POLITICOS PRACTICE TALKING POINTS IN HAINES CITY

Last evening was the Greater Haines City Chamber of Commerce's annual Pig Roast, one of those events which is a "must do" for many area and state politicians. Sadly, I didn't get to go; the $50 ticket was a bit too rich for my po' boy blood, although I hope the barbeque was rather good...at that price, it had better be!

But Lakeland Ledger writer Michael Freeman was there (he's also editor of the Four Corners area's weekly The Reporter, also published by the Ledger), and notes that among those attending were U.S. Senate wannabe and current Congresswoman Katherine Harris (R - Sarasota). In addition to inviting all parties to join her team, the former Florida Secretary of State slammed incumbant Democrat Bill Nelson for not having much to show for during his tenure in office.

"My opponent, Senator Nelson, has been around for 30 years but hasn't accomplished much," she said. "The record shows that his voting record is more liberal than the senators from New York, (Democrats Hillary) Clinton and (Charles) Schumer. That may be fine in New York, but it's not where Florida is."

She may want to look over the record a bit more carefully. Nelson's way more moderate than she wants to give him credit for.

Meanwhile, GOP gubernatorial candidate and current Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher was slamming judges who bypass the judiciary to redefine marriage, saying he would support a ballot referendum defining marriage as being between a man and a woman.

And Democratic gubernatorial candidate State Senator Rod Smith (D - Alachua) focused on education, saying that not enough money was being put into the system resulting in overcrowded classrooms and low test scores.

Smith also provided the quote of the day, regarding his low name recognition:

"When I first got into this race, nobody knew my name. I saw one poll that had me with 4 percent. The problem was, the poll had a 5 percent margin of error."