Barring any sort of crazy scandal or shakeup, you might as well refer to Rep. Connie Mack IV as the GOP’s presumptive senate nominee in Florida. He continues to poll heads and tails above his Republican primary competitors (and is now refusing to show up to debates, as he’s already…
Latin crooner Marc Anthony is hitting up the Fillmore on June 26, but perhaps the more exciting news is that his opening act is President Barack Obama. The two are hitting up the historic concert hall for a fundraiser, and tickets are selling for up to $5,000…
Florida is once again shaping up to be the biggest battleground of the 2012 election, and many election prognosticators have pointed out it’s would be nearly impossible for President Barack Obama to win Florida and still lose the general election. Though a poll in May showed Mitt Romney with a…
Read Jeb Bush’s lips: “Maybe a few new taxes.”The former Republican Governor of Florida came out today in favor of slight increases in taxes to reduce the federal budget deficit. Though he had one big caveat: every $1 in new taxes should be accompanied with a $10 cut to federal…
When Gov. Rick Scott’s administration began a statewide purge of “non-citizen” voters, it didn’t seem like a coincidence that the Miami Herald found the GOP-led effort disproportionately targeted Democrats, Hispanics and independents — many of whom were in fact eligible to vote. It was also no great shock that Scott’s…
By all accounts, Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi was supposed to fly this weekend to a lavish luxury resort with a couple dozen of her closest friends, family and colleagues (including Gov. Rick Scott) and tie the knot with her fiance, Dr. Greg Henderson. Then something happened. No one is…
Barring a major scandal or a major demographic change in his district, local Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart isn’t in danger of losing his seat anytime soon, and anyone trying to beat him isn’t going to get much attention. Unless of course the person running against Diaz-Balart decides to do something crazy,…
Two weeks ago, Chicago police announced that they had thwarted a devilish plot by three “Black Bloc” anarchists with ties to Occupy Miami. Cops arrested Brian Church, Jared Chase, and Brent Betterly as they were allegedly in the middle of making Molotov cocktails they planned to throw at targets around…
It’s actually kind of hilarious how far Republican candidates try to flee from any connection to Charlie Crist considering that the former Governor remains modestly popular among Floridians who are not true believers in the conservative moment. In fact, he’s a lot more popular than our current, strictly conservative Republican…
Many believe that Carlos Gimenez’s endorsement from several gay rights groups in the Miami-Dade County mayoral election helped propel him to a narrow victory over Julio Robaina. So why the hell was he speaking at a breakfast sponsored by the Christian Family Coalition, a fringe organization most notable for opposing…
Debbie Wasserman Schultz is one of the Democratic Party’s fiercest defenders of Israel. She was the first Jewish congresswoman elected from Florida, she backed George W. Bush’s hardline approach to peace negotiations in Palestine, and she was instrumental in the U.S. declaring May “Jewish American Heritage Month.”But apparently that wasn’t…
Is there such a thing as reading too much into the schedule of a book tour? Maybe, maybe not, but the Associated Press just got a hold of Marco Rubio’s touring schedule to promote his upcoming memoir, An American Son, and, well, what do you know, it hits up a…
Florida Gov. Rick Scott is taking his political follies to the international level.King Juan Carlos I is feeling the fallout of one of the biggest controversies of his life for going on an elephant hunting trip in Botswana. It’s a touchy subject in the country right now. Scott is on…
Another day, another poll, another outcome. Yesterday, Qunnipiac released a poll in Florida that found Mitt Romney had taken the lead in Florida, and today they’ve released a poll showing that Bill Nelson and Connie Mack IV are now tied in the Senate race. Though, today also saw the release…
For the first time since the ugly Republican primaries ended with a Mitt Romney win, the GOP nominee has opened up a clear lead over President Obama among Florida voters, mostly for one, simple reason: the economy, stupid.More surprising than the six point lead Romney nabbed in a new poll…
The Sunlight Foundation has noticed an interesting and perhaps even troubling trend about the people who make our laws: the grade level that members of Congress speak at has taken a noticeable dip since 2005. The average member of Congress spoke at an 11.5 grade level in 2005, but now…
The Miami Heat owe Miami taxpayers millions in cost overruns to capital improvement projects on the American Airlines Arena. So says Miami-Dade Inspector General Chris Mazzella, in an audit report that hasn’t been publicly released yet but which sources close to the review have confirmed to Riptide.Mazzella has been pouring…
Does anyone know how to make a good political ad in this state? We mean, between Connie Mack IV’s monkeys on cocaine ad and Dave Weldon’s weird running video, we are starting to wonder. Turns out Democrats can’t do much better. The web attack ad they released connecting Senator Marco…
The GOP primary for the Senate nomination has been nothing short of tumultuous this year, with several candidates jumping in and out of the race. For a while there, it seemed Rep. Connie Mack IV was about to cruise to victory thanks largely to the name he shares with his…
Marco Rubio’s wife Jeanette has kept a relatively low profile despite her husbands growing national profile. While he’s in Washington, Jeanette Rubio usually stays behind in West Miami raising the couple’s four children. Though, she just gave her first extended interview in conjunction with her hubby to Politico. The timing…
Mitt Romney may preach smaller government, but he doesn’t mind the government getting all up in your body fluids. The Republican presidential candidate said today that he “doesn’t disagree” with Florida Governor Rick Scott’s controversial plan to drug test state workers…
It’s only May, but South Florida super-lobbyist Ron Book is already having one hell of a year in Tallahassee. This week, lobbyists filed their reports for 2012’s first quarter and since January, Book has already topped $1 million in fees. Who’s paying him all that cash? Along with every other…
