The big news locally today is the report that the FBI will not be charging former Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections Buddy Johnson with any criminal violations.
This is obviously important news for Johnson, but his reputation will always be left in tatters, for the incompetent way he ran his office. We spoke this morning with a couple of black community organizers that Johnson used for voter outreach in 2008 who say that news about Johnson vindicates them as well.
In national politics, CPAC - the Conservative Political Action Committee - begins their 38th annual conference in Washington this morning. This big confab for conservatives is generally viewed as a bit of a sneak preview of the potential presidential candidates. Who knows who will be the big stars coming out of this weekend, but the fact that some conservative writers are penning odes to Jeb Bush demonstrates the paucity of viable contenders to challenge Barack Obama - at least at this time.
And there was another Tampa mayoral debate yesterday, this one held at the St. Pete Times Forum's "Icons room," which you can read about here.
the report here.
