Sunburn — The morning read of what’s hot in Florida politics — 11.2.21 (Video)

 By Peter Schorsch

Good Tuesday morning.

The Hard Rock Sportsbook app is live. Months after the Compact was signed by the Governor, OK’d by the Legislature, and approved by the feds, Floridians can now place bets.

While there was little fanfare leading up to the app launch — it was more of a soft opening — it is undoubtedly seeing plenty of action already. It works anywhere a smartphone does, meaning some bets, as Republican Rep. Randy Fine predicted, are likely placed from bathtubs.

But If politics were a sport (one you could bet on, that is), the app would be in for quite a stress test.

On the same day Hard Rock Sportsbook went live, the Seminole Tribe of Florida upped the ante in its campaign to convince Florida voters that the outside forces pushing for a wide-open sports betting market and a couple more casinos have a nefarious end goal — siphoning Floridians’ money and wiring it back to the Las Vegas Strip.

“Watch out, Florida. Out-of-state gambling companies want us to sign petitions to turn Florida into another Las Vegas while taking our money out of state. They know it could cost Florida billions and stop a popular law that puts us in control. They’ve got some nerve,” a string of everyday Floridians say in a new video ad produced by the Tribe.

“Don’t sign these gambling petitions. Because we already have a plan that’s working for us. … We’ll show these outsiders Florida’s not for sale.”

The spot directs viewers to a new website, WatchOutFlorida.com, that further explains the Tribe’s talking points and asks visitors to add their names “to the list of Floridians opposing the gambling amendments.”

But political committee Florida Education Champions, backed by sports betting juggernauts DraftKings and FanDuel, had a ready-to-go retort in defense of their initiative. An ad extols their proposal for redirecting sports betting taxes to education.

“Everyone loves a win-win, and if you’re a fan of sports betting, you can win-win, too. Billions of dollars for education, legal sports betting for you. We’re Florida Education Champions, and our petition brings legal sports betting to Florida and gives all the tax revenue to public education. That’s a win for you and our kids,” the ad’s star says.

It closes by urging voters to “be a champion for education” by texting 888-922-2240 to get and sign the petition.

They face a tight deadline to make the ballot, with about 223,000 valid petition signatures and another 669,000 left to deliver to county Supervisors of Elections, who likely need those in hand by the end of the year to meet deadlines for the 2022 election.

To watch the Seminole Tribe ad, click on the image below:

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Breaking overnight — “State web portal goes offline” via Renzo Downey of Florida Politics — The official web portal for Florida, including Gov. Ron DeSantis‘ homepage, has been down since Friday. A notice on state webpages like myflorida.com and flgov.com said the site is “currently under maintenance.” It is not the first time state websites have gone down. The voter registration portal crashed on the deadline to register to vote ahead of the November 2020 election.

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#FlaPol After Dark listeners knew it first — Steve Contorno heads to CNN — Contorno is leaving his post as the Tampa Bay Times’ political editor to join CNN as a reporter covering politics in the Sunshine State. Contorno started his political career covering Illinois politics for the Chicago Sun-Times and later held positions covering the political scenes in Wisconsin, Virginia and Washington, D.C. He came to Florida in 2015. “Looking forward to covering this crazy & consequential state for CNN,” he tweeted Monday. “I’ll be based in the Tampa area, but will be crisscrossing Florida to report on our politics, power & people.”

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Personnel note: Doug Wheeler launches solo public affairs shop — After leading the Florida Ports Council as president and CEO for more than 10 years, Wheeler has launched a full-service public affairs firm. D. Wheeler Strategies will provide its clientele with strategic consulting services in the areas of local, state and federal government affairs, brand and business development, communications, and organizational management. The new venture will see Wheeler leverage his broad business-based network and strong ties to transportation and infrastructure, international trade and development, and economic development to provide client success. At FPC, Wheeler helped generate unprecedented growth for Florida’s seaports, overseeing efforts that resulted in record funding and brought billions of state and federal investments to key port projects across the state. His resume also includes political and government affairs work for the Florida Chamber of Commerce and Associated Builders and Contractors.

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Save the date — Florida Internet & Television presents FITCon 2021, a two-day virtual event scheduled for Nov. 18-19. Now in its fifth year, FITCon brings together industry leaders for updates on state and federal legislative policy impacting internet providers and cable companies. On the second day, I get to pull out my crystal ball for what is on the horizon in the 2022 election cycle, followed by a Q&A on the upcoming Legislative Session and how it will affect political races statewide.

Registration is open now; please visit eventbrite.com/e/5th-annual-fitcon.

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Here are some other items that caught my attention:

 — Most Americans will trust 2024 election results, but not most Republicans: An NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marxist National Poll found that 62% of Americans will accept the 2024 results, even if their candidate doesn’t win. But that majority is buoyed by Democrats, of whom 82% say they’ll trust results. Only 33% of Republicans said the same. Meanwhile, 81% of Americans believe there is a “serious threat” to democracy afoot, with 89% of Republicans smelling trouble, 79% of Democrats, and 80% of independents. But who’s the biggest threat? That depends on who you ask — 42% say Democrats are the biggest threat to democracy, 41% say Republicans, and 8% say both major parties are to blame.

 — In CD 20, only one Special Election really matters: Tuesday’s Democratic Primary in Florida’s 20th Congressional District will almost certainly decide who will replace the late U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, whose death earlier this year prompted a Special Election. The late Democrat held the district since 1992 until he lost a cancer battle this summer. Now, 11 candidates are running in the Democratic Primary. An analysis from MCI Maps breaks down each candidate, the winner of whom will be the heavy favorite in the General Election. Candidates from central Broward County, MCI notes, might have an edge hailing from the district’s voting powerhouse. Those include Sen. Perry Thurston, Rep. Bobby Dubose and Broward County Commissioner Dale Holness. But don’t count out County Commissioner Barbara Sharief, from south Broward, or Rep. Omari Hardy and former Rep. Priscilla Taylor from Palm Beach, nor Sheila Cherifilus-McCormick, who doesn’t have a geographic base.

 — New Census privacy method could leave people, homes uncounted: Differential privacy is the culprit. That’s the practice of intentionally adding errors to census data to avoid revealing participants’ identities. It prevents would-be data miners from matching census data to other publicly available information to identify people. The Census Bureau says it’s necessary to protect privacy, but, at least on paper, it’s causing people to vanish from counts. Critics of the measure, such as city officials and demographers, worry that the process is too far removed from reality. The result could cause flawed data, particularly among racial demographics, used to draw new political districts. Read the AP’s reporting on this conundrum here.

 — You said the word!: After 20 months of COVID-19 craziness, we’ve all heard the word — “vax.” It became so pervasive this year, Oxford named it the 2021 Word of the Year. And it’s little wonder. Why say “vaccine” when you could sound much more hip by making it “vax.” As The New York Times notes, vax outperformed other fun vaccine euphemisms, such as “jab,” “shot,” and the hilarious “Fauci ouchie.” But the proof is in the data. According to Oxford, the term “vax” was used 72 times more often in September 2021 than a year earlier.

 — Is Santa usurping Halloween?: “Christmas creep,” as retailers call it, has been happening for years, but this year it might have taken over even Halloween. As The New York Times reports, retailers nationwide have expedited the Christmas season “weeks, even months, earlier than last year.” So while stores had the requisite plastic pumpkins, they might not have been quite as noticeable as, say, a winter freaking wonderland. Britney Spears is on board. She put her tree up on Oct. 15, more than two weeks before Halloween. Maybe next year, we’ll add candy canes to our Halloween treat bags.

 — Peppermint, YASS: Speaking of Christmas elbowing its way into fall holidays. Chick-fil-A’s Peppermint Chip Milkshake is returning to the famous chicken sandwich joint’s menu, according to Fox 13. The fast-food chain started serving the shakes Monday and will be available for a limited time. The shake combines Chick-fil-A’s “Icedream” product with pieces of peppermint bark, topped with whipped cream, and finished off with a cherry on top. Move over, pumpkin spice lattes.