VP debate? Yawn. Surprising prez debate still the buzz

VP debate? Yawn. Surprising prez debate still the buzz

We’re all ready to watch the debate tonight between Vice President Joe Biden and Republican ticket running mate Paul Ryan. But, since both presidential candidates are young enough to last the next four years, what they say is less important than what the two #1s on the ballot say next week. Ladra will watch the […]

Wanna vote? Tuesday is last day to register in Florida

Wanna vote? Tuesday is last day to register in Florida

The deadline for would-be voters to register in Florida is around the corner and we can’t help but wonder if the projections and goals of all the different get-out-the-vote groups have paid off. And we can’t help but think that they haven’t. Judging by the late start that many groups got — thanks to the […]

Hope for Venezuela: Change and no civil war

Hope for Venezuela: Change and no civil war

Thousands of motivated Venezuelans who live in Miami traveled to New Orleans Saturday so they could vote in their national elections today. Some hopped on charter flights. Others on buses that left by the bundle from JC Bermudez Park in Doral. Still others drove, in cars packed with family members and neighbors and friends, creating […]

House race 112: Parties push and an old alliance crumbles

House race 112: Parties push and an old alliance crumbles

Maybe the state House race in 112 between former Florida Senate Majority Leader Alex Diaz de la Portilla and Peace Corps activist-turned-Harvard lawyer Jose Javier Rodriguez isn’t such a sleeper after all. Not now that both state parties are involved (even if the GOP has taken its sweet time for petty, punk reasons) and an […]

Blues and Reds make bipartisan debate watch parties purple

Blues and Reds make bipartisan debate watch parties purple

Ladra didn’t really expect the Bendixen and Amandi debate watch party to be bipartisan, even though I was told several high-profile local GOPpers were invited. Then Jorge Arizurrieta, a member of the Mitt Romney Hispanic leadership team, came in. Monday, Arizurrieta hobnobbed at Versailles with Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Congresspeople Connie Mack and Ileana […]

Debate watch parties: Obama wins by more than 2 to 1

Debate watch parties: Obama wins by more than 2 to 1

If debate watch parties voted, Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney would be in trouble. Ladra has already seven invitations for different events Wednesday. But five of them are hosted by Democrats supporting President Barack Obama. “You are on the wrong mailing lists,” joked my friend, Republican Superwoman and former Congressional candidate Marili Cancio, who lost […]

Mack gets Rubio, IRL CPR while closing gap on Nelson

Mack gets Rubio, IRL CPR while closing gap on Nelson

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio and Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen went to their Versailles voter base Monday to try to resuscitate the Connie Mack IV campaign against U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson with a little mouth to mouth. Some say he needs an epinephrin shot to the heart. You know, ala Pulp Fiction. But for the first time […]

District 11 race: Alliances, attack ads, an old feud and lies

District 11 race: Alliances, attack ads, an old feud and lies

Thank you to former Hialeah Councilwoman and Crime Watch Maven Carmen Caldwell for reminding me of one of the most heated battles on the ballot this election, which I am definitely following but forgot to mention in the post about the races to watch. That would be the fight for District 11 between former State […]

Is there another Haridopolos in the House? Paging Dr. Steph

Is there another Haridopolos in the House? Paging Dr. Steph

In between pushing for a cap on state government spending (good boy!) and trying to block a lawsuit by parents who believe the state is not adequately funding our public schools (bad boy!), Florida Senate President Mike Haridopolos has time to promote his doctor wife’s weekly write-up (very good boy!). “Check out my wife’s weekly […]

Mary Collins gets help from Balloteer Bovo, Rivera’s ex

Mary Collins gets help from Balloteer Bovo, Rivera’s ex

Most of the people on the list of supporters hosting a fundraiser tonight for Miami Lakes Councilwoman Mary Collins are not a surprise: Mayor Michael “Muscles” Pizzi, Vice Mayor Ceasar Mestre, Councilman Nick Perdomo — who I like to call the Bermuda Triangle — and lawyer Javier Vasquez, who also did a fundraiser for Pizzi […]