Yesterday afternoon, the Associated Press was the first to report that the woman who ultimately blew the lid on the story that led retired General David Petraeus to resign as the head of the CIA on Friday was 37-year-old Bayshore Boulevard resident Jill Kelley, a "social liason" to the Joint Special Operations Command at MacDill Air Force Base here in Tampa.
Kelley's life may ultimately fade back into relative obscurity, but not for awhile. Her visage dominates the front page of today's New York Post, as it was her decision to go to the Tampa FBI office to complain about anonymous "threatening" emails that accused her of a relationship with Petraeus. That led the Bureau to uncover the illicit relationship between Petraeus and his biographer, Paula Broadwell.
Yesterday at 4 p.m., CL actually drove by the children's birthday party that Kelley and her husband were hosting off of Bayshore, complete with a full-on bar, a bounce house, and a Tampa police officer's car parked on the side of the house. The Post reported that no one answered the door during the birthday party, but later Kelley released a statement requesting privacy for herself and her family.
There are lots of unknown answers to this growing story, but the details are coming out pretty quickly.
On to other news. Saturday afternoon the state of Florida officially announced the final results of the presidential election, and Barack Obama narrowly won the Sunshine State, 50-49 percent. But top officials in the state, including those who helped pass last year's elections reform bill, which led to a reduction of early voting, are not looking good today.
The lame-duck Congress returns to D.C. this week to begin discussions regarding what to do about the Bush tax cuts that are scheduled to expire at the end of next month. While John Boehner and President Obama have made general conciliatory statements leading into the negotiations, Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell showed no indication that he's willing to bend.
And while some of the biggest names in the conservative world have now seen the light when it comes to passing comprehensive immigration reform (losing the Latino vote in the presidential election by more than 40 points has a way of clarifying things), a question arises: Will helping to pass such legislation have that demographic rushing into the arms of the GOP?
