SOMETHING TO REALLY LOOK FORWARD TO

I like the headline for Bill Cotterell's column Thursday in the Tallahassee Democrat:

Eventually, state Democrats will be back in power

Even Jeb! himself has admitted this.

The only question is when.

Cotterell believes that the first real step toward that eventuality comes next year in Broward County, considered the biggest Democratic stronghold in Florida.

Five of the seven Democrats who are term-limited out of the House next year represent parts of Broward. So do both term-limited Democratic senators running for higher office - Fort Lauderdale's Walter "Skip" Campbell, who's going for chief financial officer, and Ron Klein of Boca Raton, trying for Congress.

Two non-term-limited House members, both Democrats, are running for Campbell's and Klein's Senate seats.

All of this means a big turnout in the Democratic primaries in Broward. For all practical purposes, the winners of those races will be chosen in the September primaries.

That might be good for Scott Maddox's campaign for governor. The former Tallahassee mayor ran surprisingly well in the 2002 primary for attorney general, leading a four-man ticket in Broward by nearly 10,000 votes.