Jumping around the newspaper pages and other blogs on a Sunday morning:

--- Add to the Presidential endorsments:
FOR JOHN F. KERRY
Bradenton Herald
Daytona Beach News Journal (with an additional piece against Bush)
Florida Today
Miami Herald (registration required to view)
Palm Beach Post
South Florida Sun Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale)
St. Petersburg Times


--- And to the Senatorial endorsements:
FOR BETTY CASTOR:
Lakeland Ledger
South Florida Sun Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale)

--- For those who don't believe how important the I-4 Corridor is to winning elections in Florida, this story by Lakeland Ledger/NY Times Regional Newspapers Tallahassee Bureau Reporter Lloyd Dunkelburger should give you some clearer insights. The current U.S. Senate contest between Betty Castor and Mel Martinez is expected to be decided in this region, especially because both candidates call the I-4 Corridor home.

--- We lost Pierre Salinger yesterday. Salinger was press secretary to president's Kennedy and Johnson, and later became Chief Foreign Correspondent for ABC News during the 1980s before retiring. He left the USA and moved to France to run an inn with his wife because he opposed the presidency of George W. Bush. He had been in declining health recently, suffering from aphasia, and was in hospital to have a pacemaker implanted.

--- Double dipping is a practice most people don't like from their public officials, but one candidate for the Polk County Commission is saying he would do so if elected, according to an article in the Winter Haven News Chief. Republican Sam Johnson, who is running for the District 5 seat (which covers much of Lakeland, Polk City, and the Green Swamp), wants to continue working full time as Assistant Principal of Ridgeview Global Studies Academy in Davenport, a conversion charter school. Johnson's Republican primary opponent, Robin Addair, has said he would endorse and vote for Johnson's Democratic challenger, Rev. John Thomas Fennell.

I had a feeling more of this double-dipping would potentially happen once the electorate approved cutting the salaries of commissioners in half, to nearly $36,000 a year. Serving on the BOCC, especially for a county as large as Polk, is a full time job. The present commission just approved a budged of nearly ONE BILLION DOLLARS, and commissioners have responsibility for that oversight. Anyone who believes they can do the work of a county commissioner and responsibily maintain their regular job full time is simply living a fantasy.

--- Speaking of the Winter Haven News Chief, it had to print a retraction Saturday after they got snookered (Sorry, it's not on their Website). It seems that a few days ago, the NC printed a Letter to the Editor from someone identifying themselves as a Rev. Washington, an African-American minister in the area, accusing the local Democratic Party in effect of racism and not being the party of inclusion. Three of the four Democratic candidates for the County Commission --- Mark Hopkins, John Johnson, and Jean Reed --- have been running a coordinated campaign since just after the primary. Rev. John Thomas Fennell, who is black, did not become a part of that for reasons unknown. I am aware that his campaign has been low on funds, so it is reasonably logicial to ascertain that he may not have been able to share equally in such a team effort. Knowing the other three individuals, I do not believe they would have not at least offer Rev. Fennell the opportunity to join in their united effort; that is simply not in their character.

As it turned out, there was no such Rev. Washington. The letter had no address, which is usually a requirment for newspapers to print letters to the editor. It was faxed from a business whose location was next to the campaign headquarters of District 1 commission candidate Bob English; the business in question had given $500 to the English campaign. Once the News Chief realized what had happened, they published a retraction in Saturday's edition.