Kendrick Meek defeats billionaire

Miami Gardens Congressman Kendrick Meek,43, defeated billionaire Jeff Greene for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate by an impressive 25%.  Meek will face Gov. Charlie Crist running as an Independent and Republican Mark Rubio in the fall.  Leading prognosticators give him little or no chance to win.

With Republicans divided, it should actually be easier for Kendrick to win if he is able to keep Democrats together and focused.  Gov. Crist will be stiff competition to keep White Democrats in the fold but it can be done.  Democrats know where Kendrick stands because of his record.  Until his polls went south, Crist was still a conservative Republican.  Now he is supposed to be “Independent” and sending private signals that he will caucus with Democrats should he be elected.  That is a weakness that can be exploited by Meek and should be.

In the race to Meek in Congress, voters selected State Senator Fredericka Wilson, 68, over a field of  eight other candidates.  Wilson defeated Haitian American Physician Rudy Moise and Miami Gardens Mayor Shirley Gibson by a wide margin to become the newest member of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Senator Wilson was always the front runner in this race despite being vastly outspent by millionaire Rudy Moise by more than three to one.    Moise dropped a million into this race and came up very short.

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Corrine Brown assimilated by Hillary

The Clinton Campaign today announced the endorsement of Florida Congresswoman Corrine Brown.

 

“Hillary Clinton has the best combination of strength, experience and intellect to be President and lead from her first day in the White House,” Brown said. “As she’s repeatedly done as Senator, she will bring people together to get results.”

First elected to Congress in 1992, Brown has been an outspoken advocate for expanding the Veterans Affairs budget to provide better healthcare and benefits for soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. As Chair of the Transportation Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials, Brown has worked to pass comprehensive rail safety legislation and strengthen America’s Homeland Security.

Before her election to Congress, Brown served 10 years in the Florida House of Representatives.

“I admire Corrine’s tireless work on behalf of our veterans to ensure they get the health care and benefits they need and deserve” Clinton said. “I am honored to have her support, and I look forward to working together as we bring our message of change across Florida.”

-Obama is now 0-3 with the CBC in Florida.    These Negroes were pivotal-as was the state-and he lost them all.   Of course with the GOP moving up the primary into the prohibited “pre-window period” in January, it effectively took the entire state out of the Democratic Primary process because the DNC will not honor whatever happens there or seat delegates.

Election Update

Latina State Senator Jenny Oropeza and African American Assemblywoman Laura Richardson and Valerie McDonald, daughter of the late Juanita Millender McDonald square off Tuesday in the special election to replace the Congresswoman. If anyone receives 50% of the vote, she wins the seat outright, otherwise, the top vote getter in each parties primary vies for the seat in July. The latest fundraising numbers show a tight money chase between Oropeza and Richardson with Valerie McDonald bringing up the rear. In the endorsement game, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has not weighed in as expected but the California Democratic Party has, endorsing Oropeza. Moreover, the bulk of organized labor has endorsed Richardson.

Serious competition in the form of Long Beach Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske was averted when she abruptly pulled out of the race after her constituents implored her to stay on the Council. That leaves the white vote largely up for grabs and it leans heavily toward Oropeza. Latino voters are united in support of Oropeza while African American voters, who vote in larger numbers than Latinos, are split between McDonald and Richardson, with the lion’s share going to Richardson because of her broader political support despite substantial Congressional Black Caucus support for McDonald’s candidacy.

The California Legislative Black Caucus is united behind Richardson and the political leadership of heavily African American enclaves in the district: Compton and Carson are almost all united for Richardson. Other African American candidates in this race are just vanity candidates and unlikely to garner significant support. If the Congressional Black Caucus retains this seat, it will be in spite of their divided efforts, not because it did anything to support the winner.

In other news, Florida Congressman Alcee Hastings has drawn a challenger in the form of Belle Glades, Florida City Commissioner Ray Torres Sanchez. Sanchez, a funeral director, will challenge Hastings in the Democratic primary where he presumably will be crushed.

Two Maryland races are heating up significantly. The race for Maryland’s 4th Congressional district between Corporate Shill Al Wynn and Donna Edwards is moving along swimingly with both sides trading pointed barbs and rhetoric. Al Wynn is now an unabashed war critic after having voted against war funding for the first time this month. His about face is striking given the cozy corporate collusion and whoring he had no problem with before he was almost defeated by Donna last September.

Lastly, the first television ad was run in the race for Baltimore Mayor as Incumbent Mayor Sheila Dixon announced the kick-off of her campaign for Mayor and her push to take Baltimore to the next level. With a campaign account upwards of $ 1 million and the most professional city administration in history, she is the odds on favorite in this contest for a full four year term as Mayor. Accomplished and detail oriented, Mrs. Dixon has made her presence felt in Baltimore and is coming to grips with its intractable budgetary and crime problems.

 

 

Florida Governor restores felon voting rights

By Michael Peltier, Reuters

TALLAHASSEE, Florida (Reuters)- Florida officials on Thursday voted to end the practice of stripping ex-criminal offenders of their civil rights, including the right to vote.

Florida is one of just three U.S. states, all in the Deep South, that have maintained long-standing constitutional barriers to restoring civil rights to those that have committed serious crimes, rights groups say.

Meeting in a special session, the Florida Clemency Board agreed by a 3-1 vote to allow some 950,000 ex-felons to automatically have their civil rights restored, removing a barrier that goes back 140 years.

The changed rules still require the state’s most serious offenders — murderers and sexual offenders — to undergo a formal review by the four-member panel led by Republican Gov. Charlie Crist.

“We must provide a system to allow these people to become productive members of society,” said Crist, invoking Passover and the Easter holidays as a time of forgiveness.

The vote pitted Crist against Attorney General Bill McCollum, also a Republican and the sole dissenter in the ruling, and is just one of a raft of ways in which Crist is distinguishing himself from his predecessor as governor,

Jeb Bush, the president’s younger brother.

This is HUGE Y’all.   HUGE.   HE JUST REINFRANCHISED 950,000 people.  The Governor of Florida is a REPUBLICAN!!!!  This is HUGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!