Election night

Tuesday night, 9:39 p.m. -- I have to admit, the margin by which Amendment 1 is passing so far -- around 64 percent -- is stronger than I figured and stronger than the polls had been running. I thought it would fall short in the high 50s (it needs 60 percent to pass). Either a lot of folks made up their mind at the end of the campaign or the polls weren't picking up some of the support. Also a good win for Gov. Charlie Crist, who had thrown himself into the campaign. Nearly two-thirds of voters decided to take the tax-cut that they had at hand, rather than hoping for something better down the road, or trying to fix all of Florida's tax problems all at once.

Not a huge surprise in the presidential races, with John McCain edging past Mitt Romney so far in the Republican race -- as I write Rudy Giuliani is making a concession-sounding speech. Hillary Clinton is trouncing Barack Obama on the Democratic side. Naturally she is suddenly Florida's best friend and we hers. There is a nasty editorial in the Union-Leader in Manchester, N.H. accusing her of breaking her no-campaign promise.

In Pinellas: the school tax is passing with 70 percent, a bigger margin than I figured. Also another little surprise, Clearwater voters are approving longer terms for the City Council (bucking the usual trend of keeping public officials on a short leash). Not so voters in South Pasadena, who are trouncing an attempt to repeal term limits there.

More post-mortem tomorrow... congratulations to everyone whose side won!

Comments

[Dave]

Post Mortem??? Who or what died???

This is the will of the people... If you count McCain and the school tax approval - the Times is 2 out of 3.

[guy]

Howard,
One of the most aggravating things on this planet,to me,
is Hillary R. Clintons voice.
Perhaps it is something in my sub-concious, but when I heard her speach last nite, it sent chills through me and I felt like running away.
Does anyone else get this weird feeling or is it just me??????
Its kinda like that movie "The Exorcist".
No wonder Bill wears hearing aids.

You malleable-minded minions simply don’t get it do you. You’ve just participated in the second most egregious fraud pulled on the people of Florida in our history; the first of course being the Lotto funding of education.

Make sure you’re all here in six months when reality hits. When you realize that this did absolutely nothing for our State. When the foreclosure rate has hit 32%, when our economy is still in a nose dive, when we are in the third quarter of the first year of a recession, when your $240 went directly to your ever-increasing property insurance, and when those who contributed big dollars to “Chuck’s Con” get paid back with your tax dollars.

Relish in your perceived win now guys and gals, cause reality is on the horizon.

We all won.

[Larry]

Guy, I could not agree with you more. If I have to look at that face and listen to that voice for eight years, I know I'll go nuts. Thank God I am nearly deaf and can at least turn off my hearing aids. Can't we do better than a rehashed version of a woman scorned? Why does she always have a big gaping hole in the middle of her face in every picture?

[guy]

Larry ~ Can you picture that B!#%&%^,
Placing a wreath on the Tomb of the Unkown Soldier??

[justme]

Guy & Larry you 2 cracked me up. Not that I could argue either. "The Exorcist"? That was a GOOD ONE!! LMAO
I didn't vote for Amendment 1. I just wished people realized that they just slapped that puppy together and we should have demanded they put a better package together for the November election. But that is my personal opinion.

[guy]

Dear JustU,
You've got it wrong.
There are no big State elections in the fall.
Tallahassee would insist that the voters don't want a tax break and have the proof.

[guy]

Crist will be VP and not give a care about Fla. or the homeowners.
If we could get the newspapers on our side we could push for more tax relief NOW.

[guy]

I'm Filling in for Howard today he is out celebrating Hillaries big victory.
LOL

[justme]

Hey Guy,
Ok.. I sit corrected on that.. but we still could have demanded that and be put on the ballot for the Nov presidential election.. (is that better?)
pssst guy... fillin in for Howard.. OH, I cant wait to see his response to your remark.. LOL should be interesting.
I just love this blog!!

Maybe the Union Leader will take a look at Obama's advertisements that have been appearing on my FL-resident TV set for the past week or so. How come these "national buy" ads weren't overlayed with local pest control, sun room contractors and plumbers' ads?

puppets... you'll learn the truth soon enough.

[don may]

Today the Florida Taxation and Budget Reform Commission met to discuss more property tax reform amendments. The reason that most of the public does not know about this very important commission that proposes tax and budget reform once every TWENTY years is that the Times refers to the commission as a "blue ribbon panel" (see todays article about the passing of Amendment 1). The Times gives no updates on the proposed amendments. The Times does not want you to know that you can go to floridatbrc.com and and peruse the proposals. The Times does not inform you that you can give individual members or the entire commission your comments at floridatbrc.com. Your next opportunity to voice your opinion to the Tax and Budget reform commission will be in the year 2028. I think the Times does not want you to know, shame on the Times

[slackker]

While Bill was selective of who he gave it too, it sounds like Hillary wants to give it too everyone.