Presumably, Lawrence McClure will vote for himself in next month’s Republican primary election in House District 58. If so, it would be the first primary election in which the 30-year-old Dover native has voted.
It was a far cry from “The buck stops here.” President Donald Trump, dealt a stinging defeat with the failure of the Republican health care bill in the Senate, flipped the script from Harry Truman’s famous declaration of presidential responsibility and declared Tuesday, “I am not going to own it.”
It was a platform most politicians can only hope for: A captivated, 6,000-person crowd and more than an hour of live, prime-time television coverage to hype the Republican vision for a new health care system. But when President Donald Trump got around to talking about the Republican plan — about 15 minutes into his speech — he was wildly off message. Instead of preaching party lines about getting the government out of Americans’ health decisions and cutting costs, he declared: “Add some…
I woke this morning to a strange and troubling email. It was unsigned, and from an address I don’t recognize, but the message came through clearly. Under the heading of “James T. Hodgkinson” — the shooter Wednesday in Washington — it read, in all caps: “I THINK JAMES IS A HERO. THE REPUBLICANS HATE POOR PEOPLE.” Yikes. Despite an eloquent speech by House Speaker Paul Ryan and calls for calm and unity, there is a lot of blame going around…
Kathy Castor is not interested in running for Tampa mayor in 2019. Elected in November to a sixth term in Congress representing Hillsborough County, the idea that Castor was contemplating leaving Washington to succeed Bob Buckhorn was floated by Patrick Manteiga in his La Gaceta column late last month. On Tuesday, Castor dismissed such speculation. “You know, I love my hometown, and I’m in a fabulous position to be able to advocate for my hometown,” she told FloridaPolitics.com. “And that’s what I intend to do…
Michael Killoren can’t wait to begin his gig as new CEO of the Morean Arts Center in St. Petersburg. The six-year veteran of the National Endowment for the Arts starts at the community-based arts organization June 1. Killoren’s appointment was announced in March, right around the time President Donald Trump called to eliminate the NEA in his first federal budget plan (as well as the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and 16 other federal agencies). “It’s a dynamic environment,…
The postelection dominoes of President Donald Trump‘s administration picks and a California Democratic appointment have created five openings in the House, and that means five special elections in the coming months. It will take some Democratic upsets for this trial heat for 2018 to dent GOP control of the House, where Republicans have a 237-193 edge. Republicans are defending four GOP-leaning seats. Democrats are protecting territory in a liberal California district. Republicans say that puts pressure on Democrats to prove they…
