Democrats and Republicans got into a heated verbal brawl this morning over a public campaign finance bill in the Senate Transportation and Economic Development Committee.Some GOP senators railed against President Barack Obama’s reversal about taking public money to finance his campaign, just stopping short of calling the president a liar and refusing to refer to him as “president,” instead calling him “Sen. Obama” or “Candidate Obama.”

Democratic Sens. Chris Smith and Tony Hill grew fidgety as the anti-Obama rhetoric escalated but spilled over after Republican Ronda Storms refused to let the matter drop.

“I understand that some are uncomfortable with Candidate Obama’s faiilure to keep his word and those of us who did not support him calling attention to that,” Storms, R-Brandon, said. “I can completely understand they don’t want to talk about the messiah having a flaw but the messiah has a flaw.”

That pushed Smith, who previously tried to limit discussion on the proposed constitutional amendment (SJR 566) by asking for a vote, over the edge.

(more…)

Hillary Clinton just said she’s on her way to the White House. Really?

At this hour – 10:45 p.m. – she has lost North Carolina handily and appears to be winning Indiana by a slim margin.

She remains well behind in pledged delegates and vote totals.

She is on stage in Indiana vowing to battle on. But her game plan seems fraught with danger for the Democratic Party.

(more…)

Members of the Democratic Black Caucus of Broward County are planning to hold a news conference next month to demand that U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings switch his presidential endorsement from Hillary Clinton to Barack Obama.

“He needs to address this issue,” said Alan Brown, president of the Democratic Black Caucus of Broward County. “It’s a hot button. It’s a powder keg here in Broward County.”

Brown said voters in Hastings’ district are angry that Hastings endorsed Clinton without explaining his reasoning or listening to the views of his constituents, a majority of whom support Obama.

(more…)

Rep. Duncan Hunter, who was barely registering in the polls when he dropped out of the GOP presidential race earlier this week, has endorsed Mike Huckabee.

“I got to know Gov. Huckabee well on the campaign trail,” Hunter, R-Calif., said in a statement. “Of the remaining candidates I feel that he is strongly committed to strengthening national defense, constructing the border fence and meeting the challenge of China’s emergence as a military superpower that is taking large portions of America’s industrial base.”

“Along with these issues of national security, border enforcement and protecting the U.S. industrial base, I see another quality of Mike Huckabee’s candidacy that compels my endorsement. Mike Huckabee is a man of outstanding character and integrity. I saw that character over the last year of campaigning and was greatly impressed. The other Republican candidates have many strengths and I wish them all well. My personal choice is Mike Huckabee.”

The Romney folks were really excited about Mitt’s debate performance the other night. So they kept sending out press releases talking about how everyone thought their guy was wonderful

Why they even mentioned the Q offering this tidbit from that night’s blog:

Palm Beach Post’s Florida Politics Blogger, Brian E. Crowley: “So a quick handicap – Mitt Romney … [was] the most fun to watch.”

Interesting. Close but not quite. Here’s what I really said moments after the campaign ended:

“So a quick handicap – Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani were the most fun to watch. They tangled early and often grabbing the headlines.”

A tip of the hat to Scott Maxwell for pointing out the discrepancy.

Little attention has been paid to improving education by the Democrats and Republicans who want to be the nation’s 44th president.

The Post’s Don Jordan explores the issue here

Do presidents really have an impact on education?

Florida Democratic activists potentially sacrificed more than half of their delegates to the national presidential convention by agreeing to stick to a Jan. 29 primary.

The executive committee of the state party attempted to send a strong message to national party by refusing to craft a plan on how to reduce the delegation from 201 to 93, which is the possible punishment from national party leaders for holding a primary before Feb. 5.

(more…)