When the 2012 legislative session started, it would have been safe to predict that redistricting would be the most-difficult — and politically divisive — issue to resolve. But with House votes Friday, the Republican-dominated Legislature is close to finalizing its redistricting plans. The maps likely will face court challenges from Democrats and other critics, but [...]

The real story-behind-the-story in the stunningly quick and final death of the ‘Destinations Resorts’ issue in the 2012 legislative session is how Associated Industries of Florida lost its priority issue against the more effective, understated “Bad Bet for Florida” campaign conceived and executed by the Florida Chamber of Commerce. Even before the session began, AIF [...]

Smart marketing from the supporters of Destination Resorts… “As the House Business and Consumer Affairs Subcommittee prepares to vote on the job-creating, destination resorts legislation, a visual representation of the state’s nearly one million jobless stood in halls of the Florida capitol today,” Brewster Bevis, Vice President of Associated Industries said today. “These figures symbolize the tens [...]

Under Republican National Committee rules there is no chance to change how the state allocates delegates at this point, and no one in the state party disagrees with this position, reports Cameron Joseph. …an RNC memo obtained by The Hill says that (proportional allocation) is not a possible scenario. “With regard to proportionality, the RNC [...]

So Republican US Senate candidate Adam Hasner is leaving the race and will instead run for the congressional seat of Rep. Allen West, who is leaving that seat to run for Rep. Tom Rooney, who, in turn, plans to run for a new proposed seat that stretches from Charlotte to Martin County. How presumptuous! Hasner, [...]

Voters in two north Florida counties approved measures that may allow slot machine permits at pari-mutual facilities in the counties on Tuesday, reports the News Service of Florida. The votes in Washington County near Panama City and Gadsden County near Tallahassee marked the first approvals of slot gaming by voters outside Miami-Dade and Broward County, [...]

A federal appeals court on Tuesday rejected a challenge to Florida’s Amendment 6, added to the state constitution by voters to curb so-called gerrymandering of congressional districts that historically protected incumbents or gave advantage to the political party in power, reports the Associated Press. The three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals [...]

The Lee County Commission voted Tuesday to hold a November referendum about allowing slot machines at the Naples Fort Myers Greyhound Racing and Poker facility, the Fort Myers News-Press reported on its website via The News Service of Florida. The vote came as residents of Gadsden and Washington counties voted Tuesday about whether to allow [...]

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney stormed to a convincing win in Florida’s Republican presidential primary Tuesday, bolstering the front-runner’s argument that he is the best candidate to compete with President Barack Obama in swing states in the general election. With 98 percent of precincts reporting, Romney had 46 percent of the vote to former U.S. [...]

Slots are on their way to Gadsen County. Maybe. With all precincts reporting, those in favor of allowing slot machines at a newly opened pari-mutuel facility in Gretna dramatically outpaced those opposed. 6,042 voters were in favor of allowing slots at Gretna, while 3,558 were opposed. Some residents say they’re voting in favor of slot [...]