The following piece was produced by the Huffington Post's OffTheBus project.
Florida - home of the hanging chads of 2000 fame - just cannot get away from controversy.
Now, it is not only about State Democrats fighting the national party. Republicans now have their own Sunshine State slug-fest too.
Last week, Republicans were laughing at the squabbles of the Democrats. This week, the Dems are returning the favor, calling into question the leadership of the Republican-dominated Florida legislature.
First, a look at the Democrats.
Sen. Bill Nelson and Cong. Alcee Hastings, as expected, went to court to ask the judiciary to tell the Democratic National Committee and its leader Howard Dean that they must accept Florida's 27 delegates to the national convention, as per the will of the 4 million Dems predicted to go to the polls for the Jan. 29 primary. The Florida Democratic party, headed by former Congresswoman Karen Thurman, is defying the DNC, which has said it will not recognize delegates chosen before Feb. 5 with the exceptions of Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina.
The Nelson-Hastings lawsuit escalated the feud and made headlines all over Florida. "Democrats Sue Party over Primary" screamed the South Florida Sun-Sentinel in one-inch high bold headlines. The Sun-Sentinel is based in Broward county (Fort Lauderdale), often labeled the most Democratic county in America. The story led almost every Florida print newspaper and was a major topic of conversation on local Sunday morning TV talk shows.
"We want our say in whom the party nominates," said Ann Zucker, president of the Council of Democratic Clubs in vote-rich Broward.
Anger at the DNC was evident at Democratic gatherings this week. State and National Committeewoman Diane Glasser of Tamarac told the Weston Democratic Club Monday evening that the candidate's pledge not to campaign in Florida could backfire. "What would the candidates do, if the State decided to put Al Gore on the ballot?" She reminded the audience that the State could eventually decide who are the "viable candidates." A recent email campaign has been soliciting funds for advertising, urging Al Gore to jump into the presidential pool.
On the heels of the lawsuit, party officials are moving ahead to organize its state convention in Orlando Oct. 26-28. Presidential candidates and now their spouses (with the exception of Rep. Dennis Kucinich and Sen. Mike Gravel) have pledged not to campaign in the Sunshine State until the DNC and Florida's party comes to terms. So, instead of having the top-tier candidates on the state confab rostrum, convention organizers have been scouting for speakers. So far, the state Democratic party has announced that U.S. Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland will deliver the keynote address at the State Convention dinner. Congressman Hoyer, billed as "the second highest-ranking Democrat in the House," will be be joined on the convention program by Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey, a luncheon speaker.
There is still a long-shot glimmer of hope that the Nelson-Hastings lawsuit could unleash the presidential candidates on Orlando. In the meantime, volunteers are planning to do everything possible to win the hearts of the 3,000 party faithful expected there. But, the most exciting pre-convention official news touted by party leaders is that the legendary band Orleans will perform at a Convention Celebration.
Fueling the anger in Florida are two items: first, the DNC's approval of fund-raising in the State and second, the widely circulated story that some of the presidential candidates have been given the go-ahead by the DNC to speak to an Arab-American group in Michigan, even though they are forced to duck the Florida convention. Michigan is also moving up its primary date.
And in GOP News.
The Florida legislature is in the midst of a special 10-day session (the fourth special session in 2007) called by GOP Gov. Charlie Crist. He called the legislators to Tallahassee to plug a million dollar shortfall in the budget, but the House and Senate leadership had priorities before acting on the budget.
The Florida legislature for the past eight years has been dominated by Republicans, controlling both chambers by big margins. While the Democrats are opposed to cutting funds for services and education and want to tap into Florida's financial reserves and stop tax breaks for special business interests to make up the shortfall, State Republicans have indicated they will vote for cutbacks in funding: schools (along with tuition hikes), hospitals and social programs. The governor just says he wants a balanced budget. So far, it has been a jousting match. In order to meet Constitutional requirements, the budget must be approved by Friday.
Gov. Crist asked the GOP leadership to concentrate on the budget balancing. But House Speaker Marco Rubio (Rep.-Miami), rumored to be eyeing the governor's mansion himself, wanted more. He wanted to take up and revise a complicated property tax plan that was supposed to be voted by the public Jan. 29, but was thrown off the ballot by Leon County (Tallahassee) Circuit Judge Charles Frances, who called the proposal "misleading." Gov. Crist and Rubio's anticipated successor as House speaker Ray Sansom (Rep.-Destin) want to hold up on rewriting the canceled property tax plan until another session. Agreeing, Democratic Rep. Martin Kier of Davie also echoed his party's stand to delay a rush to action. "We need another session devoted entirely to property tax reform We are going to pass a real and meaningful program which will not gut education funding as a by-product."
In the meantime, State Senate President Ken Pruitt (Rep.-Port St, Lucie) insisted the legislators tackle insurance reform as its number one priority and they did, their single accomplishment. It has been a week of legislative leaders jockeying for headlines, touting their will to do what they each say is most urgent for Florida.
Legislative watchers say there will be more special sessions in 2007. And that also has national implications with GOP candidates for President seeking endorsements, even though the Republican National Committee has cut Florida's delegation in half because the legislators selected such an early primary vote.
Watching these stormy tiffs - by both Democrats and Republicans - is what Florida politics in 2007 seems to shout. It almost makes you yearn for the stillness of a hanging chad.
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