GOP NATIONAL COMMITTEEMAN DECLINES TO ENDORSE LIKELY NOMINEE

Monday, Polk County District 4 Commissioner Paul Senft of Winter Haven and the three challengers wishing to unseat him were the featured guests at the local Tiger Bay Club's monthly luncheon in Bartow.

Much of the discussion surrounded the commission's decision last August to approve the largest property tax increase in county history, for which Senft and the three other commissioners who voted in favour have been targeted for defeat.

But what really caught my eye in reading the Lakeland Ledger story was near it's end.

During the Q-and-A session from the audience, the four candidates --- three Republican, one Democrat --- were asked who they supported in the U.S. Senate race between Katherine Harris and incumbant Bill Nelson.

The lone Democrat, Jean Reed of Winter Haven, is supporting Nelson. Two of the GOP candidates support Harris. But Senft, who happens to be Florida's national committeeman on the Republican National Committee, declined to comment or endorse his party's probable nominee.

A glaring change from just over a week ago, when Senft told the gathering at the Polk GOP's Lincoln Day Dinner, "Katherine, I want you for my U.S. senator."

My question is: If he was so excited to want Ms. Harris as his U.S. Senator, and say so in front of the party faithful only a few days earlier, why did Commissioner Senft decline to acknowledge it yesterday in front of a bipartisan group of political aficionados?

It's April, and the temperature is getting hotter, but my guess is that the national committeeman's feet are chillin', because he realizes that the Bartow native is gonna:

Goooooooooo down gamblin'
Say it when your runnin' low.
Goooooooooo down gamblin'
You may never have to go.