At the End of the Day

Apollo is still feeling green, so you've got Strannix in the house tonight.

• Of course, we know the big news today is the "suspension" of Mitt(!) Romney's campaign to turn the White House into the Mormon Tabernacle East. As he told a gathering of CPAC mouth-breathers earlier today, "I Hate to Lose." But, Mitt(!), you'd become so good at it!
• So, what's a Huckabee (yikes!) hater, or a McCain (double yikes!!) hater to do, when their big, white, Mormon knight decides he actually wants to have some inheritance left to give to his 5 freeloading...umm...loyal sons and leaves you feeling like a twice-rolled john outside a Vegas casino? Why, like penile rigidity-challenged Rush Limbaugh, you start to raise money for Hillary Clinton, so that you may have a proper target for your daily two minute hate till November.
• Today in totalitarianism: customs officials now equate your laptop & cellphone with any other sort of luggage. Where is your Fourth Amendment now?
• Let us pat ourselves on the back just for a moment: whether you love, like or loathe Hillary Clinton and/or Barack Obama, odds are you like your choices better than the GOP voters.
  
• And, just before you start to think that "At the End of the Day" is all about the serious, you should check out one of the bands playing at Bonaroo this year; no, not Led Zeppelin, it's Lez Zeppelin.

Get yer ya-yas out in the comments.

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Florida Law Enforcement Leaders May Not Like Their Rudy

This week, I'm attending the Florida Chief of Police Association mid-winter conference in St. Augustine (as a guest). This morning, Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum - Republican extraordinnaire in that he has held or run for every statewide office in Florida including Senator - was scheduled to speak.

McCollum spoke for 30 minutes, much of it dedicated to why he was supporting Rudy for President. I expected the room to go nuts, especially with this almost exclusively Republican and pro-law enforcement audience.

If the media had been in attendance, this would be national news. The room only just politely clapped at the mention of Rudy. While there was a lot of support for the Republican Party, poor Rudy didn't get much. It was almost embarrasing.

If he's failing with these people, I think his Florida firewall may go down in flames.

UPDATE: And then there's this news from Florida:

In the Quinnipiac University poll, 22 percent of likely Republican voters backed McCain, while 20 percent supported Giuliani. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney each had 19 percent.

Uh-oh.

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Time to Pass the Hat

Things are not going well in Rudyland.

About a dozen senior campaign staffers for Rudy Giuliani are forgoing their January paychecks, aides said Friday, a sign of possible money trouble for the Republican presidential candidate.

"We have enough money, but we could always use more money,'' contended Mike DuHaime, Giuliani's campaign manager and one of those who now is working for free. "We want to make sure we have enough to win.''

"I want to do everything I can to make sure Rudy's president, and I speak for a lot of the campaign when I say that,'' DuHaime said. "None of us joined this campaign for money.''

Looks as if you hitched your wagon to the right horse then, sir.

[...that's all...]

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Best Bowl Photo of the Campaign Season

In this Presidential Campaign, I think Ron Paul will probably take the cake as the candidate with the most rabid supporters. But, I think this pretty much seals his originality in seeking the youth vote - a planned flyover at the Capital One Bowl in Orlando. (It's been around Orlando since this weekend.):



And, no, that's not Orlando in the photo but the story is one of the hottest in an otherwise slow news day in Central Florida.

Oh, and Happy New Year. Here's to a very BLUE 2008.

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Fox News excludes Ron Paul from the final debate

Pravda Fox News, the official propaganda machine of the GOP, is running scared from Ron Paul. They must find his adherence to Constitutional principles wholly intolerable, since they refused to let him participate in the final debate before the voting starts. (Remember, Fox also refused to run a pro-Constitution ad.)

Now, don't confuse me with a Paul supporter - I'm not - and no, I won't be converted in comments - but I am a Democracy supporter.

Now I feel bad for somewhat supporting the exclusion of Gravel from subsequent debates after his "love" rant last August, because that exclusion led to the exclusion of Kucinich, who is the one true progressive who articulates liberal positions and ideals, but isn't electable. We went down the path of letting the M$M decide who will be heard, and this is the payoff. The GOPers are excluding the only anti-war candidate in the Republican field. (I WAS WRONG. I SHOULD HAVE RAISED HELL WHEN GRAVEL WAS EXCLUDED. And so should have you, and you, and you, and you, and you. Let's learn a lesson from our mistake.)

In the case of Paul, the only reason to exclude him is to silence him on opposition to the war. And he called 'em on it:

Ron Paul said the decision to exclude him from a debate on Fox News Sunday the weekend before the New Hampshire Primary is proof that the network “is scared” of him.

“They are scared of me and don’t want my message to get out, but it will,” Paul said in an interview at a diner here. “They are propagandists for this war and I challenge them on the notion that they are conservative.”

When 70% of America agrees about something, that's strong consensus. Unfortunately, it runs counter to the agenda of the war-whores at Faux News, and rather than deal with it, they chose to silence the lone voice of opposition.

Chickenshit bastards.

[And that's my final word on it.]

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Merry Christmas, South Carolina, from ‘Mitt’

In the latest in a long tradition of South Carolina mudslinging, voters there got a Christmas card purporting to be from Mitt Romney. The catch? It claims to be from the Boston (Mormon) Temple and it’s filled with comments from The Book of Mormon and Mormon leads not the Christian Bible.

“We have now clearly shown that God the Father had a plurality of wives, one or more being in eternity by whom He begat our spirits as well as the spirit of Jesus His first born, and another being upon the earth by whom he begat the tabernacle of Jesus, as his only begotten in this world,” reads one passage from Orson Pratt, cited on the card as an “original member of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles.”

Obviously, it’s a fraud, but, to use the Latin, “cui bono,” who did it?

My No. 1 guess — Rudy Giu-lie-ani, or an official or unaffiliated surrogate.

McCain, for all his faults, just doesn’t seem the type to stoop that low, even through surrogates. Besides, he’s surging. Ron Paul’s libertarian faith-based campaign believes wishful thinking, or the power of the will, can win elections. Fred Thompson’s probably too stupid.

So, that leaves Rudy, right? He’s slipping in the polls, and he certainly does have the personality to pull something like that.

But, so does somebody else: Mitt Romney

Remember, Mitt’s own staff was a suspect in the anti-Romney Iowa robocalling this fall, still unresolved as to who did it. And, besides the personality (though less of a hatchet man than Rudy), the poll slippage and everything else describes Mitt as well as Rudy.

Interesting… your vote?

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A Tale of Two Parties

During this holiday season, with apologies to Dickens, depending upon the political party with which you ally, it is the best of times; it is the worst of times.

In what already feels as an interminably long election season, just days away from the Iowa & New Hampshire contests, Democrats are feeling supremely optimistic about the chances for their various candidates, while Republicans are suffering from uncharacteristic ennui.

Read on, my fine young cannibals...


For the first time in so long that I have trouble remembering (at which elephants are supposedly better at than donkeys, anyway), the Democratic voters are suffering from an embarrassment of riches, while the Republican voters are simply suffering from embarrassment.

Three weeks before the Iowa caucuses, Republican voters across the country appear uninspired by their field of presidential candidates, with a vast majority saying they have not made a final decision about whom to support, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.

Not one of the Republican candidates is viewed favorably by even half the Republican electorate, the poll found.

Read that last paragraph again...

Not one of the Republican candidates is viewed favorably by even half the Republican electorate, the poll found.

So badly has the Republican brand been tarnished, that even die-hard, primary voters can find little to love about their candidates. I'd long predicted that Huckabee would rise fast, then fall hard, largely on the dissatisfaction that potential voters felt with their cash-laden (and media-coronated) frontrunners. It seems my prognostications were on-target.

And in a sign of the fluidity of the race, former Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas, who barely registered in early polls several months ago, is now locked in a tight contest nationally with Rudolph W. Giuliani and Mitt Romney.

It seems elementary to note that Huckabee's meteoric rise (17 points...in two months!) likely would never have occurred, had Romney & Giuliani (not to mention Thompson...not that anyone of note bothers to mention him any more) been the heirs-apparent to the ghost of Reagan that each man claims to be.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the divide, the contrasts could hardly be more stark.

More than anything else, the poll underlines sharp differences between the Republican and Democratic electorate in how each views its candidates. Democratic voters, on the whole, see their candidates considerably more favorably than Republicans see theirs.

Mrs. Clinton is viewed favorably by 68 percent of Democrats, followed by Mr. Obama, viewed favorably by 54 percent. Mr. Edwards is viewed favorably by 36 percent.

Though the poll cited above was a national poll, the shape of the race in Iowa seems to echo loudly the confidence that Democrats have in their overall field, at least of the three frontrunners. That's how I explain that Clinton, Obama & Edwards nearly evenly split 70% of Iowa voters. A blowout by one candidate, or a neck-and-neck contests between two, I could see. But a three-way race? It appears that a goodly portion of Hawkeye state sees something awfully appealing in that triad.

Both in Iowa and nationally, Huckabee has surged on the GOP side. Not that he should expect an overly warm reception from Republican voters as the race wears on.

[Huckabee's] gains come even as Republicans remain skeptical about his ability to win in the general election, indicating that "electability" is not a priority in the race for the nomination. Only 13 percent thought Huckabee was the most electable, compared to 43 percent who said so about Giuliani and 18 percent who said Romney would be the party's best candidate in November 2008.

The Republicans sound like a party going through a severe case of identity crisis.

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Huckabee is officially big time

How can we tell? The MSM has its first “the whole truth” profile story on him.

First, a general comment on my part. Being a governor is the current favored way to run for the presidency. Unlike in the Senate, you get to claim an executive record, leadership, etc.

Problem is, when you’re a Mike Huckabee and have been guv for more than a decade, you’ve got plenty of flip side record too.

Reducing the sentence of a rapist and getting him out on parole can make you weak in the eyes of “tough on crime” Republicans.

Accepting a number of gifts while in office can taint you amongst the few GOPers who might actually have an ethics backbone.

You also can develop history of flip-flopping, as Huckabee appears to have done in illegal immigration. Of course, he’s not alone. Democrats, in general, haven’t taken a stance on this issue of any strength in the first place, and with the exception of Tom Tancredo, most Republicans have done a mix of flip-flopping and straddling.

Part of the fun to me will be to see how down-and-dirty a true Religious Right candidate is willing to be in response to the attack ads that are now sure to start piling up.

Update, 10:40 p.m. CST: I've browsed a couple of other bloggers' recaps of the GOP debate, and I'm surprised more people didn't go after Huckabee harder.

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I Want Dark Meat. Oh Yeah? Well, I Want White Meat!

Matt & Roy Blunt Discuss Presidential Politics Over the Holiday Weekend

Seventy-six days before Missourians have the opportunity to cast votes in a presidential preference primary, and endorsements from some of the state's Republican heavy-hitters are still coming in.

...keep reading, my naughty little gerbils...

Rudy Giuliani has been the fave thus far, with Missouri House Majority leader Steven Tilley, Representative Jo Ann Emerson and Senator Kit Bond all weighing in to endorse him. Meanwhile, Mitt Romney is the man, according to former U.S. Sen. Jim Talent, state House Speaker Rod Jetton and Governor Matt Blunt.

Oddly enough, Congressman Roy Blunt has been mum as to whom he'll be endorsing thus far, though he has utilized Giuliani to help him raise funds for his re-election bid. And, we all know how money talks.

So, I begin to wonder, what kind of Thanksgiving will it be at the Blunt manor this year?

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How stupid do Mitt and his minions think we are?

I call bullshit.

The pandering jackass who happily posed with this sign did not "misspeak" - and certainly not twice in ten seconds - when he said this:

“Actually, just look at what Osam — Barack Obama — said just yesterday. Barack Obama, calling on radicals, jihadists of all different types, to come together in Iraq.”

His loyal minion and amoral mouthpiece, Kevin Madden, said he "misspoke" while referring to Osama bin Laden's just-released single that shot to the top of the Wingnut Top 40 overnight.

Umm, Kev - you are a dirty-dog liar - he started to say it right and corrected himself.

Care to try again, Wormtail?

How's about this? Try a little honesty.

"Hey, have you seen the polling? This kind of petty, junior-high crap is all we got if we want Mitt to be the guy who loses to Hillary next November!"

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Crist for VP

Desperation abounds in the race for Florida in 2008.

In evidence, Governor Charlie Crist is being courted by several Republican campaigns as a possible VP candidate. Mitt Romney's been more open about it than others but the rumors have been swirling for weeks that some lucky campaign will score Crist as a running mate.

As recently as January, Jeb Bush had been touted as the savior of the Republican party in Florida. Many speculated that he would be someone's running mate. But, two things happened on the way to the party.

First, the Bush name has become absolutely toxic, even in Florida. And, Crist, who has been governor for seven months, is enjoying higher approval ratings than Bush ever did. More importantly, Bush's numbers were propped up by dominate Republican numbers while Crist is enjoying broad-based bipartisan appeal.

Still, it says something that Romney, the conservative before he was a liberal, or anyone who is seeking to up his conservative creds would even consider Crist. He's the least conservative Republican in a leadership role you could pick.

Not only does he support measures to curb global warming, Crist is actually leading the movement in Florida, ahead of even Dems in initiative. But it's his more recent actions that should give social conservatives pause.

Crist has disengaged GOP support of a state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. During the recent gubernatorial campaign, Crist was hit hard over his alleged support of civil unions. He countered with his support of the Defense of Marriage Act.

Actions speak louder than words, however. Crist wants no more GOP money going to support the amendment. Further, many of his major campaign donors are contributing to or heavily participating in efforts and groups opposing the amendment. They take their lead from Charlie.

But Crist and Romney do have flip-flop in common. Crist was pro-choice before he was against it. Even so, though he would sign it, he will not champion any legislation to change Florida's pro-choice laws.

Crist added, "Promoting a culture of life is preferable to me than passing laws."

That's a pretty moderate stance and it sounds a lot more like Hillary Clinton than anyone running on the Republican ticket.

Yes, he is a Republican. He takes some decidely conservative stances on some issues. But, these two - abortion and gay marriage - are signature themes of the social conservative movement and Crist is not on board.

Crist won the governorship because he presented an image that was attractive to Dems. It was 'wink-wink, but you know how I really feel.' In the past seven months, a lot of his actions are looking like the winks were right and that makes a Crist addition to the GOP ticket a dangerous and desperate thing for Republican candidates.

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Oh, Sweet Irony! You just can't make this stuff up!

Sometimes I read something and I just collapse in a fit of giggles like I'm a giddy schoolgirl all over again. Seriously - every day the stable of Republican wannabes - and I do mean wannabes - does something that I derive absolute mirthsome glee from.

McCain takes a stroll, Rudy punks out when it's time to put up, and now, Romney rewrites reality. I mean seriously - can you even stand these fools? WTF, Mate?

“…for conservatives like me, facing reality is not a source of fear. It is a source of confidence. I am convinced that America--and our friends--can overwhelm any threat, but only if we acknowledge it, confront it, and respond thoughtfully and strategically.” Mitt Romney, earlier today in a speech at the American Enterprise Institute.

And not one word in the entire speech about Iraq.

I think that speaks volumes all by itself, don’t you?

Seriously – how could I ever hope to top that?

I'm sorry folks, but you will have to write your own jokes here.

I'm too busy right now, what with the being nonplussed and all.

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Reason number – oh hell, I’ve lost count – why I want the Republicans to run Rudy in 2008

I have frankly never taken Julie-Annie seriously as a candidate, and not jut because every time he opens his mouth I hear Sylvester the Cat. Unless the goal of the Republicans really is to make Bush look competent - then I guess I can see backing the one guy guaranteed to be worse...

In March of 2006, when the Iraq Study Group was established, the Resident appointed Rudy to one of the Republican seats on the panel.

A smart fella with an eye toward the oval and a weak foreign policy hand would have been all over that appointment and thrown himself into it whole heartedly, taking the opportunity to pump up his street cred and become something of an expert on Iraq – you remember Iraq – the biggest foreign policy cock-up since Suez – that Iraq.

Rudy couldn’t be bothered to attend any of the meetings tho – it interfered with his lucrative public speaking schedule.

Steve Benen has the best takedown I’ve read so far, and The Hill has more details.

Giuliani failed to show up for a pair of two-day sessions that occurred during his tenure, the sources said - and both times, they conflicted with paid public appearances shown on his recent financial disclosure. Giuliani quit the group during his busiest stretch in 2006, when he gave 20 speeches in a single month that brought in $1.7 million.

On one day the panel gathered in Washington - May 18, 2006 - Giuliani delivered a $100,000 speech on leadership at an Atlanta business awards breakfast. Later that day, he attended a $100-a-ticket Atlanta political fundraiser for conservative ally Ralph Reed, whom Giuliani hoped would provide a major boost to his presidential campaign.

The month before, Giuliani skipped the session to give the April 12 keynote speech at an economic conference in South Korea for $200,000, his financial disclosure shows.

Giuliani's campaign said that the former New York mayor did participate in Iraq Study Group activities but refused Newsday's repeated requests to explain how.

Instead, they referred to a May 24, 2006, letter Giuliani sent to the Republican co-chairman and former secretary of state James Baker. In it, Giuliani praised the group's "truly important mission" but cited his time commitments for why he couldn't give the group "the full and active participation" it deserved.

One source familiar with the group's activities recalled that Giuliani did participate in an early conference call in spring 2006 that was mainly organizational. But Giuliani's name is mentioned nowhere in the group's final report, which lists more than 160 people who were consulted.

By giving up his seat on the panel, Giuliani has opened himself up to charges that he chose private-sector paydays and politics over unpaid service on a critical issue facing the nation.

Not only that, but the 10-member group - also called the Baker-Hamilton commission - was no ordinary blue-ribbon panel, instead chartered by Congress and encouraged by the president to find a way forward in Iraq.

It was enough for me to write him off as a moron and a punk when he put the terrorism response center in the basement of the primary terror target in the world after it had already been attacked once. It was enough for me that he informed his wife in the media that he was dumping her for his mistress. It was enough for me that too many first responders died because the radios were incompatible (this is a big issue for me. I have paid the price in hot situations when radios aren’t compatible. I get pissed off right quick over comms fuck-ups) He gave a friend the contract instead of standardizing the communications system for the city, and a couple of hundred of New York’s finest died because they couldn’t hear the warnings that the buildings were going to fall down.

Rudy Guiliani is persona non grata in my eyes, can’t say his name without I have to spit. He’s a phony, he’s a punk and he has no character. And when it came time to actually step up and do something for his country – you know the “put up” part – he punked us to cash the big checks. He couldn’t be bothered to actually perform in the service of the nation.

Can we have a new rule, please? Call it Basic Rule of Politics Number 1: When you punk out on the put up, you have to shut up.

Patriotism is not bluster and a tiny American flag on your lapel. Patriotism is the quiet devotion of a lifetime spent in service and dedication without thinking "what's in it for me?" Rudy fails that patriotism test with flying colors.

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Checking Rudy

In 1996, Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani of New York, appointed Jerome M. Hauer, left,
to lead the Office of Emergency Management.

It would not have hurt my feelings any if Julie-Annie would have had the nomination secured and then the deluge had started.

But alas, that was not meant to be. He is instead being bitten in the ass by his phony terrorism record at this early date.

And ask any first responder anywhere in the country – Rudy is a f*#king joke on the terror-fighter front. He had a couple of bullhorn moments while the country was in shock, but really, that’s all he has. Behind the rhetoric he is just a torture-lovin’ coward.

The most significant criticisms leveled at him come from his former head of Emergency Management, Jerome Hauer:

In recent days, Mr. Hauer has challenged Mr. Giuliani’s recollection that he had little role as mayor in placing the city’s emergency command center at the ill-fated World Trade Center.

Mr. Hauer has also disputed the claim by the Giuliani campaign that the mayor’s wife, Judith Giuliani, had coordinated a help center for families after the attack.

And he has contradicted Mr. Giuliani’s assertions that the city’s emergency response was well coordinated that day, a point he made most notably to the authors of “Grand Illusion,” a book that depicts Mr. Giuliani’s antiterrorism efforts as deeply flawed.

Mr. Hauer was one of the closest advisors Mr. Guilliani had in his inner coterie. He served in the Guilliani administration for four years, and emerged as one of the best-known emergency preparedness experts in the field, and has been a frequent guest on television news shows and discussion panels.

When Mr. Hauer criticizes, it isn’t dismissed as the rantings of a contrarian crank, it is instead taken seriously. Or should be.

But wait…there’s more…

The part of the Times piece I found particularly disturbing was the bit toward the end that put me in the mind of Bubble Boy and his Craven Cabal:

Fred Siegel, the author of “The Prince of the City: Giuliani, New York and the Genius of American Life” (Encounter Books, 2005), said the trust that members of Mr. Giuliani’s inner circle invested in each other was the reason no one apart from Mr. Hauer had ever emerged as even an occasional critic.

“The core of the administration was that these guys would always pull together,” said Mr. Siegel, who once served as speechwriter for Mr. Giuliani. “Once a decision was made, that was it. There wouldn’t be any second-guessing.”

Do we really need four more years of administration-comes-first-and-the-country-can-go-to-hell?

I don’t think so. We are going to be lucky to emerge from the Bush maladministration with our nation intact. If a smarter, more authoritarian version of Bush emerges from the 2008 pack to become president, we may as well call the time of death for the American experiment.

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Northwest Republicans

Last saturday (May 5th), the Washington State Republican Party held its first Presidential Primary Straw Poll as part of a state party big-wig conference, and the results were pretty interesting.

Predictably, Tom Tancredo, Tommy Thompson, Mike Huckabee, and Newt Gingrich each polled less than or equal to 1 percent, and Duncan Hunter 5 percent. More interestingly, John McCain, Giuliani, and Romney only garnered 10 percent, 15 percent, and 16 percent respectively. Fred Thompson came away with 50 percent of the vote and isn't even officially in the race. Granted, this is only a (ridiculously early) survey of the local Republican elite, and of the 570 in attendance only about a third participated in the poll.

The wingers who gathered 5 percent or less can't be expected to have done any better - even the conservatives in Washington State aren't all that conservative, particularly when it comes to social issues, which make up the appeal of the Republican's marginal candidates. McCain's pro-escalation position on war has likely alienated many Washington conservatives who, I would imagine, are less supportive of Bush's excursion in Iraq than their compatriots in, say, Texas or Wyoming. I would have expected Giuliani to do better, and maybe even Romney too since they seem to appeal to those who are more center-right on the national political spectrum (and make up the majority of Republicans in the Pacific Northwest more generally).

Thompson's showing seems pretty outstanding, but in retrospect, I suppose it makes sense. Washington State conservatives (and West Coast conservatives more generally, I'd imagine) tend to follow more libertarian, neo-liberal veins than conservatives elsewhere. Our Republican delegation to Congress, and Republican candidates for other statewide offices like Governor (Dino Rossi from the 2004 race) and Attorney General (Rob McKenna) are often drawn from the business - or at least pro-business - communities. Mike McGavick, who ran against Senator Cantwell in 2006, was the former CEO of Safeco Insurance, and Rep. Dave Reichart (R - Bellevue) and Rep. Doc Hastings (R - Wenatchee, Yakima, Tri-Cities) all run on small government, low taxes, law & order platforms. Voters in Washington State tend to shy away from candidates who wear their Religion on their sleeves (John Carlson, 2000 Gubernatorial race against former Gov. Gary Locke) tend to lose.

An early straw poll from a weak state political party is unlikely to have serious implications for national trends, especially considering that the Washington State Republican Primaries will be held long after the nomination is clenched, it makes me wonder whether or not Fred Thompson might act as a spoiler for the Republicans. I think Giuliani and Romney would make pretty formidable Republican candidates in the general election, but Thompson doesn't seem like he'd hack it against an Obama, Edwards, or Clinton led ticket. Bob Dole looked great for Republicans on paper, and they couldn't have asked for a more experienced candidate, but he couldn't hack it against a popular, incredibly charismatic Democratic incumbent. While nobody in 2008 will enjoy the benefits of incumbency, and Fred Thompson is certainly not a shoe-in, it makes me feel good that, for once, it's the Republicans who are suffering from severe cleavages and their search for the reincarnation of Ronald Reagan might just kick them in the ass.

There's more: "Northwest Republicans" >>

The State of Bush

(with apologies - or applauds - to Texas)

Keith asked me to keep tabs on the governor here in the Sunshine State (and I will) but I think the newest elected official that bears the most watching is our new state CFO, Alex Sink, a Democrat. Jeb Bush will never run for national office and here's why:

Imagine you're the kingdom's new accountant, brought in to cast a critical eye on certain programs of a popular former monarch.

It's a daunting task that some say describes the job now facing Alex Sink, the state's newly elected chief financial officer. Sink takes control of the Florida Department of Financial Services next week -- the only Democrat to win one of the three statewide Cabinet posts in the November election.

The former Florida chief for Bank of America proved a formidable campaigner, defeating veteran Republican state lawmaker Tom Lee. Now, the hard work begins.

Her top priority takes aim at one of Republican Gov. Jeb Bush's favorite initiatives: privatization, or the outsourcing of state government work to private companies.

This woman is good. She's sharp. She's experienced. And, people in Florida believe her.

She defeated Tommy Lee who was endorsed by Jeb Bush with his 63% approval rating in our state. She was outgunned by money and swift-boated by more than a few 527's.

If anyone can "sink" any 2008 Presidential consideration by the younger Bush, it's Alex.

Deb-TUD

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