News
RPOF Press Release - October 01, 2007
Tallahassee—The Republican Party of Florida launched a new feature on its website today, the Democrat Fundraiser tracker. The feature, which can be viewed at www.rpof.org/dem/, highlights the recent announcement by the Democrat presidential candidates that they will obey Democrat National Committee rules and boycott the state of Florida unless they are coming here to collect a campaign check.
“We think it’s important for voters across the state to know what Florida Democrats are saying about the issue," noted RPOF Chairman Jim Greer, "including Democrat Senate Leader Steven Geller’s quote, ‘When you're coming for our money, not our votes, I resent that, and I think the voters resent that … If you're too good to campaign in Florida, you're not going to use us as an ATM.’” (News-Press.com, 9/5/07; Tampa Tribune, 9/3/07).
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Sun-Sentinel - September 28, 2007
Tallahassee--The battle raging between Florida Democrats and their national leaders over the state's primary date is already costing the party money and grassroots support — but now some worry it will cost votes that could be crucial if the 2008 presidential contest is a squeaker.
"It's reinforcing the image of the gang that can't shoot straight," said state Senate Democratic Leader Steve Geller of Cooper City.
And there is no end in sight.
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New York Times - September 27, 2007
All the major Democratic candidates for president have signed a pledge promising they will only go to Florida or Michigan when they want to raise money.
Among the really bad ideas in the history of the Democratic Party, this ranks somewhere between butterfly ballots and William Jennings Bryan.
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Associated Press - September 26, 2007
Tallahassee-- Florida's public schools brought home a glowing "report card" Tuesday with all elementary and middle school math and reading scores improving in 2007 compared to a similar federal analysis two years ago.
The National Assessment of Educational Progress also showed Florida's fourth graders continued to score above the national average in both subjects on standardized tests. The state's eighth-graders, though, remained below the national average in both, but they are closing the gap.
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St. Pete Times - September 26, 2007
Tallahassee--The Florida Republican Party is happily shining the spotlight on the turmoil and infighting among Florida and national Democrats over theJan. 29 presidential primary.
Their message?
If the Democrats running for president are going to boycott Florida's primary and the national party doesn't want to count the primary votes, come on over to the GOP.
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Herald Tribune - September 25, 2007
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- The Republican Party of Florida is using the feud between state and national Democrats over Florida's early presidential primary as an opportunity to convert voters to the GOP, saying in a mailer that Democrats' votes won't count in the election.
The mailer, to go out this week, quotes Florida Democrats criticizing the Democratic National Committee's decision to strip the state of its delegates. The party is using voter data to target thousands of Democrats it believes would be receptive to the message, said party spokeswoman Erin VanSickle.
"The Democrats in Washington are out of touch. Now - thanks to their egos and political in-fighting - you, as a Florida Democrat, may lose your vote," the mailer reads.
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Miami Herald - September 25, 2007
Voters trying to understand the brouhaha over Florida's early presidential primary need only refer to, ahem, the Democratic National Committee's Delegate Selection Rule 20c(1b).
From Hillary Clinton's headquarters near Washington to Bill Richardson's campaign office in Albuquerque, N.M., the arcane precept is being dusted off now that Florida faces sanctions from the DNC for moving up its primary to Jan. 29. The DNC's calendar allows only four smaller states to vote that early.
The penalties become official at 5 p.m. Saturday. Florida delegates will be excluded from the 2008 Democratic convention. And a pledge signed by all of the major candidates not to campaign in scofflaw states goes into effect.
But what exactly does ''campaign'' mean?
That's where Rule 20c(1b) comes in.
It includes a 126-word, rather dense but very comprehensive definition of campaigning: buying newspaper ads, broadcasting commercials, e-mailing voters, calling voters, distributing campaign materials, hiring campaign workers, making public appearances and holding press conferences.
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Palm Beach Post - September 21, 2007
The Republican Party is trying to push Rep. Tim Mahoney into signing a petition that would bring a GOP leadership-sponsored rule to the House floor.
Mahoney's office calls it a “political football” and accuses the Republicans of springing the issue on them and then demanding he support it.
Here's the issue.
Earlier this year, the House adopted new ethics rules that would require provisions earmarking specific spending to be identified by sponsor and subject to debate on the House floor. But the rule only applied to earmarks contained in the annual appropriations bills. It did not apply to earmarks included in bills authorizing federal programs or those related to taxes.
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St. Petersburg Times - September 20, 2007
There's a question from Santa Claus. There's a question from Mr. Potato Head.
And yes, there's another question about global warming from a snowman.
But of the close to 2,000 video questions already submitted for the Republican presidential candidates coming to St. Petersburg this fall, the vast majority are asked by regular people sitting in front of a simple camera.
The St. Petersburg GOP debate and its unusual format caused an immediate ruckus in some Republican circles.
They feared a political ambush. Or some Web-savvy attack. Or just the unexpected.
But, so far, there appears little reason to worry.
A review of the videos submitted on the Web site YouTube reveals there's not much that the candidates aren't already asked on a near daily basis.
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St. Petersuburg Times - September 19, 2007
It's beginning to look like Des Moines, Iowa around here.
Republican presidential candidates have been campaigning so often in the Tampa Bay area lately that it's no longer even a big deal for people to press the flesh with potential leaders of the free world. In smaller states like Iowa and New Hampshire, constant visits by presidential candidates are nothing new, but Florida is getting loads of campaign love since leaders moved the presidential primary from March to Jan. 29.
At La Casa Dolce, a South Tampa Gelato joint, 27-year-old Mike Swenson on Monday night even managed to get a face-to-face brushoff from Rudy Giuliani after asking the former New York City mayor whether he knew ahead of time about the Sept. 11 attacks.
"I wasn't expecting to get so close," said Swenson, clearly impressed.
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