Kevin Burns announces shift to FL Senate race

This was at Wednesday meeting of Democracy For America-Miami.

MORE INFO:  At the short Miami Herald article on this development. This points out that there now is a primary between Burns and Gwen Margolis for state Senate District 35. This is my district, now held by Dan Gelber, who's running for attorney general.

One more Democrat for US Senate? Stay tuned

One more Miamian may be about to enter the race for the Democratic nomination for US Senate: Maurice Ferre, former mayor of Miami. He's in the Orlando Sentinel yesterday and in the Miami Herald's Naked Politics blog today. The latter says he will announce next Wednesday.

Other prominent Democrats in the race are Congressman Kendrick Meek of Miami and former Mayor Kevin Burns of North Miami. On the Republican side are Gov. Charlie Crist and former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio. This is the seat given up by the vanishing Mel Martinez. The primary is next August, election in November 2010.

UPDATE: There's a more complete story in the Friday Miami Herald.

Dem Blogger videos Republican Senate hopeful

In this piece your blogging videographer, or your videoing blogger, takes a step into Republican territory. Marco Rubio is the subject. He’s the former speaker of the Florida House of Representatives who’s vying with Gov. Charlie Crist to be the Republican candidate for US Senate in the 2010 election. Rubio is raking in about a tenth of Crist’s money, according to the Sept. 20 workup in the Miami Herald that described how Crist spends most of his time (on our dime, fellow taxpayers, but that’s politics, ain’t it) dialing for dollars or squeezing official events between his appearances at fundraisers.

Rubio’s counterpart of that latter activity – the fundraiser – is how I found myself in the same room with him for an hour Saturday evening, at my sailing club in Key Largo. One of the founding members is a leading local Republican, Ken Sorensen, who hosted a fundraiser for 50-60 people. I’ve had many a fine political argument at the sailing club bar with Sorensen, who is a former state representative and, then when termed-out, an assistant to Speaker Marco Rubio. Our last argument was about ACORN, and so it goes.

Speaking of ACORN, I was on the Herald website the other day and hit the editorial asserting that ACORN “must prove it’s squeaky clean” and be purged from top to bottom. In the Comments section I veered decidedly away from everyone who thought ACORN was below Lucifer. My comment suggested applying the same standard to the Republican Party, which even if confined to Jack Abramoff and his co-conspirators must have more people in jail than ACORN. Not to forget John “Torture Memo” Yoo, who’s got a column on the Herald op-ed page when he ought to be facing trial for war crimes. Yes, let’s do a top-to-bottom cleanup on the Republicans, and then turn to the small potatoes at ACORN.

Rubio, you’ll see in the following clip, took notice of my Flip camcorder and gave me a supporting role as citizen journalist sort of like the heroic “college students” who tipped us all off to the purportedly bad apples in an ACORN office. Well, Media Matters checked out some of that story and learned that the “college students” were Republican activists. Plus, the ACORN lady who sounded like Lizzy Borden with a propensity for killing her husband was just leading on the strange couple invading her office. The police say all her ex-husbands are alive and well. Anyway, that’s the poor backgrounding and unethical investigators you get from a far-right world where the gospel comes from Fox and Beck and no questions are asked.

You’ll hear Rubio, like everyone on his side, crow over how CBS and other media didn’t get this (over-hyped) story. Like George W. Bush, he’s probably mad that the US attorneys couldn’t find valid charges against ACORN, either. Well, there is this thing about ethics of prosecutions and of reporting, wherein you don’t start off by lying about who you are, like the “college students.” There is a place for hidden cameras and underground investigations, no doubt, but if Rubio’s taste prevails, “citizen journalism” will be the Wild Wild West.

As Rubio asks us to “listen closely,” I think I heard him saying that ACORN was “a front for political activists.” What’s that, some new offense? Maybe the “college kids” are “a front for political activists,” and we’ve got tit for tat here. Big deal. Readers are referred to the section above where I urge attention to war crimes first, small potatoes later.

The Atlantic, in its fresh October issue, has a rundown on rise of internet reporting with a close examination of how partisan politics is taking over from traditional media, and standards often suffer:

With journalists being laid off in droves, savvy political operatives have stepped eagerly into the breach. What’s most troubling is not that TV-news producers mistake their work for journalism, which is bad enough, but that young people drawn to journalism increasingly see no distinction between disinterested reporting and hit-jobbery.

In the next clip Rubio takes on Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson, against whom he’s not running, and Gov. Crist, his main opponent, and says he doesn’t know what they stand for. I thought I’d find something on Bill Nelson’s campaign website or official website to contradict Rubio, but something must be under construction. Well, Nelson doesn’t have to run until 2012, so he has an excuse. And there is plenty of information, though no platform in sight.

Next he’s talking about health care legislation (my question, he didn’t mention it in his stump speech, nor environment/energy/education except in the most sketchy way), and he makes a pretty wild statement about health care in the rest of the world, making it sound as if no country ever has had a good public health system. It may be that he’s defining it so narrowly (he’s a lawyer, after all) that it would have to be a single-payer system that didn’t have the tiniest smidgeon of rationing of care to meet his standard. Well, great, but we’re here in the real world where tons of countries get better results with lower expenditures than ours. And our care is rationed all the time by insurance companies that get rich by denying care.

In the following clip I can agree with his drift on malpractice, especially where he says there’s an overabundance of lawyers.

Finally, is it a waste of time to consider Rubio when Crist is raising money by the ton? If the primary were in a month or two it would be easy to dismiss the young (38) Rubio as someone polishing his resume to run against Bill Nelson two years later. But the primary is almost a year away, and Crist keeps getting skunked in Republican straw polls. What’s going on? A lot could happen.

Check out this story on Fine Print in which Rubio is itching to get into a debate with Crist. Could be interesting.

Meanwhile, our side's main contenders are Kendrick Meek, the congressman from Miami, and North Miami Mayor Kevin Burns.

For the record, the seat was held by one-termer Mel Martinez, who left for no good reason. Gov. Crist could have appointed himself to take the seat but instead named his sometime campaign manager George LeMieux, who's trying to live down the label of crony. So far has the US Senate fallen, when the Constitution, in the 17th Amendment, clearly prefers election rather than appointment to fill a vacancy. Now who's the strict constructionist? Your faithful blogger.

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Meek/Burns/Gelber US Senate politics at JJ meeting

Dan Gelber is stepping back. Kevin Burns is not. Kendrick Meek is confident of the Democratic nomination to run against whomever the Republicans put up for the US Senate seat being vacated by Mel Martinez.

UPDATE: Just learning at midnight Monday about a new entry in the US Senate race: Corrine Brown, U.S. Rep. from Jacksonville (FL-3) says she's considering a race for this seat.
ALSO: The Gelber campaign used my video of Gelber (see below) in a message to people in the Gelber Facebook group. Cool to be linked. It's also on the Broward New Times blog, where you also can see a snip on Corrine Brown.

That’s a bunch of names, and even more will enter the picture. Aside from the jockeying personalities and ambitions, the thing that stands out is a drive by many Florida Democrats to avoid divisive primaries in the 2010 elections – midterms in the presidential cycle but the year to elect the governor and the three other state cabinet officers. No incumbents seek re-election for the first time in over 130 years. Democrats are ambitious to grab all four so-called statewide offices – they only hold one now – and elect a Democrat to the US Senate.

This would be a tremendous state coup for Democrats on the heels of taking Florida’s 27 electoral votes for Barack Obama last November. But it goes against the typical history of midterm losses by the president’s party, and may not be possible anyhow unless the national economy brightens and makes voters more happy with Democrats. The Republicans, after all, also are trying to avoid tough primaries, though Marco Rubio, the deeply conservative former State House speaker, shows no sign of leaving the Senate field to Gov. Charlie Crist, the empty suit.

What do I know about the Republicans, anyway?

Here’s the way this played out among Democrats in public Saturday at the day of training and campaigning that was part of the Florida Democratic Party’s Jefferson-Jackson Day in the luxe venue of the newly renovated Fontainebleau Hotel on Miami Beach.

Dan Gelber, 48, my state senator (District 35), said he had walked a few hundred yards to the meeting from his Miami Beach home. Finding coffee at the GLBT Caucus room, he told this blogger he was likely to step back from the US Senate race and was talking to people about running for state attorney general. He’s a former federal prosecutor, one highlight in a busy resume of politics and public service, but his ambition in this direction runs up against another rising Democrat, state Sen. Dave Aronberg (FL-27), 38, who’s perhaps even more in need of a bigger job than Gelber. Gelber is early in his first state Senate term, while Aronberg is in his second and last. Term limits, Ta DA!

Some say Florida Democrats don’t have a deep bench of candidates. Gelber and Aronberg are evidence for the other view: that talent is abundant. Unfortunately, attorney general is a natural office for each of them.

Now I’ve mixed the race for state attorney general in with the US Senate. Let’s go back to the senatorial possibilities.

The hapless Mel Martinez announced last year, after being cashiered as head of the Republican Party, that he wouldn’t run for re-election to US Senate. The Democratic scramble started back in December when Gelber said he was thinking of the Senate. A month later Meek, 42, in his fourth term in the US House (FL-17), made the first official step into the race, and Gelber officially announced for US Senate soon thereafter. In February Kevin Burns, mayor of North Miami, launched his bid. This made the Democratic race an entirely Miami-Dade County affair, though the three are a diverse set, Meek being African-American, Gelber Jewish, and Burns gay, in a 26-year relationship and having an adopted, charming daughter. Hey, we’re Democrats. So what if it’s Florida and some parts of the state are still in the Deep South. I can’t help but think … Anyway. Get over it.

All three showed up at the Netroots Coalition training session Saturday morning and spoke briefly, setting wheels in motion. Here are video links to clips of their talks. Text summaries soon thereafter.

Key words from Gelber:

• “Every time we get involved with divisive primaries, we lose.”
• In recent election cycles, “there’s really only been one (Democratic) candidate who’s won, Alex Sink. Guess what – she didn’t have a primary. … I’m in this US Senate race. But I will likely be taking sort of a step back in this race….”
• “I do think this cycle is going to be (about) how disciplined we are going to be as Democrats. Whether we can put together a group that delivers change, really changes the face of our state.”

Kevin Burns was the only enthusiastic proponent of primaries. “I love primaries,” he told the Netroots crowd, while cautioning that a primary should be “responsible.” He contrasted a good primary with the Republicans’ usual tactic of special interests anointing someone to be the nominee.

That doesn’t make Burns a front-runner, however. Meek seems to have that position. But it’s a long time before the primary in August next year.

Gelber and others talked about a 2010 slate – the US Senate, plus the state leadership offices of governor, attorney general, chief financial officer and commissioner of agriculture and consumer affairs. (The lieutenant governor is elected as a team with the governor.)

In the evening, at the banquet before over 1,000 people, Gelber made it more official, saying in his podium speech, “I’m going to step back from my US Senate bid and consider other seats in the (state) cabinet.”

This won the best ovation of the evening. There was prolonged applause and many rose to their feet. Neither Alex Sink, the gubernatorial nominee, nor keynoter Tim Kaine, governor of Virginia and head of the DNC, got prolonged applause. After Kendrick Meek spoke and didn’t acknowledge that Gelber had, in effect, withdrawn (What does “step back” mean, anyway?), Bob Graham, the wise old Florida Democrat, with vast experience as governor and prominent US senator, seemed to depart from his text to thank Gelber, and praised his “courageous, unifying and patriotic statement.”

Now came Alex Sink to the podium after Graham’s introduction. Unchallenged for the Democratic nomination for governor, she gave a speech rich in platitudes until she got to her growing up on a farm. The chatty audience finally hushed and seemed enthralled by her description of how she learned self-reliance and a “love of numbers” from helping her father with the farm accounts. She wrote the checks, and it seemed that soon she was head of the Bank of America in Florida, and now on the threshold of the governor’s office.

She’s facing Bill McCollum, whose distinguishing feature is having run for office a ton of times without seeming to become especially smart or effective. Now he’s the state attorney general, term-limited, so he’s up or out of office.

On Sunday morning Gelber sent an email to supporters announcing again that he’s “stepping back” from the US Senate race, and that he’d been talking with Bob Graham, Alex Sink and US Sen. Bill Nelson about a “slate of candidates” for 2010.

The text of his email:

As you may know I have decided to step back from my U.S. Senate bid. I wanted to let you know the reasons.

When Governor Crist announced he would be a candidate for US Senate, he created a domino effect that opened up every seat on the cabinet. At a time when our state is facing its greatest challenges, ironically, we have our greatest uncertainty and dislocation. But I believe this is also an opportunity – the chance to set a new course that avoids the mistakes of the past and tracks a better future for our families.

It makes little sense -- when we do face the prospect of real change in Florida -- for me to participate in a potentially divisive primary for U.S. Senate that will only serve to diminish our chances against a very formidable and well-known Republican nominee.

I also believe that we have a historic opportunity here in Florida to reshape the political landscape and more importantly, bring fundamental change to Tallahassee. I have had a number of conversations with Senators Graham and Nelson, and CFO Alex Sink, about how we can best unify our party and move forward with a slate of candidates that can communicate our vision for a better Florida, and I look forward to continuing these discussions. I would like to hear your thoughts as you have been a good supporter and friend, and I value your opinion. You can reach me at dan@dangelber.com.

Tim Kaine, in his keynote speech, promised to pay a lot of attention to Florida campaigns and said his DNC will “invest” in our 2010 Senate race. Kaine waxed philosophical in describing how hard it was to know when one’s political “moment” was in bloom and when it was past. “We’ll be measured by what we do in this moment ... You don’t know how long a moment will last … We’ve got to do as much as we can.”

A few more words on that slate for the state offices. Who might be in the other state cabinet slots? One delightful surprise was to learn that Annette Taddeo is considering a run to succeed Alex Sink as chief financial officer. Taddeo ran a strong campaign for US House District 18 (my district) but lost to the entrenched Ileana Ros-Lehtinen in 2008. Taddeo is a successful businesswoman in her own right and would be a credible occupant of the CFO portfolio.

She, too, appeared at the Netroots session and spoke after Gelber, Aronberg and Burns had left.

“This was not my idea,” she said of the CFO draft, but went on, “I am considering it. I am talking to people ... it’s a very difficult decision. I just went through a very grueling campaign.”

She said she’d never run again without party backing, as she did in the ’08 congressional campaign. This was something I saw from medium close-up, and while it was tough on her, it made me and many others admire her grit as much as her intelligence, talent and charm.

So, check it out, the website to draft Annette Taddeo for CFO.

And here’s a link to the Miami Herald’s story, which didn’t have any reporting from the Netroots meeting.

A link to an earlier post here on this topic.

Pretty crazy: Get the Club for Growth to take out Crist

They're watching Florida again already.

On Daily Kos Monday evening Markos himself has a post urging the Club for Growth to descend upon us and take down any viable Republican candidate for the soon-to-be-vacant U.S. Senate seat now held by Mel Martinez (who, like Arlen Specter of PA, maybe couldn't win a Republican primary).

Remember how Specter blames the Club for Growth for wrecking moderate Republicanism? Let's do it in Florida, too.

And in addition, the photo of Obama and Crist should be displayed all the time to make the Republicans start cheering ABC, ABC, ABC. Anyone But Crist. So says Markos.

That's a Getty Images photo.

Oh, by the way, Crist is supposed to announce on Tuesday. Into the fray with Marco Rubio, for the Republican nomination.

UPDATE: Karen Thurman, chair of the Florida Democratic Party, neatly summarizes all the opportunity that lies in Crist's decision to bail out of Tallahassee and try for the Senate:

His decision creates a once in a generation opportunity for change in Florida and ensures that nothing will be the same after 2010.

In the next 20 months, there will be a fight for the Governor’s mansion, a United States Senate seat, three other statewide offices up for grabs, a number of seats in Congress to fight for, and with at least 9 open State Senate seats and 22 open State House seats that are currently held by Republicans, there will be other legislative races across the Sunshine State – and Floridians will cast their ballots and change the face of our state.

In other words: Democrats, it's time to concentrate on how to win a ton of open seats in November 2010. We can take Florida back.

And in Washington, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee throws cold water on the notion that Crist might be a popular governor because he and his gerrymandering party have done such a good job. Where do we stand after 30 months of Crist?

Florida Has Second Highest Foreclosure Rate. Florida is currently ranked second in home foreclosure activity. Florida recorded 18,946 foreclosures in March, a 33 percent increase from February. [Orlando Business Journal, 4/15/09]

Floridians Facing Job Losses, Foreclosures, Dwindling Bank Accounts. Crist is presiding over a historic collapse of the state's housing market, banking sector and construction industry, and a slowdown in tourism. Floridians struggle with job reductions, home foreclosures and dwindling bank accounts. [South Florida Sun Sentinel, 4/17/09]

Budget Hikes Taxes, Fees, Tuition While Cutting Spending, Including Elderly Care and State Workers’ Pay. Lawmakers in Tallahassee have been wrestling with a $6 billion budget gap. The budget recently passed by lawmakers includes $2 billion in new fees and taxes, pay cuts for state workers, tuition hikes, and cuts to elderly healthcare. [Ledger, 5/04/09; News Herald, 5/08/09]

Rubio in US Senate race, reaction from FlaDems, Meek, Gelber

Marco Rubio announced his decision to run for the US Senate on Tuesday, prompting a Tweet from Dan Gelber and a plea for money from Kendrick Meek, two Democrats in the good-guys race for the seat held now by Mel Martinez.

UPDATE: Over at Generation Miami, Giancarlo Sopo enlightens us on Rubio by reporting on how he says one thing in English and the other in Spanish. Good work, Giancarlo. Keep it up. (This will be a long slog.)

UPDATE II: And on Huffington Post, the fine blogger Howie Klein (Down with Tyranny) has another rendition of this story. My original version is also cross-posted on Florida Progressive Coalition blog.

Still to be heard from are two more Republicans, Charlie Crist and maybe US Rep. Vern Buchanan, who’s said to be waiting to decide whether to run for the US Senate or for governor, if Crist is leaving that office.

Also, Democrat Kevin Burns, mayor of North Miami, is in the Democratic contest, and may raise his voice at news that Rubio has made up his mind to try for Washington.

Tweeted Gelber, who is in the Florida state Senate now after eight years in the Florida House of Representatives:

Rubio announced. I was the Dem Leader when he was Speaker. An unapologetic ultra conservative, he will make the R primary worth watching.

You can read it at http://twitter.com/dangelber

I make it that he could have risked another 20 or so characters in filling that 140-character-max Twitter message window. Wasn’t there more to say about Rubio?

Wait, it's there on Gelber's blog, where he makes a good point that only a small percentage of Floridians are likely to follow Rubio. "Wrongheaded" is another fine characterization of Rubio. Gelber says:

"I have a lot of respect for Marco Rubio having served with him when he was Speaker and I was the Democratic Leader. He has never broken away from his very conservative principles, even after the course of history has proven many of their ideas to be wrongheaded. The GOP is in the midst of a fight for its basic heart and soul, not to mention its very relevance in the American political discussion, and I know Marco will be a loud and effective voice for those who believe that the direction of the last eight years was the correct one and for the small percentage of Floridians and Americans who believe that a massive shift to the right is the best medicine for America's ails."

US Rep. Kendrick Meek (FL-17), who also must know Rubio from service in the state legislature, said in a message to supporters that he needs their financial support to help defend against the Republican attack machine.

That statement:

While their candidates will be battling each other, the Republican Party in Washington, DC and the Republican Party of Florida in Tallahassee will continue to target my record and our campaign by sending out misleading press releases as they've done for the past few months.

Republicans have no intention of giving up this critical U.S. Senate seat and their attack machine has already revved up. We will not allow the other side to define us with their negative messaging and your financial help will make all the difference. This campaign will tell our story on our terms and with our narrative. They are not sitting on the sidelines watching how this race unfolds and neither should you.

That is why the $20 for 2010 campaign is so critical. By making a recurring contribution of $20 every month through Election Day, you will be sending a definitive message that we will walk together on this long and winding campaign road from today through victory day.

After years of Democratic gains in Florida, we will not cede an inch of territory to our opponents. Now is the time to build upon our gains by picking up this seat that belongs to Democrats, Independents and fed-up Republicans who want their voices heard in the U.S. Senate.

Websites of the three Democratic candidates can be found in a box on the right-hand column of this blog.

The Florida Democratic Party spokesman, Eric Jotkoff, pointed out that Rubio led the way in turning budget grants to state universities into lucrative part-time posts for himself – the sort of trick that cost Ray Sansom his post as speaker of the House.

Jotkoff also said that Rubio is in the Rush Limbaugh wing of the Republicans. Ugh is the last part of Rush’s name, and that’s my reaction to his voice, though I feel duty-bound to keep listening to know where he’s leading his dittoheads.

Jotkoff's statement:

"At a time when Florida needs real leadership, Marco Rubio is just following George W. Bush and Republicans in Washington, offering only more of the same stale politics and failed polices.

"In announcing his candidacy, Rubio made it clear that his entire agenda if elected is to just say no - no to President Obama's efforts to jumpstart Florida's economy and create jobs, no to allowing Cuban-Americans to visit their families, and no to any solutions aimed at solving the many problems facing the Sunshine State and our nation.

"While Rubio has recently joined the Rush Limbaugh wing of the Republican Party in just saying no, as the sponsor of the largest sales tax increase in Florida's history, Rubio's recent rhetoric on taxes doesn't fit his record.

"Rubio is the Godfather of Tallahassee's Republican culture of corruption. As disgraced former Speaker Ray Sansom's mentor, Rubio taught Sansom how to personally benefit from bringing home the bacon. After delivering millions of tax dollars for Florida International University, Rubio turned around and got a $69,000 per year part-time job at the school... sound familiar?

Unfortunately, that is only the tip of the iceberg to Rubio's ethics problems. As Speaker, Rubio was involved in countless ethics scandals revolving around sweetheart mortgages, legislative favors for big donors, highway contracts, and other shady dealings.

"Democrats are organized and energized to bring change to Florida in 2010. We look forward to a strong Democrat winning this Senate seat to help implement President Barack Obama vision of change and join Sen. Bill Nelson in representing Florida in the tradition of Bob Graham and Lawton Chiles."

And here’s a snip on Vern Buchanan from the political blog of the Herald Tribune written by Jeremy Wallace:

Don’t expect to hear much from U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan about running for the Senate or for governor until after May 10.

Buchanan, R-Longboat Key, told me earlier today that he is hearing Gov. Charlie Crist could make a decision around that day. Buchanan is among a group of Republicans said to be in the mix to run for either the U.S. Senate or for governor depending on what Crist runs for.

If Crist runs for re-election, Buchanan would be in the mix to run for the Senate. If Crist runs for the Senate, Buchanan said he is being encouraged by some supporters to run for governor.

Kendrick Meek gathering petitions

This blog is neutral in the race among three Democrats for the nomination to run for U.S. Senate in 2010, but will post occasional news from their campaigns. Today Kendrick Meek had an event in Hallandale to gather signature for his petition to be on the ballot, and here's some video of the event:



Currently in the U.S. House of Representatives (FL-17), Meek needs 112,000 signed petitions to get on the ballot.

The other two candidates are state Sen. Dan Gelber and North Miami Mayor Kevin Burns. Hot links to their websites are in a box on the right side of this blog.

Announcing for US Senate: Kevin Burns, mayor of North Miami

Here's a third Democrat running for the U.S. Senate seat to be be vacated by Mel Martinez: Kevin Burns, mayor of North Miami. He says he will announce Tuesday evening.

Burns will be contending against U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek (FL-17) and state Sen. Dan Gelber (District 35), who have announced previously.

On March 10 elect one of the 3 B's

This post originally declared the election would be held on Feb. 27, but it has been set back to March 10.

Mark your calendars, please. We will elect a new chairman of the Miami-Dade Democratic Party next Wednesday to replace Joe Garcia, who resigned to run for Congress.

The candidates, in alphabetical order, are:

--Bret Berlin, state committeeman

--Daisy Black, former mayor of the Village of El Portal

--Kevin Burns, mayor of North Miami.

Others may declare their candidacy up to the election meeting. The winner will complete the last part of the four-year term that Joe Garcia took on a year ago.

The meeting will be at 7 p.m. on Monday March 10 -- the regular monthly meeting -- in the usual place, the American Legion just east of Biscayne Boulevard on 64th Street.

Candidates may feel free to post their platforms in the comments section.