RUNNING FOR SPEAKER SO FAR AHEAD...OR RUNNING FOR NOTHING

It's interesting to watch lawmakers vie for leadership positions years ahead of time almost immediately after being elected to their first term. Because of term limits and the appearance to avoid in-house squabbles members of the Florida House of Representatives work to get votes from collegues up to five years ahead of time...assuming that the majority party will still be the majority that far ahead of time.

The St. Petersburg Times' Steve Bousquet noted this week that first term State Representative Dean Cannon (R - Winter Park), a Lakeland native, has said that he has enough support from fellow House Republicans to become Speaker in 2010. That's a blow to the ambitions of fellow Representative Anthony Traviesa (R - Tampa), who apparantly was unable to get the Hillsborough County delegation solidly behind him.

FYI: Assuming the GOP retains it's majority that long, Representative Marco Rubio (R - Miami) take the speaker's gavel next year, with Representative Ray Sansom (R - Destin) following in 2008.