It’s no secret that the Florida U.S. Senate race has captured the attention of the national media and is a crucial race for both parties.

But much of the focus has been on the GOP primary featuring Gov. Charlie Crist, who is leaving office after only one term to pursue the post, and former House Speaker Marco Rubio, the first Cuban-American speaker of the Florida House whose somber face ran on the cover of The New York Times Sunday magazine not long ago, prompting Crist’s campaign to dub him “New York Times Cover Boy.”

While Rubio and Crist slug it out (and it’s getting uglier every day), U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, the Democrat who will likely face off against one of them in November, has been busily stumping around the state gathering petition signatures in the hopes of becoming the first U.S. Senate candidate from Florida ever to qualify by petition.

Read today’s New York Times article on Meek here.

Charging haircuts and chicken sandwiches to a Florida Republican Party credit card was a display of “financial desperation” from Republican U.S. Senate candidate Marco Rubio, primary rival Gov. Charlie Crist said Friday.

“It looks like an act of financial desperation when you’re charging a $7 sandwich at Chik-fil-a. That doesn’t sound like sound financial management of your personal income,” Crist said in an interview Friday with The Palm Beach Post editorial board.

In an hour-long interview (video here), Crist hit on a range of subjects, including:

*Running as an independent: Crist said political advisers have raised the possibility, but said he will not change parties.

*Ethics reform: He will suggest criminal penalties in state law for public corruption, a topic he will address in his State of the State speech on Tuesday.

*Oil drilling: Crist said he was not convinced drilling on the state’s shores could be done safely. “Not yet, but I’m close,” he said.

*Health care reform: Crist said he would not “start from scratch” like many Washington D.C. Republicans have suggested to President Obama. Instead, Crist said he would remove any parts of the bill that would raise taxes, raise rates or take money out of Medicare.

Story here.

Capitalizing on the scandal erupting over the state GOP’s credit card spending, national Democrats released a video take-off of the MasterCard “Priceless” television campaign.

The spoof highlights some of the Republican Party of Florida-issued credit card charges now-U.S. Senate candidate Marco Rubio made when Florida House Speaker, including $1,000 in repairs to his family mini-van.

“Getting your personal bills paid for by the Republican Party of Florida like Marco Rubio: Priceless,” the Democratic National Committee video mocks.

The state GOP may get some unwanted mail as a result of the “Priceless” satire.

“Want your bills paid for by the Republican Party of Florida? Just send them in. 420 E. Jefferson Street, Tallahassee, Florida 32301,” it concludes.

The DNC ad targets Rubio at a time when the once-long-shot candidate’s popularity is soaring while his GOP primary opponent Gov. Charlie Crist’s is on the wane.

The Florida Supreme Court overturned a death sentence for Alwin Tumblin, convicted of murdering a Ft. Pierce auto shop owner in 2004.

The 5-2 ruling also threw out all the convictions associated with the robbery and murder of Jimmy Johns and ordered a new trial for Tumblin.

It is the fifth death sentence the Supreme Court has thrown out in the past four years.

Justices Charles Canady and Ricky Polston, both appointed by Gov. Charlie Crist, dissented.

Tumblin’s accomplice Anthony Mayes testified against Tumblin and provided the only eyewitness testimony to the crimes. There was no DNA evidence linking Tumblin, then 25, to the murder.

The high court ruled that Tumblin’s previous trial should have ended in a mistrial because St. Lucie County Deputy Dennis Smith’s testimony that Mayes was telling the truth could have tainted the jury’s decision.

For more on this topic, read the TCoastTalk post, Supreme Court orders new trial for man convicted of Fort Pierce murder

Crist today will reappoint Shannon Estenoz and appoint Anne “Sandy” Batchelor-Robjohns, chairwoman of The Batchelor Foundation, and Weston attorney Glenn Waldman

With a March 11 vote scheduled on whether to extend the contract expiration date for the US Sugar deal, Waldman and Batchelor replace Paul Huck, who recused himself from voting on the Sugar before he resigned, and Mike Collins, who was the only governing board member to oppose the deal twice.

Crist said he made the appointments with an eye on the Everglades deal.

“We’re going to keep firing the canon and doing the job,” Crist said.

Former Gov. Jeb Bush leveled his harshest criticism yet of fellow Republican Gov. Charlie Crist in an interview with Newsmax, saying Crist’s support of President Obama’s stimulus plan was an “unforgivable” mistake.

Crist, whose support for the stimulus helped plug a $5 billion hole in the state budget this year but also helped launch his rival’s primary campaign, laughed when asked about the quote. “Well, it’s certainly unforgettable. I don’t know if it’s unforgivable.”

Bush condemned Republican leaders in the U.S. Senate for endorsing Crist in his primary with former House Speaker Marco Rubio. But Bush for months has been thinly veiling his support for Rubio, one of the “farm team” members that Bush recruited to preserve his legacy in Tallahassee.

“It’s fine,” Crist said. “I have enormous respect for my predecessor and respect for his right to voice his views. So it doesn’t bother me at all.

“What would bother me is if 20,000 educators were out of work. What would bother me is if 87,000 fellow Floridians didn’t have gainful unemployment because we hadn’t utilized those in a prudent, responsible way.”

UPDATE: Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Karen Thurman applauded Crist’s interest in the Sansom case and is urging him to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate corruption in the Florida Republican Party. Her letter is here.

Republican Charlie Crist’s campaign sent out its second missive in two days trying to saddle primary opponent Marco Rubio to the mess left by former Speaker Ray Sansom’s resignation.

Sansom was Rubio’s hand-picked budget chairman while Sansom was tucking controversial deals for a local college into the budget. And while its fair to question about how much Rubio knew about what was going on, Crist’s tactics ignore that the governor had final say on line items in the budget and did not veto the project.

Crist has demanded Rubio “release all emails and documents between Rep. Sansom, yourself, and your respective staff.” But one of the big problems is House rules let lawmakers delete their e-mails at will, a standard that is far less strict than the requirements the legislature imposes on state agencies, the governor’s office and local governments. Crist has shown little interest in urging lawmakers to change that standard.

Today, Crist’s campaign takes a different approach, implying that Rubio not only should have known about Sansom’s budget dealings, but similarly may have used his influence to feather his own nest as speaker. From the press release:

Speaker Rubio, didn’t you insert tax payer funding for Florida International University including $50,000 for FIU’s Metropolitan Center into the 2007 and 2008 budget?

Speaker Rubio, didn’t you receive a job at FIU’s Metropolitan Center while you were still Speaker of the Florida House?

Speaker Rubio, weren’t you given an unadvertised job, like Ray Sansom, with full benefits from FIU two months after the legislative session concluded?

UPDATED: Rubio’s camp responds:

“After eight months of waiting, Marco Rubio is pleased Charlie Crist has finally accepted our long-standing invitation to have a real debate on the issues affecting Florida’s and our nation’s future,” said Rubio for Senate spokesman Alex Burgos.  “For nearly a year, Charlie Crist has avoided a serious policy debate or an honest discussion of his record. Instead, he has relied on the broken politics of shrill name-calling, cynical reinvention and petty attacks.“Only now, when his campaign is increasingly desperate and willing to say and do anything to turn the tide, has he apparently realized the importance of a substantive debate on the issues.“FOX Network has shown serious interest in this primary campaign since day one and was the first national news organization to extend an invitation for a debate. Marco Rubio gladly accepted immediately and will be happy to debate Charlie Crist on Meet the Press or anywhere else after he has kept his commitment to have the first debate on FOX on March 28.  No national news organization has shown greater interest in covering this race than FOX.  It’s unfortunate that Charlie Crist doesn’t understand this.”

Republican Gov. Charlie Crist’s campaign announced he would participate in two U.S. Senate Republican debates in March. Fellow GOP candidate Marco Rubio has already agreed to one. From the Crist campaign:

The Charlie Crist for U.S. Senate campaign today announced that Gov. Crist has agreed to participate in campaign debates hosted by Meet The Press on March 7th, 2010 and Fox News Sunday on March 28th, 2010.

“Governor Crist looks forward to participating in an open and honest discussion with Speaker Rubio about issues that directly affect Florida voters,” said Communications Director Andrea Saul. “These debates will give Floridians the chance to learn more about the candidates’ actual records, and to see for themselves that Governor Crist is the clear choice when it comes to sending a Senator to Washington who will stand behind the principles of less government, less taxes, and more personal freedom.”

Gov. Charlie Crist for the second time ordered David Eugene Johnston to be put to death by lethal injection, decades after the Death Row inmate convicted of killing an elderly woman was first ordered to be executed.

Crist first ordered Johnston, now 49, to be put to death last year in April but the Florida Supreme Court stayed the execution until DNA tests could be done. Johnston has spent nearly 25 years on Death Row and is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on March 9 at 6 p.m. at Florida State Prison in Starke.

Gov. Bob Martinez signed Johnston’s first death warrant in 1988 after he was sentenced to die for killing 84-year-old Mary Hammond in Orlando.

Johnston appealed that order on a variety of issues, including a claim that he is severely mentally ill.

The DNA tests taken from Hammond’s fingernail clippings could not exclude Johnston as a contributor of the DNA.

The high court ruled last month that the new evidence, including the DNA test results, would not have exonerated him and denied his request for a new trial. And the court ruled that, while Johnston may be mentally ill, he is not mentally retarded and thus can still be executed.

There’s a report from the Fort Myers CBS affiliate WINK about a curious exchange last night between former President George W. Bush and former Gov. Jeb Bush. The Naples and Fort Myers newspapers don’t mention this exchange and the CBS reporter notes that the Bush’s didn’t allow cameras in the town hall event.

…the Bush brothers disagreed on the Senate race between Marco Rubio and Charlie Crist. Jeb Bush says he is officially neutral, but is disappointed in Crist’s embrace of the stimulus bill. George W. Bush joked “who the hell is Marco Rubio”…

Palm Beach County Republican Vice Chairwoman Beth Kigel was included today on the regional leadership team for Charlie Crist’s U.S. Senate campaign. Kigel was named the county chair of the campaign in October.

Continue reading for the rest of Crist’s leadership team.

(more…)

Attorney General Bill McCollum continues to defer to GOP party leaders instead of ordering an investigation into possible criminal conduct regarding credit card abuses at the Republican Party of Florida.

McCollum today said he may ask the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to look into the matter but that he would wait until the new chairman of the RPOF - expected to be Sen. John Thrasher - is elected this weekend.

Also today, Florida Democrats shut down McCollum’s anti-corruption hotline, filling up the 800 number’s voice mail in an effort to draw attention to McCollum’s refusal to investigate the credit card charges even after other top Republicans want the books opened.

McCollum said he won’t ask for inquiry until an audit of the RPOF is complete and he gets direction from the new party chairman to move although Gov. Charlie Crist last week said that party officials should open the books now.

“I’m waiting about what the new chairman might discover. I don’t see any evidence at this point of criminal behavior,” McCollum said today after a speech to the National Federation of Independent Business.

(more…)

Fox News has invited Florida’s two Republican U.S. Senate candidates to a debate, but the timing could be a problem for at least one.

Marco Rubio has accepted the invitation, but Gov. Charlie Crist raised a potential problem this morning with the March 28 date

“Isn’t that during the session?” Crist told reporters this morning. “We’ll see.”

Lawmakers are scheduled to begin their annual spring lawmaking session on March 2. Among the subjects they’re hoping to tackle in the 60-day session: a potential $3 billion budget shortfall and the state’s historic 11.8 percent unemployment rate.

Endorsements announced today in Florida’s U.S. Senate Republican primary:

*Florida Association of State Troopers for Gov. Charlie Crist.

*Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist for Marco Rubio.

By MICHAEL C. BENDER and DARA KAM

Here are some notes from an interview today with Senate President Jeff Atwater, R-North Palm Beach:

FIRST DAY OF SESSION: With bipartisan support to delay unemployment tax payments, the plan is waive the rules and pass it to Gov. Charlie Crist before the end of the first day. The Senate will also name a Jacksonville roadway for the late Sen. Jim King, R-Jacksonville and debate reforms to the Public Service Commission.

Atwater choked up when speaking of the road designation for King, a former Senate President who passed away last summer.

“Though that may seem as ceremonial, for those of us who had the honor of serving with him, it’s far more than that. It’s really,” Atwater said haltingly, on the verge of tears. “It’s important.”

Also on the first day, the Senate will take up changes to the Public Service Commission that will put into effect suggestions from a grand jury report left on the shelf since 1992 to improve the integrity of the maligned regulatory agency.

LAST DAY OF SESSION: What Atwater doesn’t want to happen is another breakdown in budget negotiations and be forced to extend session past April 30. With that in mind, Atwater is planning on planning to encourage more transparency, which would require more time for the budget process

“I’d like to test some things this session and recommend them to the next administration of the legislature,” Atwater said. “Last year we did our very best. So now, we’re going to try to see if we can lay that down in writing.”

Atwater didn’t say if he planned to specifically include the allocation process (when the two chambers decide how much money to spend on broad areas, like education, health care and transportation), but it sounded like he would:

“I would want every bit of the process to be discussed in public and the conversation completed in public.”

BUDGET PRIORITIES: There will be winners and losers. Atwater said he’s not interested in across-the-board cuts and anything that can be considered a job generator will be more likely to get money.

“We will have to go deeper in some places to create any initiative for job creation: incentives, venture capital funding, all of that,” Atwater said. “I don’t know where those places will be or the depth of those reductions.”

The economic incentives could include lowering the bar for some programs already in existence or loan programs for small businesses.

Atwater’s “seed” programs won’t include the $10 million economic gardening loan incentive hurriedly pushed through by Gov. Charlie Crist more than a year ago that still hasn’t gotten off the ground.

“I can’t tell you that we would measure any level of success there,” he admitted. “We may try again a loan program. We may try some more in the area of venture capital. But that’s fair criticism. We’ve got to get them out on the street and get them working.”

(more…)

Gov. Charlie Crist’s inspector general found Transportation Department Secretary Stephanie Kopelousos did no wrong by using breakfast words as subject lines in e-mails dealing with the controversial SunRail project.

And IG Melinda Miguel also cleared the department of any wrongdoing by not providing e-mails on the SunRail deal to Sen. Paula Dockery until after Crist’s open government office was brought in.

“No evidence was found to suggest that any Department official intentionally withheld documents in violation of the law,” Miguel wrote in her 45-page report. “To the contrary, evidence shows that an unintentional, human error occurred during the initial public records request.”

Kopelousos and her aides insisted that they used the words “Pancakes” and “waffles” in subject lines to draw attention to the messages about the rail deal out of the thousands that the secretary receives daily.

A proposal from President Obama to repeal a ban on gays serving openly in the military — better known as “don’t ask, don’t tell” — has split Florida’s U.S. Senate candidates along party lines.

“We are a nation at war. The governor believes the current policy has worked, and there is no need to make changes.”

–Republican Charlie Crist spokeswoman Amanda Henneberg.

“Marco Rubio supports the current policy and doesn’t see any evidence it needs to be changed.”

–Republican Marco Rubio spokesman Alex Burgos.

“Before the Civil Rights Bill passed, Everett Dirksen told Lyndon Johnson that, ‘This is an idea whose time has come.’ Well this is also an idea whose time has arrived.”

–Democrat Maurice Ferre

“Admiral Mike Mullen’s testimony that repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell comes down to an issue of integrity for citizens in uniform, and for the military as an institution were powerful words of conviction and truth. As a congressional cosponsor of legislation to promote a policy of nondiscrimination in the Armed Forces on the basis of sexual orientation, and having spoken to senior commanders about this issue, the position voiced by the military is a welcome one.”

–Democrat Kendrick Meek

“Unfortunately, that gets a lot of attention.”

That quote from Republican U.S. Senate candidate Marco Rubio wasn’t about this embrace or this sign of affection, he was talking about this one.

Rubio said on CNN on Thursday that “the hug” between Gov. Charlie Crist and President Obama gets too much attention. Crist’s support of the stimulus plan was what was really important, he said.

It was the Rubio campaign, however, that called a picture of Obama and Crist the “MOST POWERFUL ONLINE FUNDRAISING SITE IN FLORIDA HISTORY” in November.

The site is no longer active, but the picture is on a fund-raising page on Rubio’s campaign Web site. A money bomb for Rubio features Crist and Obama embracing.

Today, Rubio is announcing that he’ll return to the site of the Fort Myers rally on Wednesday - the one-year anniversary of the Obama-Crist get-together.

The event, coordinated by FreedomWorks PAC, will feature former House Republican Leader Dick Armey.

From Rubio’s press release today:

“Every day, I am encouraged by the growing support I see for limited government principles throughout Florida and our nation,” said Rubio. “February 10 marks the first anniversary of Governor Crist’s embrace of a failed stimulus policy that has neither stimulated our economy, nor prevented the dramatic job losses that have taken a toll on over 1 million Floridians and families.”

Bernard

The tri-county area is home to the greatest number of Haitian immigrants and has been ground-zero for state and federal Haitian aid efforts.

Newly elected state Rep. Mack Bernard, a West Palm Beach Democrat who was born in Port-au-Prince where the epicenter of the deadly earthquake struck last month, is heading up Palm Beach County’s delegation in the task force, which will include Reps. Juan Zapata, R-Miami, and Ari Porth, D-Coral Springs, and up to 9 other South Florida lawmakers.

Bernard wants better communication from Gov. Charlie Crist, who he said telephoned him the night of the earthquake on Jan. 12 but hasn’t spoken with him since.

Bernard visited Haiti last week. His sister and her three children are now homeless as a result of the disaster, Bernard said.

Crist should appoint a “Haiti czar” to streamline efforts that could be an economic boon to financially-strapped Florida, Bernard, D-West Palm Beach, suggested.

Read the story here.

“It’s that lack of communication, especially from the governor’s office” that is creating frustration for representatives from the tri-county area, which has the state’s largest Haitian immigrant population and is now on the front line providing aid and resources to the ravaged nation, Bernard said.