Sen. LeMieux opens regional offices

U.S. Senator George LeMieux today announced the locations of his regional offices in Florida. LeMieux’s regional offices provide residents with a local contact when seeking assistance with federal issues or concerns.

“It’s an honor and a privilege to serve the people of Florida and I am dedicated to working hard for every Floridian.” said Senator LeMieux. “These offices provide constituents with access to me and my staff so we can best serve their needs.”

Frequently requested services include ensuring the proper Social Security benefits are received, that Medicare is paying appropriate claims in a timely manner, that military families and veterans are receiving pay and benefits on time, assistance with the IRS, passport applications, and hurricane recovery applications.

Orlando
201 S. Orange Ave., Suite 350
Orlando, FL 32801
Tel: (407) 254-2573
Fax: (407) 423-0941
TTY: (407) 254-5548
Toll-Free in FL: (866) 630-7106

Jacksonville
1650 Prudential Drive, Suite 220
Jacksonville, FL 32207
Tel: (904) 398-8586
Fax: (904) 398-8591

Miami
8669 NW 36th St., Ste 355
Miami, FL 33166
Tel: (305) 444-8332
Fax: (305) 444-8449

Fort Myers
2120 Main Street, Suite 200
Fort Myers, Florida 33901
Tel: (239) 332-3898
Fax: (239) 332-3447

Pensacola
1 N. Palafox Street, Suite 159
Pensacola, FL 32502
Tel: (850) 433-2603
Fax: (850) 433-2554

Tampa
3802 Spectrum Blvd., Suite 106
Tampa, FL 33612
Tel: (813) 977-6450
Fax: (813) 977-6593

Fort Lauderdale
642 N. Federal Hwy.
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33304
Tel: (866) 630-7106

Washington
356 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Tel: (202) 224-3041
Fax: (202) 228-5171

Rubio to speak next week in E. Manatee

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Marco Rubio will be the guest speaker next week at a luncheon meeting of the East Manatee Republican Club.

Rubio, a former speaker of the Florida House, is challenging Gov. Charlie Crist for the GOP nomination for the seat now held by Sen. George Lemieux, whom Crist appointed after former Sen. Mel Martinez resigned.

The event is set for 11:30 a.m. Nov. 12 at Peridia Golf and Country Club, 4950 Peridia Blvd., Bradenton. The cost is $15.

For more information, visit www.emanateerc.org

And to make reservations for lunch, call (941) 739-3813 or e-mail longboatfl@aol.com

Golden set to launch bid for Congress

With this year's local elections come and gone, attention can now turn fully to the 2010 elections, where the stakes, from Washington to Bradenton, will be even higher.

Major events in two of the higher-profile races are set for the coming week.

Former Bradenton City Council member James T. Golden on Thursday, after months of silence about his obvious plans to run for Congress - he hasn't spoken to the media, but he has appeared before various political clubs and launched a Web site and Facebook page - officially kicks off his bid to unseat U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Sarasota.

Golden, a Democrat, is set to officially announce during an event at the River Club in East Manatee. The party starts at 6 p.m. Call Golden's campaign headquarters at (941) 567-6224 for the details.

And on Thursday, Nov. 12, former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio, who is gaining in the polls on Gov. Charlie Crist for the GOP nomination for the U.S. Senate, will speak to a luncheon meeting of the East Manatee Republican Club. The event starts at 11:30 a.m. at the Peridia Golf and Country Club. The cost is $15.

To make reservations, call (941) 739-3813 or e-mail Longboatfl@aol.com

Precinct-by-precinct election results available

For those who want to know more about how their candidate won or lost in Tuesday's local elections - or maybe you just want to know how your neighbors voted - the Manatee County elections office just posted precinct-by-precinct results on its Web site.

You can find them here.

Buchanan: Send more troops to Afghanistan

U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan visits with troops from the
82th Army Airborne Division while visiting Afghanistan. (Provided photo)

Fresh from a boots-on-the-ground visit to Afghanistan, U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan wants President Barack Obama to follow his generals' recommendations and send more troops to the war-torn country.

Buchanan, however, distanced himself from former Vice President Dick Cheney, who last month said Obama was "dithering" by taking so long to decide on the next step in a war now in its eighth year.

"I don't necessarily agree with that," Buchanan, R-Sarasota, said in an interview this afternoon. Obama "is the president, and he is at a critical juncture when it comes to Afghanistan.

"On the other hand, I'd like to see it get done," Buchanan said.

Buchanan, who returned Monday from a four-day visit with five other House members, said the two-pronged challenge for Afghanistan, and for the American role there, is to establish security in Afghan cities and villages, and then build a system of long-term governance.

Progress has been made in both areas, according to Buchanan,"but there is a lot more to be done."

"The idea is to get to the point where they can function as a country," Buchanan said.

Obama, said Buchanan, has two realistic options: Withdraw from Afghanistan; or follow the example of the Iraqi "surge" and increase the American troop level to what he said in a statement is "the appropriate level to accomplish the mission." American generals have asked for as many as 40,000 additional troops.

Buchanan first visited Afghanistan in April 2007, when the war there was arguably not the Bush administration's top priority as it dealt with situation in Iraq.

"Now, all the focus is right there," Buchanan said.

The fight is important, according to Buchanan, especially as long as al-Qaida and the Taliban remain active in Afghanistan. "You can take them on there, or you can take them on here," he said.

While in country, Buchanan said he met with several military servicemen from his district, and said he was impressed with the morale of American forces.

"They were pretty focused," he said.

Buchanan said "victory" in Afghanistan will come when Afghans "provide their own security, when our kids are out of there." Hopefully, he said, that will be in one to two years.

"The sooner the better," he said.

Hayes, Chappie, Whitmore back DiSabatino in District 4

Republican primary voters next August will select their nominee for the District 4 seat on the Manatee County Commission, representing southern portions of the county.

Incumbent Ron Getman, a Republican, is retiring from electoral politics and is not running for re-election. Getman has not endorsed any of the three Republicans - Robin DiSabatino, Norm Luppino and Timothy Norwood - so far in the race, and he might not.

Three of Getman's commission colleagues are not so reticent.

Campaign finance reports filed last month show that DiSabatino received financial contributions of $500 from Donna Hayes and $100 each from commissioners John Chappie and Carol Whitmore.

In all, DiSabatino, a real estate broker, reported $25,350 in contributions - including $20,000 from her personal bank account. She also reported spending $272.81, mostly for postage, printing and voter lists.

The other two candidates, Luppino and Norwood, did not file financial reports. Democrat Roger C. Galle reported $100 in contributions, and expenses totaling $19.92.

State Sen. Paula Dockery expected to launch bid for governor

Paula Dockery

A dark-haired, brown-eyed 40-something-year-old woman with strong conservative credentials wants to make her mark on the 2010 race to be Florida's next governor.

No, Sarah Palin is not moving to Florida.

But the comparisons between state Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland, who today was expected to launch her bid for the Republican nomination for Florida governor and the former Alaska governor and GOP vice presidential nominee, have already started. A commenter on the St. Petersburg Times' political blog even called Dockery, "Palin with a brain."

(Another difference between Dockery and Palin: Dockery has said she wouldn't vote for a bill allowing oil and gas drilling in state waters off Florida's Gulf Coast.)

The conventional wisdom had been that Republican Bill McCollum and Democrat Alex Sink wouldface off a year from this week to become the next governor of Florida.

Well, Dockery isn't buying it.

"Today's the day, I'm in," Dockery wrote on her Facebook page this morning.

Dockery, 48, was elected to the state House in 1996 and the Senate in 2002 and chairs the Criminal Justice Committee, and would be term limited out of the Senate in 2012. She has a fairly conservative voting record, perhaps most notably helping defeat a proposed high-speed rail system during the legislative session earlier this year.

As Abel Harding of JaxPoliticsOnline.com notes, Dockery's entry means another potential insurgent-vs.-establishment race on the Republican primary ballot next August, similar to the top-of-the-ticket tussle between Gov. Charlie Crist and former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio for the U.S. Senate nomination.

It also sets up the possibility that Florida's governor's race will be another front in the heated debate in the Republican Party about the best path out of the political wilderness leading to the presidential election in 2012.

The ideological disparity between Dockery and McCollum, long a conservative stalwart as a member of Congress, may not be as great as that between Rubio and Crist. But considering what Harding and other observers have described as McCollum's lackluster political performance since returning to Florida from Washington, Dockery's campaign has the potential to stir up an already fascinating 2010 election season in the Sunshine State.