THE WORD GETS AROUND...

It's always nice to get a mention here and there for an idea or other piece I've written here, and it's always appreciated.

A while back, I was moved to write about an idea which would hopefully resolve the madness currently surrounding scheduling the nation's presidential preference primaries and caucuses after watching a discussion on WEDU-TV's programme Florida This Week. I also made sure to send the idea to the moderator and participants on the show, which included St. Petersburg Times columnist Ernest Hooper. He was kind enough to respond to my e-mail, and stated he would possibly mention it in a future column. That piece ran June 15. I still believe it's a great idea.

And earlier today, Tampa Tribune writer Laura Fiorilli made mention of I4J's occasional listing of upcoming visits to Florida by the various presidential candidates. With the current controversy regarding our primary's move to January 29, and the major national party's threats of consequences toward the size of state's national convention delegation (and in the Democrat's case, the threat of no delegate votes for any candidate who campaigns or raises money here), it's an interesting resource to see 1) who is seriously campaigning in Florida, and who is just using the Sunshine State as a big ATM machine, and 2) seeing who is including Florida in their campaign strategy compared to only keeping a New Hampshire/Iowa/Nevada/South Carolina strategy. As the nation's fourth largest state, with a population much more reflective of the nation as a whole than the states holding their caucuses and primaries earlier, those candidates wanting to win had better get on the bandwagon here earlier....simple as that.