Mitt Romney has now earned the delegates needed to become the official Republican presidential nominee - sorry Ron Paul fans, some of whom told me with a straight face recently that because of their success at at garnering delegates in various state conventions over the past few months, their man still had a chance to be the nominee in Tampa this August.
A grand jury report that came out back in December of 2010 stated that no state has had more political corruption over the past couple of decades than Florida, yet nothing ever came of that report. A new good government group called Integrity Florida is trying to change that - its two main members are in St. Petersburg tonight to discuss what they're all about.
In the dozen years I've lived in this state, I've met a lot of good, nice Democrats. But as a party overall, they've been incredibly ineffective in making this a robust, competitive state for ideas. Though Rod Smith still has half a year to try to bring home a victory for Barack Obama and Bill Nelson, there are already a couple of Democrats preparing to lead the state in 2013.
And remember the Occupy movement? Specifically Occupy Tampa? The group holds what they're calling a regional General Assembly this weekend back in their original protest site, Lykes Gaslight Park downtown.
