services have filed a report with the UN in…
It’s no secret Miami is experiencing another condo boom. Construction cranes once again screech and pivot over downtown. Towers that were stalled in 2009 are now complete. We are quickly running out of vacant lots to build on. So it’s little wonder that lawmakers are looking for solutions. Today, county…
Would Amendment 2 — Florida’s bid to legalize medical marijuana on this November’s ballot — really let convicted felons sell pot with no penalties? That’s what a new statewide ad urging voters to turn against the proposition claims, with an ominous voice intoning that “Even felons and drug dealers could…
The last time Xavier Suarez occupied a mayor’s office, it didn’t end so well. His second term as Miami mayor lasted just 111 days in 1997 before an absentee ballot scandal cost him his seat and a spate of bizarre behavior earned him the lasting nickname “Mayor Loco.” But Suarez…
What do you think Jeb Bush is more irked at his big brother George W. for right now: spilling the beans on his barely concealed presidential aspirations or reminding people that they’re brothers? In a new interview with Fox News (of course) the second President Bush revealed that he’s pretty…
Yesterday we noted that a pro-Rick Scott web ad that parodied Say Yes to the Dress was so insulting to the intelligence of young female voters that we didn’t feel the need to point it out, but, hey, Florida Democratic Party Chair Allison Tant decided it need to be said…
Just in time for Floridians to head to the polls again next month, two new studies have confirmed that wait times at the polls in Florida during the 2012 election were, frankly, a god damned embarrassment and a level of incompetence that undermined the very values of our great nation…
Two-time Miami Beach mayoral candidate Steve Berke had himself a pro-medical marijuana parody hit on YouTube with “You’re the Law that I Want (Yes on 2).” Set to the song “You’re the One That I Want” from the musical Grease, Berke and his crew dance and sing while urging Florida…
Perhaps the only thing with less integrity on television than reality TV is political advertising. Both twist facts into overly dramatic fake drama, but one genre is meant for brain-dead entertainment and the other is meant to help shape the future of our democracy. So it’s a little ironic that…
Ana Alliegro, the former David Rivera campaign manager and “Conservative Bad Girl” currently serving six months house arrest for her part in a fake candidate scheme, posted a long statement on her Facebook page. While admitting that some of her actions “were wrong and illegal,” she also excoriates Rivera’s former…
