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Sunburn – The Morning Read Of What’s Hot In Florida Politics – March 2

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NO JOY IN MUDVILLE 

Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright;

the band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light,

and somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout;

but there is no joy in Mudville — mighty Casey has struck out.

Mudville, in this case, is Tallahassee. And Casey is a stand-in for any number of people or issues.

Florida politicos are waking up today to a political environment they could never have forecasted. Jeb Bush is now two weeks removed from the presidential race. Marco Rubio, the final hope of the establishment GOP, is the proud winner of the Minnesota caucuses and is in danger of losing badly in his home state.

The race to replace Rubio in the U.S. Senate remains caustic, yet undefined with one of the state’s most loathed politicians, Alan Grayson, the presumptive frontrunner. The impact of the redistricting rulings continues to be felt with good leaders and great people like Gwen Graham and Dan Webster with uncertain futures. Meanwhile, pols years removed from office, like Mike Haridopolos and Rod Smith, are plotting comebacks.

As for the issues before the Legislature, Tuesday marked the day when things fell apart. The gaming bills are dead. The fracking bill is dead. A deal for ride-sharing services Uber and Lyft is all but dead.

By Peter Schorsch, Phil Ammann, Jenna Buzzacco-Foerster, Mitch Perry, Ryan Ray, and Jim Rosica, SaintPetersBlog, SouthFloridaReporter.com, Mar. 2, 2016 

Peter Schorsch is the President of Extensive Enterprises and is the publisher of some of Florida’s most influential new media websites, including SaintPetersBlog.com, FloridaPolitics.com, ContextFlorida.com, and Sunburn, the morning read of what’s hot in Florida politics. SaintPetersBlog has for three years running been ranked by the Washington Post as the best state-based blog in Florida. In addition to his publishing efforts, Peter is a political consultant to several of the state’s largest governmental affairs and public relations firms. Peter lives in St. Petersburg with his wife, Michelle, and their daughter, Ella.