Crowley Political Report

Well that didn't take long....Jeff Greene barely gets his opening remarks underway before he blames Kendrick Meek for mortgage crisis and all the other ills of the world.

Meek brags about getting on the ballot by petition, campaigning since Jan. 2009 and being a lifelong Democrat. 

1st question goes to Meek and it's about the Stackhouse controversy....

Meek says he "supports" the arrest of Stackhouse. "Nothing I have done has been improper."

Greene says it was "very much improper..."  "The St. Petersburg Times Kendrick called you clueless or worse"  He tells Meek he should ask for a House ethics investigation.

Greene hammers at the $90,000 Stackhouse was paying Meek's mother - former U.S. Rep. Carrie Meek -  and the new Escalade Stackhouse gave her.

Meeks says - "Mr. Greene appears to want to throw grenades...when he is the king of credit default swaps"

Instant analysis - First round goes to Greene.

Second question goes to Greene - question whether he regrets how he made his money. Bascially he says no - "my investment was against the biggest banks on Wall Street" He blames Congress for allowing loose bank regulations for the home loan crisis.

Feed keeps breaking up. This 90 minute debate is being webcast by The Palm Beach Post.

Feed is dead. Feed back up.

A personal moment for Crowley Political Report.

As many of you know award winning political caricaturist Pat Crowley's art is featured on CPR with an occassionally sprinkling of the art work of Chicago based Brian J. Crowley.

Today, The New York Times has a profile of one if it best, awarding winning photographers - Stephen Crowley.

Stephen is based in Washington but he has traveled the world on assignment for the Times and other news organizations - including The Palm Beach Post. He's seen the best and the worst of humanity while traveling to some of the world's most dangerous places.

And his approach to photography is creative, unique and often inspiring. And while he's too shy to admit it - he's even been part of two Pulitizer Prize winning photo teams.

Read about Steve here.

This is a picture he took of candidate George H. W. Bush in West Palm Beach as a young photographer for The Post.

The Times/Herald folks have found compelling evidence that despite Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum's continued denials of any knowledge about two shadowy political organizations running attack ads against Rick Scott - his campaign team is well-aware of the ads.

First here's McCollums most recent statement broadcast Sunday on Tampa's Bay New 9 Political Connections:

"We don't run them, we don't maintain them, they're not my organizations. We're not violating the law, and any way we can encourage compliance with it, it will be done."

Now, here are excerpt's from today's Times/Herald report about the new evidence.

Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum is being endorsed by former Texas Congressman Dick Armey.

Armey is the leader of FreedomWorks, which announced last week that it has: joined a broad coalition of Tea Party groups to fight back against a left-wing propaganda hit piece aired by MSNBC on June 16th.

Other excerpts:

When Jeff Greene and Kendrick Meek sit down before the debate microphones tomorrow many will wonder - who the hell is watching this?

The 90 minute debate is being hosted by The Palm Beach Post.  There's little doubt the questions will be tough and the candidates will squirm. And 90-minutes is long time so somebody is bound to say something dumb.

But it is not likely to draw a big audience. The debate begins at 10 a.m and ends at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday - right in the middle of the workday.  It will be webcast live at palmbeachpost.com.  Presumably the webcast will remain available online for those who want to watch it at their leisure.

Two groups will be overloading the boss's broadband - political writers and political operatives.

Those watching can expect to hear Meek accused of shady dealings and Greene accused of making money off the economic crisis. Meek will be a career politician. Green will be a rich guy trying to buy a Senate seat.

Expect to the worst :30 seconds for each candidate to appear in new political ads.

Another week of political twists and turns, silliness and drama:

Bud Chiles waits until the last minute to officially qualify as a no-party candidate for governor - Alex Sink grits her teeth but probably finds some solace in recent stories suggesting that Chiles is a lousy businessman.

Marco Rubio officially qualifies as a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate while The Palm Beach Post reports that a home he co-owns in Tallahassee is threatened with forclosure - adding to questions about Rubio's ability to handle his personal finances.

No-party Gov. Charlie Crist, suddenly discovers that as a U.S. Senate candidate he now favors gay-adoption, travel to Cuba, and labor unions.

Attorney General Bill McCollum, a GOP candidate for governor, tells newspaper editors that he is "not sure the Legislature is the place for open government" because you can't "do deals" while the public is watching.

Rick Scott reveals that his net worth is more than $218 million (is that before or after spending $15 million of his own cash on his campaign to be the GOP nominee for governor?) - and how much more will he spend?

Jeff Greene spends a painful minute on MSNBC's Hardball trying to explain to Chris Matthews why he can't remember whether or nor he voted for Jimmy Carter or Ronald Reagan in 1980 (glad to know that Matthews has his finger on the pulse of Florida's important issues).

And to think....the real fun is only just beginning.

During a meeting with Florida newspaper editors Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum, a Republican candidate for governor, expressed his misgivings about letting the public know what goes on in the Florida Legislature.

"I'm not sure the Legislature is the place for open government," McCollum said. "I was a legislator and you can't negotiate and do deals in the Legislature and get business done in 60 days or 90 days or whatever your session may be with open government, to be perfectly frank"

One can imagine the text messages going back and forth between members of McCollum's campaign staff: "OMG! DID BILL REALLY SAY THAT"  "Scott's gonna slam us with it."

In a state that has long prided itself on open government - allowing folks to watch their government in action - McCollum says legislators can't "do deals" while Floridians are watching.

This is an election year when voters are very suspicious of government, are demanding even more openness and worry that incumbents are too out of touch with the folks back home. They also resent what they believe is a "we know best" attitude among elected officials and bureaucrats.

This is going to be a tough one for McCollum to explain.

This may be a first.

Billionaire Palm Beacher Jeff Greene's new attack ad against U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek opens with a picture of Greene and his 83-year old mother Barbara.

Okay mom here we go - the ad is dubbed "Investigate":

  Kendrick Meek and Jeff Greene will meet Tuesday for a 90-minute debate hosted by The Palm Beach Post.

It will be the first face-off between the two Democratic candidates for U.S. Senate.

Greene, a Palm Beach billionaire, is spending a chunk of his fortune on television, radio and web ads. The result is that he has become a serious challenger to Meek, a congressman from Miami.

The 90-minute debate will take place at the Post and be webcast on palmbeachpost.com.

Arizona's new illegal immigration law is not just a hot political topic - it is a profitable one as well.

During this election many Florida candidates have been quick to adopt Arizona's policy as their own. And the reception from voters - both Democrats and Republicans - is largely positive.

A recent Quinnipiac University poll found that 59 percent of Florida voters support the law and only 29 opposed it. Thirty-one percent of Florida Democrats support the law as did 86 percent of Republicans and 56 percent of independents.

So what does it all mean - cash.

While doing a Google search today this ad popped up  at the top of the page:

Charlie Crist = Results  www.charliecrist.com   Largest Tax Cut In Florida History. Charlie Crist For Senate 2010

Twice, once in Sept. 2009 and again in March 2010, the Times/Herald PolitiFact carefully examined Gov. Charlie Crist's claim that he cut property taxes by $25 billion over five years making it "the largest tax cut in Florida history."

PolitiFact has repeatedly said the claim is "false." In fact, they found that the 1992 Save Our Homes amendment has saved taxpayers more than $32 billion - $7 billion higher than Crist's claim.

It was 7 a.m. Monday when the text message to Crowley Political Report arrived.

"Any truth to the persistant rumor that McCollum will drop back to AG race? Been a lot of talk. Have you heard this?"

The message, from a prominent Tampa-area Republican, got this response: "Haven't heard that but this year nothing would surprise me."

On Tuesday, a Tallahassee Republican who supports McCollum, told CPR that he is worried that the campaign is in a panic.

A new :60 second radio ad by Rick Scott continues the slashing style that both Scott and Bill McCollum have being using in recent weeks in their bid to be the GOP nominee for Florida governor:

Crowley Political Report listened and here's the text:

Woman's voice: Let's take a look inside Bill McCollum's campaign strategy meeting.

Man 1:  We gotta attack Rick Scott, now!

Man 2: Tried that, didn't work.

Man 1: But it's Bill McCollum's turn to be governor and our turn to cash in, just make it up.

  Excerpts from the White House media pool report:

 President Obama and Governor Crist strolled past The Original Fishsandwich Snackbar at Pensacola beach and walked down the beach together.

A crowd of beachgoers gathered behind a barricade about 150 yards away. They cheered as Obama and Crist made their way on the white sand to the water's edge.

Obama and Crist waved. At shore, the two men chatted.

Is Rick Scott the best thing that has happen to Alex Sink campaign?

More and more it is beginning to look that way. It was not long ago that Bill McCollum was slowing slicing away at Sink chipping at her public image and slowly rebuilding his own.

McCollum's campaign team was running a masterful effort in their attempt to make the Republican Attorney General Florida's next governor. And Sink's campaign seemed feeble in comparison. The effort to make the Democratic CFO Florida's first woman governor was going nowhere.

As Crowley Political Report noted in an earlier post, little is known about Florida First Initiative or the other shadow groups that are helping Republican Attorney General Bill McCollum in his campaign for governor.

Florida First Initiative's first  :30 second ad began over the weekend and is expected to be on the air in television markets around the state until Wednesday.

The ad accuses Republican Rick Scott, the former CEO of Columbia/HCA, of profiting from Medicare fraud. The ad says "his hospitals illegally refused emergency room patients who were poor" and "turned away a poor man and left him to die outside their door."

See it for yourself:

Rick Scott continues his barrage of attacks on Bill McCollum with a new :30 second ad dubbed "Dominos."

Whatever you think of Rick Scott the politician his ad team has cranked out a series of high production-quality ads that contribute to the notion that Scott is a very serious Republican candidate for governor.

The attack will be no surprise to Attorney General McCollum. His campaign for governor has long expected that his opponent would point to votes he made as a congressman and accuse McCollum of helping to create the banking/mortgage crisis.

The only difference now is that they expected the attack during the general election from Democratic candidate and Florida CFO Alex Sink. Suddenly, McCollum is desperately trying to fight back against Republican Scott and polls are suggesting that McCollum could be in trouble.

Last year a group calling itself  - Don't Bank on Sink - created a website (it is no longer up) blasting Alex Sink, the Democratic candidate for governor.

This week a group calling itself - Florida First Initiative - is spending $616,282 on TV ads calling Republican candidate for govenor Rick Scott a fraud.

What do the two efforts have in common? Both take on rivals of Republican Bill McCollum. And, interestingly, McCollum's team says they know nothing about either effort.

Remember the quaint notion that Gov. Charlie Crist would be doomed as a no-party candidate for the U.S. Senate mere minutes after he quit the Florida Republican Party.

Republicans gloated that the lame duck governor would soon find out that he has few real friends and that his prodigious ability to raise money would be for naught.

But then there is alway the unexpected - oil.

Rick Scott's surge in the Quinnipiac Unversity poll got a lot of folks tweeting. Who can blame them?

No one, and that probably includes Scott, would have expected the poll to show the Naples Republican 13 points ahead of Attorney General Bill McCollum in the GOP primary for governor.

Some folks also comment on the poll results on the Democratic side of the U.S. Senate race where Palm Beach billionaire Jeff Greene at 27 to U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek's 29.

Here's a look at a few of the many tweets about the poll: