I have assiduously eschewed citing any presidential polls about 2016 because, really? A great part of our problem with our political culture is the never ending thoughts about politics and not policy, so I've attempted not to play that silly game, even if some folks are already bored with Barack Obama's second term.
However, this is a Friday in mid-Summer, so why not do some silly speculation? I guess I'm thinking about this because of a new Quinnipiac poll out this morning that shows Hillary Clinton leading the pack in a series of one-on-one matchups, taking out both Chris Christie and Rand Paul, just two of the many potential GOP nominees considering a 2016 run (throw in Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush, Scott Walker, Bobby Jindal, Rick Santorum among others).
Clinton leads Christie 46-40, but Christie leads Joe Biden 46-35. Christie also does extremely well in terms of his favorable numbers with Democrats, and it's that figure why I believe Christie may be the GOP's best hope. The Republican party is still struggling nationally (though they are winning the argument over student loans, hence Rick Scott's recent foray into that story). Christie has mainstream appeal. Yeah, he's got anger management issues, but while his embrace of President Obama last October infuriated Republicans, it delighted American who are weary of partisan battles.
And I'm certainly not ready to crown Hillary Clinton to anything, since too many pundits told us in 2007 that she'd be facing Rudy Giuliani in 2008. Remember?
There's no reason to get too much more wrapped up in this discussion, because it is just too early to do so. Let's check back in a couple of years on my prediction...
And before we get to the rest of the news, interesting to see the Tampa Tribune do a front-page story about Feeding American Tampa Bay closing its Pinellas County warehouse, a story posted on this blog 11 days ago. (Also, what was that story doing on page two of the metro section of my copy of the Trib as well?)
Well, ready or not, the Affordable Care Act is going to happen fully (except for that employer mandate) next January, but the exchanges where uninsured Floridians can check out (potentially) different health care plans will go live in October. Yesterday Congresswoman Kathy Castor announced how local health care clinics will be receiving federal dollars to get the word out about those exchanges.
Okay, this story already feels hackneyed by now, but it is fun to see folks get so outraged by PETA, after the activist group called out the Tampa Bay Rays after a Miguel Cabrera homerun almost hit one of those rays inside the "touch tank" in right-centerfield at Tropicana Field.
You might recall last year that Pinellas County criminal defense attorney Dwight Dudley won a seat in the state house in part by parlaying his outrage about how power companies could charge their customers for nuclear power plants that may never be built. So it's not surprising that he was outraged to hear the comments from Duke Energy's new CEO.
Please check out our story this week in our Travel issue about Visit Tampa Bay's new CEO Santiago Corrada and his big challenge.
And, will be taking some time off over the next week, as this reporter returns back to the San Francisco Bay Area to visit family members. It may be hard to refrain from blogging, so feel free to check back in mid-week to see if there's any fresh content up.