For the second time in state history, and the first time since 2007, Florida will have an all Republican cabinet.

North Palm Beach’s Jeff Atwater, celebrating at Duffy’s on PGA and US1, believes the Republican trio of himself, Pam Bondi (attorney general) and Adam Putnam (agricultural commissioner) can help create business in Florida.

“It means a consistent and deep seated belief in the entrepreneurial spirit,” Atwater said. “This will be a cabinet wanting to facilitate a true support for the small business risk takers that are in Florida.”

Atwater said he is looking forward to working with Bondi and Putnam.

“They truly come with a level of expertise into these roles that may have never been matched historically,” Atwater said. “From Adam Putnam’s lifetime experience in the agricultural industry, to Pam Bondi’s hands on real life experiences in the courtroom to my experiences in the financial service industry of 25 years and a governor (if Rick Scott wins) who has made a lifetime of creating jobs in the private sector, it’s (great) for all Floridians.”

CNN, MSNBC and Fox News all are reporting that Republicans will gain at least 50 seats in the U.S. House, enough to take over as the new majority.
The GOP needed 39 seats to take control and topple Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi from power. More than 90 Democratic seats are in danger, according to the nonpartisan Cook Political Report.
Dozens of races are considered too close to call.
On the Senate side, however, the victory of Democratic Gov. Joe Manchin made the battle to wrest control of the Senate a bit tougher.
The GOP picked up seats in Kentucky, Indiana and Arkansas as well as retaining its Florida Senate spot with a win from Tea Party favorite Marco Rubio.
Republican Christine O’Donnell lost her race in Delaware.

TAMPA — U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson said he hopes he and Marco Rubio can continue what he called a tradition of cooperation between Florida’s two senators, even if they’re from different parties.

“I will be calling Sen.-elect Rubio and congratulating him just as soon as I can get to a telephone,” Nelson told reporters shortly before 9:30.

Nelson is attending Alex Sink’s election night party here. While Sink is trailing so far, Nelson predicted that Sink will make up the margin in Miami-Dade and Broward counties.

“Dade and Broward will decide the governor’s election,” Nelson said.

ST. PETERSBURG — Independent U.S. Senate candidate Charlie Crist conceded victory to GOP candidate Marco Rubio at 9 p.m. tonight.
Standing on stage in a ballroom at the Renaissance Vinoy Resort and Golf Club amid cheers from about 200 supporters, the governor said he had just called Rubio and congratulated him on a “great victory.”
“I know he will serve the state well,” Crist said as his wife, mother, father, sisters and supporters of both political parties looked on.
Crist, a tireless campaigner who is known for his sunny outlook, smiled and waved at the crowd but his voice shook slightly and his eyes reddened as he thanked his staff for a job well done.
“This has been an interesting race to say the least,” he said. But, he told his young staff: “You did a great job against tremendous odds.”
To those gathered, he said: “I also want you to know from the bottom of my heart that it has been the greatest honor of my public life to serve as your governor.”
Before leaving the hall to an uncertain political future, he said: This is the greatest state in the country. You’re the greatest people in the world. You always have my heart. I love you with every fiber in me. It’s a tough night. But there’s a bright future ahead.”

It’s shaping up to be a long night for Palm Beach County’s elections workers.

Nearly 2 1/2 hours after polls closed, there’s still no reporting in from the county’s 789 precincts.

Elections Supervisor Susan Bucher has spent most of the evening working with the county’s canvassing board and has been unavailable for questions from the media.

Absentee votes and early voting so far has given Allen West a strong lead over Ron Klein in the District 22 Congressional race, but of course that represents only a fraction of the county’s total voting.

Stay tuned as we continue monitoring

Less than a couple hours after polls closed, Kendrick Meek addressed dozens of supporters at The Rusty Pelican, and told them he had already called Rep. Marco Rubio to congratulate him.

“Florida spoke, and spoke overwhelmingly,” Meek said, adding that he commended Rubio on how he ran his campaign. “For someone who came from the outside, to come to the inside and take a commanding lead in the race almost a month a go is to be commended.”

“I wish him well, because it’s an uphill battle,” Meek added.

The Democratic candidate, who was joined on stage by his wife, children, mother and sister, also said he had called Gov. Charlie Crist and said they shared “charitable words.”

Meek admitted things were a little tense toward the end of the campaign, when rumors flourished numerous times that he would consider dropping out to endorse Charlie Crist.

“I feel that we ran the best campaign we could, under the circumstances. It was a tense environment,” Meek said, adding that the controversy had an effect on voters.

“I think that Crist trying to cross over on issues did bring some confusion to the voters, ,” he added.

When asked if he would have done anything differently, Meek said he was proud of his campaign and his supporters.

“Maybe Florida could have known me a little better, and maybe I could have known Florida a little better,” he said. “But God’s will always prevails.”

Meek told reporters he hadn’t thought much about he next steps professionally, but he’s sure that he wants to go fishing and sleep in a couple nights this week.

Florida Senate President Jeff Atwater of North Palm Beach has been elected the state’s chief financial officer.

Atwater took a comfortable early lead over Democrat Loranne Ausley on Tuesday as they vied to win Florida’s second most influential office.

With 31 percent of the expected vote counted, Atwater had 59 percent while Ausley had 37 percent.

The winner will replace Democrat Alex Sink, who is running for governor, and will take charge of 2,000-employee agency that has a $200 million annual budget.

Atwater, the president of the Florida Senate and a North Palm Beach banker, dismissed Ausley’s charges about a new Tallahassee appellate court building, which has been criticized for being too luxurious. It was tucked into a transportation spending bill by others at the last minute.

Atwater voted for the bill but there is no indication he had anything to do with the courthouse being included. He also dismisses Ausley’s criticisms about his position in Republican leadership during spending scandals.

Former Republican House Speaker Ray Sansom resigned amid a grand jury investigation into a $6 million appropriation for an alleged airport hangar for use by a political supporter. Atwater said he and other legislative leaders made changes recommended by the jury.

Ausley, a former state representative and Tallahassee attorney, biked more than 400 miles from Tallahassee to North Palm Beach in the final days of the campaign in an effort to confront Atwater about his refusal to debate her.

Atwater’s campaign spokesman has said it was Ausley who turned down an Oct. 21 debate invitation and failed to show up at a pair of candidate forums.

The CFO oversees the state’s treasury, insurance department, fire marshal’s office and department of banking and finance. The CFO is part of the Cabinet and with the governor, attorney general and agriculture commissioner has a vote on pardons and serves on the board of several state agencies.

MIAMI (AP) — Former Tampa prosecutor Republican Pam Bondi became Florida’s first female attorney general Tuesday, riding a wave of anti-incumbent sentiment that helped the political unknown to a comfortable victory over Democrat state Sen. Dan Gelber.
Bondi campaigned on national issues including a promise to challenge President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul. With 73 percent of the expected vote counted Tuesday, Bondi had 56 percent, while Gelber had 44 percent.
“When I announced I was running for office I thought my biggest detriment would be I had never run for office before…and folks around the state have truly embraced that,” Bondi told The Associated Press in a recent interview.
The 44-year-old Bondi supports Arizona-style immigration law for Florida, saying the federal government’s failure to effectively address the issue has left states to fend for themselves. She says she will continue the state’s lawsuit against the health care bill, which was filed by the Republican incumbent Bill McCollum. He chose not to seek a second term to run for the GOP gubernatorial nomination, but lost.
She says the bill is unconstitutional and will devastate the economy, create a shortage of doctors and a loss of jobs.
He accused Bondi of trying to nationalize the campaign, knocking the Obama administration and the dismal economy as a way to distract from statewide issues. She got a boost early in the race with an endorsement from former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.
Bondi said she would crack down on mortgage fraud, gangs, prescription pill mills and cyber crime, but has offered few specifics.
Bondi, a graduate of the University of Florida and Stetson Law School, spent 18 years in the Hillsborough County State Attorney’s Office. She’s painted herself as a political outsider who’s been busy prosecuting cases, including the drug prosecution of baseball star Dwight Gooden, and was also its spokeswoman. She left the office last year to run for attorney general and has become a frequent contributor to Fox News.

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — A state constitutional amendment that would have drastically changed the development approval process in Florida has been rejected by voters.
With 21 percent of the expected vote counted, Amendment 4 had been rejected by 65 percent of voters.
Amendment 4 on Tuesday’s ballot would have required voter approval to change city, town and county comprehensive land-use plans.
Backers called the measure “Florida Hometown Democracy.” They included environmental organizations, civic associations and slow-growth advocates. They said Amendment 4 would protect the environment and reduce congestion and urban sprawl.
Opponents included business groups, developers and some labor unions. They said Amendment 4 would seriously damage the economy, cost jobs and make it more difficult to lure companies to the state.

ST. PETERSBURG — Independent U.S. Senate candidate Charlie Crist is said to be meeting with campaign staffers and is expected to make a concession speech soon.

None of his staffers said they know when he will appear in the ballroom of the Renaissance Vinoy — St. Petersburg’s version of The Breakers — to formalize what most of the roughly 150 gathered knew when they entered the hall and was confirmed by major networks: Marco Rubio has won.

(more…)

The first election results are beginning to trickle in, with early voting and absentee voting giving Marco Rubio an early lead locally in the U.S. Senate race and Alex Sink leading handily over Rick Scott in the governor race so far among county voters.

The night is still young, though. By 8:05 p.m., no voting from county precincts had been cast today.

As soon as the polls closed at 8 p.m. eastern time, CNN, FoxNews and The Associated Press declared Republican Marco Rubio the victor in Florida’s three-way Senate race against Democrat Kendrick Meek and independent Charlie Crist.

In Palm Beach County, with very, very early returns, Rubio had 41 percent of the votes, Crist 38 percent and Meek 20 percent.

Statewide with 11 percent of precincts reporting, results have Rubio with 942,032 votes, 50 percent; Crist with 536,881, 29 percent; and Meek with 372,826 votes, 20 percent.

An Associated Press analysis of preliminary exit poll data showed that Rubio, the tea party favorite, beat Democratic nominee Meek and Crist, who left the Republican Party earlier this year to run as an independent when polls showed him trailing in a GOP primary.

(more…)

KEY BISCAYNE — Former Congresswoman Carrie Meek just arrived at The Rusty Pelican, close to an hour before her son Kendrick is expected to meet his supporters for his campaign party.

The elder Meek has kept to herself for most of her son’s campaign, but this weekend joined him for worship at their Baptist church in Liberty City. Kendrick Meek, the Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate, toured several black churches in South Florida on Sunday to reach out to minority voters.

Carrie Meek, one of Florida’s first black members of Congress, also attended a rally with Vice President Joe Biden in Hollywood in September.

In the tight Florida U.S. Senate race, early results from The Associated Press are showing that Republican candidate Marco Rubio is taking the lead.
However, just 8 percent of the precincts are in — 537 of 6,881 precincts
The results are:
Marco Rubio, GOP 715,711 – 51 percent
Charlie Crist, Ind 400,876 – 29 percent
Kendrick Meek, Dem 273,090 – 19 percent

Some of Tallahassee’s most powerful lobbyists crowded into the ballroom at the Hilton Fort Lauderdale Marina for “outsider” GOP gubernatorial nominee Rick Scott’s election night party, including those once bankrolling his primary opponent Bill McCollum’s campaign.

Scott, who campaigned as an “outsider,” defeated the attorney general after a brutal primary campaign, not unlike his general race against Democrat Alex Sink.

Scott’s imposing security staff blocked off hallways at the waterfront marina and hotel and even employees complained about the restrictions. One hotel guest trying to leave the property had to plead with Scott’s bouncers to let him leave without walking around the entire hotel to get to his car.

The movers-and-shakers in attendance included Fred Leonhardt, who was on McCollum’s finance committee, and donors who contributed at least $100,000 to Scott’s campaign.

Others on the A-list getting an early foot in the door with Scott included Ron Book, Billy Rubin, Dave Ramba, Jim Eaton, Pat Malloy, Jennifer Green, and U.S. Sugar’s Robert Coker.

Senate President-designate Mike Haridopolos, a handful of other GOP legislators and former RPOF executive director Will McKinley and former RPOF fundraiser are also in the house.

It’s official: Voting is over in Palm Beach County.

At 7 p.m., all voting precincts officially closed and the deadline to turn in absentee ballots expired.

Polls have closed throughout South Florida and most of the state, although the polls remain open in some parts of Florida’s Panhandle until 8 p.m. EST.

Palm Beach County Elections Supervisor Susan Bucher says voting went smoothly throughout the county. There were only a handful of reports of voting troubles or machine malfunctions. 

With a strong early voting turnout locally and statewide, Bucher said she was hoping turnout would top the 54 percent that is common in an off-year election.

Stay tuned for turnout figures and early results.

Palm Beach County’s Elections Supervisor says the eight Constitutional amendments on the ballot this year may have indirectly led to a handful of technical problems with ballot scanners today.

With so many proposed amendments to Florida’s Constitution to read through and vote on, many voters skipped some or all of them, Elections Supervisor Susan Bucher said.
But when a precinct scanner detects an incomplete ballot, it spits it back out to alert the voter it has not been completed.

Some voters pulled the ballots out themselves before they were fully retracted by the machine, causing a handful of machines to jam.

“They would try and pull on them,” Bucher said.

She said repair people were on site at the precincts to fix malfunctioning scanners, and that occasional breakdowns did not cause any serious delays.

KEY BISCAYNE — The stage is all lit up and a huge American flag hangs from the back wall, while a large screen is already playing YouTube videos of Kendrick Meek and will eventually display tonight’s election results.

The second floor ballroom at the popular Rusty Pelican in Key Biscayne is where Democrat Meek will find out whether he will become Florida’s next Senator.

Meek, who for the last 24 hours has been touring the state looking for last minute support, is expected to arrive with his wife and children at around 8:30 p.m., according to his campaign. (more…)

DELRAY BEACH — In his final stop in Palm Beach County before polls close at 7 p.m. tonight, Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Kendrick Meek remained optimistic about the election, and encouraged dozens of supporters to keep calling last-minute voters.

“We’ve worked very hard,” said Meek this afternoon a Democratic Campaign for Accountability Office in Delray Beach. “We’ll see what the results are tonight, but if work has anything to do with it, we will be OK.”

Meek’s son, Kendrick Jr., met up with his father at the phone bank in Delray Beach, and even managed to make a couple calls himself, said  Palm Beach County Democratic State Committeewoman Bunny Steinman.

“We are going to continue to move on to victory,” Meek said, despite the fact that polls still show him trailing independent Gov. Charlie Crist and Republican Marco Rubio. (more…)

If you’re planning to vote, you don’t have much more time. Polls close today at 7 p.m.

And if you’re holding on to an absentee ballot, you must turn it in to the Supervisor of Elections main office by 7 for it to count.