Miami congressional caucus shifts support to Marco Rubio

Miami congressional caucus shifts support to Marco Rubio

Three Miami congress members will basically eat crow today when they formally endorse Sen. Marco Rubio in the GOP presidential primary. Marquito wasn’t their first choice. But U.S. Reps. Carlos Curbelo, Mario Diaz-Balart and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen suddenly find themselves without a candidate in the race, since their loser pick, former Gov. Jeb Bush, withdrew Saturday after […]

Presidential absentee ballots drop today to 157,000+ voters

Presidential absentee ballots drop today to 157,000+ voters

Coming to a mailbox near you: Absentee ballots for the March 15 presidential primary. Miami-Dade County Elections Department dropped more than 157,000 ABs in the mail today (Tuesday, Feb. 16) to voters with a request on file. The county encourages these people to be on the lookout for their ballot in the mail. Ladra encourages […]

Cindy Lerner confronts Rubio, Bush on climate change

Cindy Lerner confronts Rubio, Bush on climate change

Pinecrest Mayor Cindy Lerner went to New Hampshire last week to personally deliver a letter signed by her and 14 other mayors in Miami-Dade regarding climate change and the federal response to both Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush. Lerner, a deep blue Democrat who served in the Florida House with Rubio, told each of them at […]

Gimenez on Matthews: Campaign optics, not leadership

Gimenez on Matthews: Campaign optics, not leadership

Breaking news: Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez is Cuban again. Gimenez wrote a letter to TV show host and author Chris Matthews Thursday blasting the political pundit, host of MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews, for his comment about a boring GOP debate without Donald Trump. “Whose going to watch a debate between the two Cuban guys,” […]

It was a ‘Florida is Marco Rubio country’ weekend in Miami

It was a ‘Florida is Marco Rubio country’ weekend in Miami

Taking a cue from his yard signs, South Florida became Marco Rubio country for real over the weekend with four back to back events. Two were official campaign events and two just sorta happened. The first was a barbecue and pot luck Saturday organized by Facebook supporters at Tropical Park. Called Marco Rubio’s Hometown for America […]

Local GOP leader ruffles feathers with Ted Cruz nod

Local GOP leader ruffles feathers with Ted Cruz nod

Every Republican leader and/or activist has a favorite primary candidate and in this weird landscape where the outsiders are gaining ground on both the establishment and Tea Party boys, they are making their choices known. Congress members Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Carlos Curbelo are still behind the failing campaign of former Gov. Jeb Bush. State Sen. Miguel […]

Another GOP debate yields no real game changers

Another GOP debate yields no real game changers

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. While there was more blood spilled at the 5th GOP presidential debate Tuesday night than there has been in the last four previous debates — with more one-on-one challenges — there were still very few moments that seemed like they would make a big difference. There were many serious things […]

Marco Rubio comes home to low-key gig for neighbors, pals

Marco Rubio comes home to low-key gig for neighbors, pals

It’s more of a homecoming than any other South Florida event. Because when Sen. Marco Rubio greets 500 or 600 or so people at the community center in West Miami Saturday morning, he’ll be talking to neighbors and friends and the people who voted for him the very first time he ever ran for office. “It […]

Round 4 GOP debate winners and losers = no big surprises

Round 4 GOP debate winners and losers = no big surprises

As the crowd thins, it’s almost harder to recognize the clear winners and losers in the debate among those who want to represent the Republican Party in next year’s presidential election.  But Ladra’s gonna try anyway. It’s late and it was long, so some of these observations may be fuzzy, but here are Ladra’s knee […]