By Times staff writers
Published September 19, 2004
HURRICANE IVAN SHELVED plans for President Bush to visit Snell Isle in St. Petersburg this week.
The president was supposed to headline a $25,000 per person fundraiser for the Florida GOP at the home of developer Jim MacDougald, founder and former head of ABR Information Services. Instead, Bush will visit the Ivan-socked Panhandle today and is expected back in the Tampa Bay area as early as next week.
This is the second time in recent weeks a hurricane forced Bush to cancel Tampa Bay campaign activities.
It's not the only political event to become a hurricane casualty. Actor and longtime environmental activist Robert Redford was supposed to be at Coachman Park in Clearwater on Wednesday to criticize the president's environmental record. It was arranged through a political arm of the Natural Resources Defense Council but postponed because of Ivan.
Democrats say they hope an amendment on the Nov. 2 ballot to raise the minimum wage will increase turnout. Look for a group called Floridians for All, which is pushing the ballot initiative, to start raising its profile soon.
"You're going to start seeing a lot more," said Megan Scott, the group's new spokeswoman.
The campaign will include a "huge radio buy" and a 10-day bus tour. Former President Clinton's chief of staff John Podesta, president of the American Progress Action Fund, is scheduled to be in Florida soon to support raising the minimum wage in Florida by $1, to $6.15.
IN CASE THERE are any doubters left, here's the latest reminder of Florida's importance for President Bush's re-election: The Republican National Committee on July 29 transferred $659,720 to the Florida GOP. The Center For Public Integrity calls it the single biggest financial transaction this year.
What will it be spent on? Things like this recent recorded call from George P. Bush, urging voters to send in their absentee ballot requests sent to them by the party:
"Unfortunately, our state has been through a lot recently. But we Floridians know better than anyone that every vote counts," the governor's son says in the recording.
JAY LENO HAD his own Florida-flavored take on America's intelligence capacities recently: "I'm not sure if our homeland security has improved all that much. Like, today, the CIA called the state of Florida and said, "There might be a hurricane headed your way."
ARAB-AMERICANS IN Florida are starting to cool to John Kerry, a new polls finds. The Zogby International poll for the Arab American Institute last week found Kerry and Bush are in a dead heat among Arab-American voters. The Sept. 9-12 survey found that 41 percent in Florida back Bush and 42 percent Kerry, though Kerry had a nearly five point lead over Bush in a July poll.
Florida has an estimated 125,000 Arab-American voters, and they tend to be considerably more conservative than Arab-Americans elsewhere.
Though no hard numbers are available for the Arab-American Florida vote in 2000, some experts say Bush overwhelmingly won that vote over Al Gore, and say the vote may be more evenly split in this election. Nationally, Bush received 45.5 percent of the Arab-American vote in 2000, compared with 38 percent for Gore and 13.5 percent for Ralph Nader, the son of Lebanese immigrants.
A PROMINENT TALLAHASSEE lobbying/law firm is splitting up.
Former Republican Party chairman Van Poole and Will McKinley have joined forces with The Dutko Group Companies, a Washington lobbying firm that is building a new team in the Southeast.
The new firm will be Dutko Poole McKinley.
Meanwhile, Justin Sayfie and Jim Blosser, Broward County lawyers who were part of Poole, McKinley & Blosser, have formed Blosser & Sayfie and will continue to practice law and lobby.
Sayfie, founder of SayfieReview.com, a Web site that culls Florida newspapers for political news, said he will continue to publish daily reports at least through the Nov. 2 election.
Adam C. Smith and Lucy Morgan contributed to The Buzz this week.
