Pro-Cuba travel sentiment at the Democratic National Convention

Here's something you don't see at the Republican National Convention: An activist holding up a sign calling for more travel to Cuba. President Obama loosened travel and monetary-remittance restrictions to Cuba. But under Helms-Burton, travel to Cuba isn't free and easy (and, of course, once you're in Cuba you're subject to the whims of the dictatorship).

Public opinion surveys indicate that support for Cuba restrictions is thawing. But the Republican base in Miami-Dade County, where 72 percent of the GOP is Hispanic and overwhelmingly Cuban, still favors a hardline stance.

Debbie Wasserman Schultz opens the DNC convention, supporters swoon

Plenty of high-wattage political stars will speak this week at the Democratic National Convention. But for some South Florida Democrats, the biggest of them all was Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the Weston congresswoman who heads the DNC.

"I got chills," said 53-year-old Ella Phillips, after Wasserman Schultz gaveled open the convention at 5 p.m.

Forget any internal Obama campaign squabbles about whether Wasserman Schultz is an effective surrogate.  The Florida delegates were having none of that. Phillips and a core group of supporters -- all first-time convention-goers -- saved front-row seats in the Florida section of the arena to watch the congresswoman, who in her brief opening remarks told the crowd the convention will be about "involving people who want to put their shoulders to the wheel and change our economy for the better."

Also in front-row seats: Michael Emanuel Rajner of Wilton Manors and Ken Evans of Lauderdale-by-the-Sea. Rajner, the legislative director of the Florida GLBT Democratic Caucus, said Wasserman Schultz earned his respect by restoring cuts to a program that helps HIV-positive women and children.
"She's a great listener," Evans said, but said he also liked her willingness to be a lightning rod for
criticism.

"I like the fact that she speaks her mind," he said. Added Rajner: "She's willing to stand up to an extremist agenda."

Betty DiMaio of Fort Lauderdale, who volunteers as a neighborhood team leader for the Obama campaign, said she wanted to spend every minute she could on the convention floor. Her job is to go back to Florida to motivate the other volunteers she works with, and Wasserman Schultz is a great role model for that, she said. She said she couldn't imagine not being there when the convention officially opened.

"We've been working on this campaign for a long time," she said. "It's about getting the energy to take back to all of our volunteers."

Lawsuit contesting results in Miami-Dade mayor's race won't be heard until October

The lawsuit filed by a defeated candidate contesting last month's results in the Miami-Dade mayor's race won't be heard until October -- after the deadline to set the ballot for the Nov. 6 general election.

That preliminary timeline means that even if County Commission Chairman Joe Martinez, the plaintiff, were to get the court to throw out some or all of the nearly 90,000 absentee ballots cast in the Aug. 14 race, a potential runoff against incumbent Mayor Carlos Gimenez would not be on the general-election ballot. Instead, the court would have to set a special runoff election sometime after Nov. 6.

The county elections department's deadline to draw up the lengthy general-election ballot is Friday. Attorneys for Martinez, Gimenez and the county agreed at a cordial meeting Tuesday afternoon that there is no way to resolve the case by then.

Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Rosa I. Rodriguez said she would like to hold a hearing on the matter in about a month, by mid-October. She did not set a date Tuesday, however, citing a jammed schedule. The judge and attorneys plan to settle on a date soon.

Meantime, the attorneys said they would move to hear the case -- or "consolidate" it -- with a similar lawsuit filed by Property Appraiser Pedro J. Garcia against the candidate who defeated him, state Rep. Carlos Lopez-Cantera.

Sorry, Charlie? Kendrick Meek (gov. candidate in 14?) won't tamp down talk of a rematch.

Former Congressman Kendrick Meek is no Charlie Crist fan.

When the former governor decided to run for Senate, he ultimately left the Republican Party but stayed in the race, all but ensuring a win for Marco Rubio in 2010. That helped syphon votes from the Democrat in the race, Miami Congressman Kendrick Meek.

Crist allies leaked word that Meek was being pressured by top Democrats like Bill Clinton to leave the race. That hurt even more.

Now Crist is on the precipice of running for governor again, in 2014, as a Democrat. And Meek might want a little payback.

Sure, President Obama's campaign is giddy over Crist because he's scheduled to speak at the Democratic National Convention to drive home the idea that the GOP is too extreme. But Florida Democrats aren't pleased. Among them: Meek.

When asked what he thought of Crist at the convention, Meek smiled and essentially refused to comment.

"I'm not in charge," he said. "I'm going to go get my credentials (for the convention)."

When asked if he'd run for governor against Crist, he smiled: "I'm going to get my credentials."

That would be bad news for Crist, who has goodwill among African-American voters and the teachers union. So does Meek. He's the son of black-community icon and former Congresswoman Carrie Meek. And he repeatedly took on former Republican Gov. Jeb Bush over education initiatives that Crist backed and that the union opposed.

Rick Scott gets Bobby Jindal's spox, Melissa Sellers; Brian Burgess to RPOF

A whole lotta switching around in Gov. Rick Scott's administration, where Melissa Sellers becomes his new spokesperson. It's a good hire. Having been by Gov. Bobby Jindal's side in Louisiana through hurricanes and the oil spill, Sellers knows how to handle disaster, which is a constant state of affairs in Florida politics.

The press release:

Tallahassee, Fla. – The Governor's office announced today that Governor Rick Scott's longtime aide, Brian Burgess, will leave his post as Director of Communications to lead the media relations and communications efforts at the Republican Party of Florida beginning September 17th.  Burgess has worked with Scott in various communications and media relations roles for nearly four years. Beginning in January 2009, he served as a consultant with CRC Public Relations, which spearheaded the media strategy for Rick Scott’s Conservatives for Patients' Rights, and later assisted then-candidate Scott during his campaign for governor. 

“From the very beginning, Brian has been by my side as a strategic and political adviser, a trusted aide, and loyal member of my team,” said Governor Scott.  “His strong work ethic, strategic advice and leadership will be missed inside the administration, but he isn’t going far.  In his new role, he will continue to help tell the story to Floridians and the nation about what we’re accomplishing every day.”  

In conjunction with the move, Governor Scott announced that Melissa Sellers will begin serving as communications director for the Governor’s office on September 10th.  Sellers most recently served as the Director of Regional Media for the Republican National Convention in Tampa.  Before that, she served as communications director for Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal during his campaign for governor in 2007 and his first term in office.  Sellers led the development of the Governor’s messaging during Hurricanes Gustav and Ike, the catastrophic Gulf oil spill in 2010, and multiple state budget shortfalls.  She also helped bring national attention to Governor Jindal’s reform of state ethics laws and regulations, which have paved the way for Louisiana to become one of the fastest growing economies in the South.

Governor Scott added, “We have an ambitious agenda to create more jobs and opportunity for the hard working people of Florida and while we have made important progress already, there is a lot of work still ahead of us.  Melissa will bring experience and valued insight to our mission and we are excited to have her join our team.”  

FL Poll: Bill Nelson lead's growing in 'strangest race,' but Charlie Crist getting less popular

From Public Policy Polling, a firm that typically surveys for Democrats:

The Florida Senate race is one of the strangest in the country this year. Bill Nelson has middling approval numbers, with only 35% of voters approving of him to 42% who disapprove. Usually an incumbent in that kind of position would be doomed for defeat. And yet Nelson has a 7 point lead over Connie Mack IV, 45-38, representing a 5 point increase in his lead compared to our last poll in late July.

The reason Nelson's ahead despite being unpopular is that Mack is even more unpopular. Only 27% of voters have a favorable opinion of him to 45% with an unfavorable one. Just 17% of independents have a positive opinion of Mack to 48% with a negative one, and much of Nelson's lead comes thanks to a 45-29 advantage with that group.

This campaign kind of represents the new norm in electoral politics- millions have been spent bashing the heck out of both candidates, so voters dislike both of them and are kind of just choosing the lesser of two evils. For now that's Nelson.

Other notes from Florida:

-Charlie Crist isn't a particularly popular figure in Florida anymore. After his endorsement of President Obama only 36% of voters in the state now have a positive opinion of him to 44% with a negative one. He's lost most of his remaining appeal to Republican voters- he was at 34/49 with them a month ago and now he's dropped a net 21 points to 24/60. Democrats still appear to be somewhat skeptical of him as well though- 44% rate him positively to 33% with a negative opinion.

Charlie Crist’s DNC role disappoints some FL Democrats

To President Obama’s reelection team, former Republican Gov. Charlie Crist’s high-profile speaking role at the Democratic National Convention is a coup.

But to many longtime Florida Democrats, it’s revolting.

"If he gets up to speak at the convention, it'll be a good time to go to the bathroom," said Palm Beach County’s tax collector, Anne Gannon, a Florida Democratic delegate.

“He’s a born-again Democrat,” Gannon said. “He’s a nice man, but he doesn’t have a clue about his value-system.’

Crist is widely expected to run for governor again in two years as a Democrat. He left the Republican Party in 2010, saying it became too “extreme.”

His conversion, to an independent, came only after he was all but assured a GOP-primary loss to fellow Republican Marco Rubio in the U.S. Senate race. Crist went on to lose the general election to Rubio in a three-way Senate race involving former Miami Congressman Kendrick Meek, who wouldn't comment.

"I'm not in charge," he said when he ran into a reporter at the convention. "I'm going to go get my credentials (for the convention)."

Crist has slowly tilted toward the Democratic Party ever since, endorsing Sen. Bill Nelson and then Obama just before the Republican National Convention kicked off the Sunday before last. He was awarded a DNC speaking slot, perhaps on Thursday night when Obama is nominated.

The speaking role of a not-quite-Democrat at the Democrats’ convention speaks volumes about the state of the party.

Except for national party chairwoman and Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, no other Florida official will play a high-profile convention role. Nelson isn’t scheduled to speak. Registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans by 5 percentage points in Florida yet only hold one state-wide elected office, Nelson’s, and comprise less than a third of the Legislature.

As a must-win state for Republicans that Obama won in 2008, Florida is nonetheless playing a much-downsized role at the Democrats’ convention relative to its outsized importance.

Republicans have reveled in Crist’s flip-floppery, disseminating Tweets from the time Crist was still a Republican who bashed Obama’s healthcare plan.

Democrats aren’t so happy to point out the inconsistencies, but they’re noting them nonetheless in a bipartisan act of marveling at Crist’s appetite for political reinvention. They expect Crist, a trial lawyer at the Morgan & Morgan firm, to become a Democrat at an opportune moment and then run for governor.

“Less than two years ago, he was against the Affordable Care Act and he thought Sarah Palin was an excellent choice for vice-president. How does he explain that?” said state Sen. Nan Rich, a Weston Democrat who’s running for governor in 2014.