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J.J. Beyrouti, a Pinellas County Commission candidate, talks on the campaign trail about coming to America 30 years ago from Beirut. One detail he does not talk about is the name his father gave him: Jihad Jean Beyrouti.
Beyrouti, 52, legally changed his name to Jay John Beyrouti in 1997, a year after he was elected mayor of Redington Shores.
A Christian, Beyrouti said he did not like what the word had come to mean. What was once considered a term for "internal effort" or "internal struggle," Beyrouti said, has been invoked by terrorists and come to mean "holy war."
Beyrouti is one of four Republicans seeking the seat held by Barbara Sheen Todd. He came to the United States in the 1970s and moved to Pinellas in the 1980s, where he built a prosperous real estate and hotel business on the beach. He has raised more than $90,000 in campaign contributions and has the support of several local mayors, including Rick Baker of St. Petersburg.
POLITICAL OVERCROWDING: Florida TV stations apparently don't share the Republicans' "big tent" theory.
Republican U.S. Senate hopefuls will meet Tuesday in Orlando for a statewide televised debate. But not all of them.
WESH, the host for Florida's nine NBC affiliates along with the Orlando Sentinel, didn't invite three candidates - Larry Klayman, Sonya March and Billy Kogut - because their poll numbers are too low. The three aren't happy.
Klayman and March complained in letters to WESH. March, a St. Petersburg lawyer, cited polls showing 41 percent of GOP voters are undecided.
"Including all of the candidates would be in the public's best interest, so they could make an educated and fair decision," March wrote.
WESH used a 5 percent polling threshold as measured in the most recent Mason-Dixon survey. Bill McCollum, Mel Martinez, Doug Gallagher and Johnnie Byrd met the cut. The others didn't. Seven candidates would impede a significant discussion of the issues, the station concluded.
The hourlong debate will air Tuesday at 7 p.m. on WFLA, Ch. 8.
Florida PBS stations also plan Senate debates, hosted by WEDU-TV in Tampa, but the participants haven't been determined. The Democrats debate Aug. 26 and the Republicans debate Aug. 27.
GALLAGHER'S LIFE: It's not easy connecting with voters when you're Florida's chief financial officer. That could be a problem for Tom Gallagher's ambition to be governor in 2006.
The Cabinet member, who keeps the state's checkbook, has a new strategy for getting his face before voters, with help from a firm he regulated as state insurance commissioner.
Gallagher has unveiled a new Web site, www.yourmoneyyourlife.org aimed at educating Floridians about managing money. Besides help from businesses and nonprofits, the project was underwritten by $150,000 from the nonprofit foundation for Allstate Insurance.
The site features a short video of Gallagher welcoming visitors, in English and Spanish. Later this year, the campaign will also include a half-hour TV show featuring Gallagher.
Gallagher, who said he has pushed financial literacy since his days as a state House member, calls it a smart public-private partnership that will aid Floridians. But it also will give him exposure just as the race for governor begins to warm up. His Republican challengers are expected to be Attorney General Charlie Crist and Lt. Gov. Toni Jennings.
BYRD'S TANK: Republican U.S. Senate candidate Johnnie Byrd has a new radio ad that takes off on GOP front-runner Bill McCollum. The subject is taxes. Gas taxes, to be exact.
Byrd juxtaposes his support for an 8-cent gas tax cut with a vote McCollum cast to double the federal gas tax.
"It's a major difference," the Byrd ad says. "Higher taxes with Bill McCollum, or lower taxes with Johnnie Byrd."
McCollum cast that vote in 1982, and has said the tax was part of President Reagan's economic agenda. He later called it "the one vote I wish I hadn't cast in Congress."
"For Mr. Byrd to attack our revered former president to score political points is nothing more than a desperate campaign tactic," said McCollum spokeswoman Shannon Gravitte.
Staff writers Joni James, Michael Sandler, Lucy Morgan and Steve Bousquet contributed to The Buzz.