That old adage of “be
careful what you wish for because you might get it” may take on some new meaning
this week as President Bush lashes back at presumptive Democratic
presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry’s bold challenge
to “Bring It On.” On Thursday the Bush White House will
begin cranking up and continue into the summer months over $100
million in TV commercials
designed to bolster the president’s slumping poll numbers and respond to the
nearly $30 million in harsh attack ads by the field of
Democratic presidential candidates and allied interest groups over the past
6 months. The ads will begin with a positive “spin” on the Bush record but
will quickly zero in on the Massachusetts senator’s 19-year senate career
and voting record. Look for the “air wars” to further intensify between
the presidential candidates this fall as part of a bitter and bruising national
campaign which will focus on the economy, foreign affairs and now, controversial cultural
issues.
Following his remarks
at a recent Tallahassee appearance again expressing interest in becoming Vice
President and in view of his expected endorsement
later this week of Kerry, Florida’s retiring U.S.
Sen. Bob Graham is
back “in play” as a potential Democratic Vice Presidential nominee perhaps even on the “short
list” along with his colleague, freshman Sen. Bill Nelson.
Both senators will join Kerry’s “victory lap” around Florida this week leading
up to next week’s Florida Presidential Primary.
Florida’s congressional
delegation continues to see retirements of its members. Tampa Bay area
Cong. Mike Bilirakis announced last week his plans to retire in 2006 and other powerful
senior members – such as Congressmen Bill Young, Clay Shaw and Cliff Stearns – might also soon follow in the
footsteps of Cong. Porter Goss and Cong. Peter Deutsch who are leaving this year.
The Florida Chamber
is applauding the initial recommendations by the Senate’s
Select Committee on Constitutional Amendment Reform to
improve the current amendment process by “raising the bar” for placement of
amendments on the ballot and their approval by voters. This issue has
been given top priority this session by Florida’s top business lobby.
At its February 25th
meeting, our Chamber’s Executive Board voted
unanimously to support the efforts of VoteSmartFlorida.org, the diverse alliance of Floridians,
local Chambers of Commerce, associations and community advocate groups which
recognizes that Florida’s constitutional amendment process
is seriously broken and needs to be fixed. The board also endorsed VoteForBusiness.com
and Get-Out-the-Vote (GOTV), two major election year programs
of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce designed to encourage
greater voter participation by becoming better acquainted with candidates
and business issues. In other action, the Executive Board approved presenting
Sen. Bob Graham with the Chamber’s prestigious J. Thomas
Gurney Community Service Award during its upcoming 2004 Washington, D. C. Regional
“Fly-In” in recognition
of his nearly 38 years of distinguished service to Florida.
Although it may not come
as good news for Florida’s bad drivers, there’s been some positive movement
to fund the state’s beleaguered trauma centers –
including the one located at ORMC – by increased penalties
on reckless drivers. Legislation pending in the house, co-sponsored
by Rep. Andy Gardiner (D-Orlando), would earmark revenue from increased penalties
for running a red light to trauma centers while on the Senate side there is
a Transportation Committee bill patterned after a Texas law
slapping multi-year penalties starting at $1,000 on habitually bad drivers
with 20% of the proceeds going to trauma centers.
There’s been a bipartisan
outbreak of “foot-in-mouth disease” this week with GOP House Speaker
Johnnie Byrd backtracking on his belittling of
fellow House members as “sheep” and Democratic Cong. Corrine
Brown apologizing for her insensitive
remarks directed at Hispanics in the state’s congressional delegation and the Bush
Administration.
The Chamber’s 2004
Tallahassee “Fly-In” is now two short weeks away and just
added to the program is Leesburg GOP Sen. Anna Cowin who will debate Ft. Lauderdale area
Democratic Sen. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz on scaling back the class
size constitutional amendment. If you haven’t signed up already
for the power-packed election year program with the state’s top political
leaders and issues, you’ll want to act quickly on the few remaining seats.
Mike Ketchum is the Vice
President of Public Policy for the Orlando Regional Chamber of Commerce and
can be reached at 407.835.2464 or mike.ketchum@orlando.org.
