FOLEY: WILL HE STAY OR WILL HE JUMP, AND THE FORMER REPUB WHO MAY RUN

In the Palm Beach Post earlier this week, political writer George Bennett noted that Democrats in the area are looking for a serious contender to run for the seat now held by Congressman Mark Foley (R - Jupiter).

Now that Florida House Speaker Allan Bense has decided against running in a GOP primary for the U.S. Senate, attention now focuses on Foley to possibly challenge House collegue Katherine Harris (R - Sarasota) to determine who will compete against incumbant Democrat Bill Nelson.

But the Democrats may have someone notable to seek Foley's own House seat...someone who has only been a registered Dem for about a month!

Tim Mahoney, who owns homes in Palm Beach Gardens and Highlands County, is chairman of the Boca Raton-based financial services company vFinance.com. While he has not been politically active in the past, Bennett writes that new Florida Democratic Party chair Karen Thurman and representatives with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee have discussed a possible run for Foley's seat.

The district winds through several south central Florida counties from Wellington and Royal Palm Beach through Port St. Lucie and near Fort Pierce on the Atlantic coast, then west to include all or parts of Highlands, Glades, and Hendry counties, and much of Charlotte County on the Gulf coast.

The recent Democratic campaigns for this seat have crashed and burned. We'll see how this story develops.