Politics

It's about the people - at $1,000 a plate

By ADAM C. SMITH, Times Political Editor
Published December 2, 2007

He's the People's Donald, after all, and a pal of Charlie Crist's. So Donald Trump will join Crist at Trump Tower in New York Thursday at a $1,000-per-person fundraiser for the "Yes on 1 - Save Our Homes" organization working to pass the Jan. 29 tax initiative.

Who is that mystery woman with Crist?

A number of Hamptons society types are on the co-host committee of that Trump event, including one Carole Rome. Who's she? The New York Post last week reported that for the past four months she's been the squeeze of Gov. Crist's.

In the midst of divorcing her husband, she's been living in the Miami area and has escorted Crist to Miami Heat games, the tabloid reported.

"She is a friend," a spokeswoman for Crist said of Rome.

Paul may not help out our insurance woes

Check out Ron Paul, the antiwar Republicans' presidential candidate and Internet superstar, today on Political Connections on Bay News 9. He talks, among other things, about his view that Medicare was a mistake, that the CIA should be abolished and how he's never in his life made a fundraising call.

Buzz is going to go out on a limb and predict Paul won't get Crist's endorsement, based on his response when asked if he'd support a national disaster fund to help alleviate Florida's property insurance problems: "No, that's a socialistic idea. I don't even support flood insurance, and my district is along the coast. It's wrong to tax people in Arizona because I want to build a house on the coast and I'm vulnerable," he said.

The interview airs at 11 a.m. and 6:30 p.m.

Setting the stage to leave the Crist camp?

Speculation is growing that Crist's chief of staff and top political strategist, George LeMieux, will leave the administration by Jan. 1 and return to the practice of law. Here's one revealing sign: His old law firm, Gunster Yoakley & Stewart, has established an office in Tallahassee.

"Whenever the day is that I decide I need to do something else, it will be with a heavy heart, because I'll miss it," LeMieux told the Buzz. "As challenging as it is to work with this governor, you try to do the right thing every day, and really help people. It's awesome."

McCain says he'd restore our delegates

Before leaving St. Petersburg Thursday for three fundraisers in southwest Florida, John McCain bemoaned the "crazy" compressed primary schedule, even as he promised that as the nominee he'd restore all of Florida's delegates to the Republican national convention. He lamented that Iowa's caucuses are Jan. 3. "I mean, we're still recovering," he quipped in a nod to New Year's revelers.

"I'd restore (Florida's delegates). But I have to tell you I'd also sit down with the Democrat nominee and try to work out a system so we make order out of this chaos," said McCain who would support keeping Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina as the first elections, followed by regional primaries stretched out over a longer period. "It's crazy. It's way too compressed, and we've got to sit down and fix it. If the parties won't fix it, then I would suggest congressional action to fix it."

Clinton backers ready for more

The Democratic presidential candidates may be boycotting Florida's Jan. 29 primary, but that's not stopping some of their Florida supporters from organizing the state. Tampa's Hillary Clinton supporters have launched "Tampa for Hillary Steering Committee" Web site (www.tampaforhillary.com) where Clinton supporters can get involved.

"It was clear that with so many Hillary supporters here in Tampa who want to help, but did not know who to call, there was a need to form this grass roots committee," said Sandy Freedman, a founding member of the committee.

Another is former gubernatorial candidate Bill McBride: "Once Hillary receives the party's nomination, there is no question that Tampa Democrats will be ready to plug into her national campaign with an army of local volunteers; ready, willing and already ably working hard for her election on Nov. 4, 2008."

Now Michigan knows how Florida feels

It's official. Florida is no longer the only state in the doghouse of the Democratic National Committee. DNC leaders on Saturday voted to strip Michigan, the eighth-largest state, of all its delegates to the national convention, just as they did with Florida.

It's punishment for the states violating the national party rules by holding primaries before Feb. 5. Michigan's primary is Jan. 15, though John Edwards, Barack Obama, Bill Richardson and Joe Biden have withdrawn their names from the Michigan ballot, something they legally could not do in Florida.

Adam C. Smith and Steve Bousquet contributed to this week's Buzz.

[Last modified December 1, 2007, 23:11:26]