The single biggest development so far in the race for the Florida Democratic party chair occurred earlier this week when the Democratic Executive Committeemen and women from the most "weighted" votes, Miami/Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, indicated that they support Tampa's Alan Clendenin over Tallahassee's Allison Tant.
The vote was non-binding, but according to Democratic National Committeeman Jon Ausman, Clendenin has a sizable lead over Tant in committed votes some 16 days before the election takes place (courtesy of William March of the Tampa Tribune).
Something tells us that despite the headlines in our local papers, this race is far from over.
In other news, can anybody knock out Bill Foster winning re-election in St. Petersburg later this year? As the mayor begins his final year of his first term in office, he certainly exudes a sense of confidence, and he escaped unscathed at yesterday's Tiger Bay meeting.
At the same time the mayor was discussing gun violence in St. Pete, the issue was also being discussed at the same time in Tampa, where Hillsborough County Commissioner Kevin Beckner introduced two measures to try to make a difference about the problem on a local level. He was only partly successful.
An Ybor City party celebrating new Hillsborough County Property Appraiser Bob Henriquez first day on the job was a rollicking success.
And while we keep hearing that the Republican Party realizes it needs to do some work to try to cultivate Latino voters, some of their lawmakers appear not to have received that memo.
This article appears in Jan 10-16, 2013.