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Florida’s top Congressional Democrats broke with President Barack Obama on Tuesday over his administration’s decision to issue Fidel Castro’s niece a visa to attend a conference this week in San Francisco. The opposition of Sen. Bill Nelson and Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz came just hours after Republicans had blasted away at the visa decision —while failing to acknowledge that Republican President George W. Bush’s administration had allowed Mariela Castro to visit the United States three times a decade ago.

Former Republican Rep. Dave Weldon on Friday announced his candidacy for Florida Senate, ending rampant speculation about his political future.

Florida Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater has decided not to enter the Republican primary for U.S. Senate after briefly considering a late bid. “As much as Carole and I are humbled by your calls, notes and messages to enter the US Senate race and carry our banner into the fight we believe we have a responsibility to finish the job Floridians elected us to do,” Atwater said in a weekend Facebook post. He’s less than 16 months into his four-year term as Florida CFO. Atwater, a North Palm Beach resident, said last week he was mulling a Senate bid after...

Republican Congressman Connie Mack now runs dead even with incumbent Democratic Senator Bill Nelson in Florida’s 2012 U.S. Senate race. But Nelson outdistances two other potential GOP challengers, former Senator George LeMieux and businessman Mike McCalister. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Florida Voters finds Mack and Nelson earning 41% support each. Five percent (5%) like some other candidate in the race, and 12% remain undecided at this early stage. (To see survey question wording, click here.) In Rasmussen Reports’ first survey of the Florida Senate race last November, Mack, a congressman from the Fort Myers/Naples area, posted...

The Obama administration took steps Tuesday to stop the spread of non-native snakes like pythons and anacondas throughout the Florida Everglades.

In a phone call with supporters just a few momrnts ago, Connie Mack announced WILL run for the Bill Nelson seat from Florida. It's official

Republican Congressman Connie Mack changed his mind late last month about challenging longtime Democratic Senator Bill Nelson in 2012, and now he finds himself with a modest edge over the incumbent in the first Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Florida’s U.S. Senate race. The latest statewide telephone survey of Likely Voters in the state shows Mack with 43% to Nelson’s 39%.

Republican businessman, beau of "Modern Family" star entering raceRepublican businessman Nick Loeb will have a little star power at his side when he announces he's running for U.S. Senate in Miami Beach Thursday afternoon. Loeb is expected to be joined by TV star girlfriend Sofia Vergara when he makes the announcement at a 2 p.m. press conference at the Sagamore Hotel. The Emmy-nominated "Modern Family" star is in town to be with her beau and attend the 5th anniversary celebration of the non-profit group BeLive at the Ritz Carlton on South Beach Thursday night. Loeb, 36, is the son of...

1. Ben Nelson, D-Neb. 2. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo. 3. Jon Tester, D-Mont. 4. Scott Brown, R-Mass. 5. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah 6. Dick Lugar, R-Ind. 7. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio 8. Bill Nelson, D-Fla. 9. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine 10. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.

The Republican leader of the Florida House, Rep. Carlos Lopez-Cantera, is demanding that Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson apologize for remarks Monday about the GOP-backed election overhaul bill awaiting floor votes. Here's what Nelson said: "Should we deny those very military personnel that carried out this very successful decapitating of the Al Qaida snake? Should we deny them because they have signed their voter registration card in a different way than they signed their absentee ballot overseas?" Lopez-Cantera said Nelson's comments were "an outrageous political stunt, motivated solely by his re-election campaign at the expense of our armed forces. His...

On the eve of President Barack Obama's address to the nation on U.S. military action in Libya and a recent story about a local Florida reporter who was locked in a storage closet during a fundraiser he attended for Florida Democratic Senator Bill Nelson, Vice President Joe Biden can only be found vacationing in the ritzy resort city of Aspen, Colorado, reports the Aspen Times. According to the Aspen Times' article published on Friday, Mr Biden was described as "vacationing" in Aspen by a local sheriff after the Vice President flew in from headlining two fundraisers for Sen.Nelson in Florida:...

Freshman Congressman Allen West has indicated that he would entertain a vice-presidential nod even as throngs of supporters are urging him to run for President- a ‘Draft Allen West for President’ initiative is already in full bloom. Congressman West has previously said that he is focused on being the best Congressman possible and that a Presidential run would not be up to him, it would be up to God and his wife. West has now started his own Leadership PAC, a surefire sign to many that he indeed has designs on higher office. While the talk has been about Congressman...

A group of Holocaust survivors, who once considered themselves friends of U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, will be protesting his Miami Beach fundraiser with President Barack Obama on Friday because they say the Florida Democrat has broken a promise to them. Their unprecedented protest outside the swank Fontainebleau Hotel will be aimed at Obama, too. Three years ago, they say, Sen. Nelson promised South Florida survivors in his Washington office that he would file legislation to allow them to sue European insurers that sold their families millions of dollars in life insurance policies before World War II. During the 2008 presidential...

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is the strong favorite among Republican voters to challenge Sen. Bill Nelson (D) in 2012, a new Public Policy Polling survey shows. Tom Jensen, director of the Democratic-leaning polling firm, said the findings — 72 percent of GOP voters chose Bush as their preferred candidate — differ from other state surveys in which voters have “no clue” whom they want to challenge the Democratic incumbent.

Poll: Bill Nelson would lose to Charlie Crist, Jeb Bush or Marco Rubio Miami Herald: Florida voters dislike the new health reform law so much that President Obama and the state’s top Democrat, U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, are paying a hefty political price, according to a new survey and analysis by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research. Only 34 percent of Florida voters support the new law while 54 percent are opposed – well outside of the 4 percent error-margin for the poll of 625 registered voters.

A BAG of cocaine has been found in a Space Shuttle hangar - sparking a Nasa investigation.

A day after voting for a landmark health care reform plan, Democrat Bill Nelson returned to the Sunshine State on Thursday with claims of praise from ordinary citizens for the proposed legislation.

Politics: Sen. Mary Landrieu was the new "Louisiana Purchase." Sen. Ben Nelson got the federal government to pick up his state's future Medicaid tab. Maybe we should just put Senate votes up on eBay. Nelson, the 60th vote in the middle-of-the-night Senate party line vote on health care reform, will go down in American political history as the inventor of the permanent earmark. His seemingly principled stand against including federal funding for abortion evaporated like the morning dew as he decided to take what was behind door No. 1. The deal for Nelson includes special Medicaid funding for Nebraska, along...

The supposed healthcare deal cut by Harry Reid is a "non-starter," Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) said today. Reid announced this week that Democrats had reached a "broad agreement" on replacing the public option with a Medicare "buy-in" provision and a series of non-profit insurance plans similar to what federal employees are offered. But apparently that "broad agreement" didn't include Nelson. "I think when we get the score back from CBO that it’s going to be too costly," Nelson told Fox News Live today. Nelson also said Americans who don't currently have healthcare wouldn't be able to afford their own Medicare...

Just called my Senators, Lemieux and Bill Nelson Re: healthcare. Lemieux will vote no and Nelson's office says he has not decided. Keep calling.

Security: A Senate bill lets the president "declare a cybersecurity emergency" relating to "nongovernmental" computer networks and do what's needed to respond to the threat. Didn't they just collect our e-mail addresses?We wish this was just a piece of the fictional "Dr. Strangelove" that fell to the cutting-room floor, but it's not. It is a real piece of disturbingly vague legislation sponsored by Sens. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., Bill Nelson, D-Fla., and Olympia Snowe, R-Maine. Senate Bill 773 would grant the administration emergency powers (where have we heard that before?) in the event of a cyberemergency that the president would have...

Sen. Bill Nelson, a member of the Senate Budget Committee, said the Obama budget will have to be revised in light of the latest Congressional Budget Office projections. The Florida Democrat said in an interview on Fox News Channel this morning that “we’re going to have to go back and rework this whole thing, and that’s going to be done this week in the Budget Committee.” He later added that “Kent Conrad, our chairman of the Budget Committee, is definitely going to have to be Merlin.” CBO numbers released Friday show federal deficits over the next decade will exceed President...

http://www.covertradioshow.com # The Daily Blast for March 23, 2009 PodCast Link: http://covertradioshow.com/podcast.cfm?pid=159 SNIPPET: “CHINA Chinese Hackers Target Senate Computers Cyber hackers believed to be based in China have tapped three times into the computer network in US Sen. Bill Nelson’s office, the Florida Democrat said Friday. Two attacks on the same day this month and another one last month targeted work stations used by three Nelson staffers — a key foreign-policy aide, the deputy legislative director and a former Nelson NASA advisor, according to Nelson’s staff.”

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson says hackers breached the computer network in his Washington office, but didn't access any classified information.

WASHINGTON - A company run by R. Allen Stanford gave U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., nearly $46,000 in campaign contributions through its political-action committee and employees -- the highest total of any member of Congress, according to a new watchdog report.... Stanford and his company Stanford Financial Group invested heavily in politics, spending about $2.4 million in campaign contributions to lawmakers and political committees since 1989, according the Washington-based watchdog group Center for Responsive Politics.....

According to this story in the Tampa Tribune of December 22, U.S. Senator Bill Nelson will again introduce a constitutional amendment in January, to abolish the electoral college. Nelson had introduced it in June 2008 as SJR 39, but it made no headway. SJR 39 is worded this way: “Sec. 1. The President and Vice President shall be jointly elected by the direct vote of the qualified electors of the several States and territories and the District constituting the seat of Government of the United States. The electors in each State, territory, and the District constituting the seat of Government...

Maybe they're reading a bit too much into the tea leaves but Wonkette noticed that the web address ObamaNelson.com redirects to Barack Obama's official website. The internet never lies. While similar combinations of Obama and suspected Veep's names lead to Go Daddy holding sites or other internet flotsam. Nelson who? Most likely democratic Florida Senator and former spaceman Bill Nelson. Maybe Obama has found the perfect running mate who can help him deliver Florida, but not secretly poison his coffee.

Obama calls for oil crackdown By: Mike Allen June 22, 2008 12:39 PM EST With the cost of gas a top issue in the presidential campaign, Barack Obama on Sunday will announce a plan to crack down on oil speculation by tightening regulations on energy traders. The announcement is further evidence that an Obama administration would take an activist, populist approach to regulating business. Obama wants to close a loophole in federal law that exempts some energy traders from regulations that govern other exchange-traded commodities. Democrats call this “the Enron loophole” because it benefited the Houston energy-speculation firm that collapsed...

Thank you for contacting me about drilling for oil off Florida and other coastal states. President Bush has proposed allowing drilling rigs off coastal States as a way, he says, to reduce gasoline prices. But he must know this won't happen. That's because a report from inside the Bush administration specifically shows that increasing offshore drilling won't have a significant impact on gas prices for decades. And we simply cannot wait that long on the hope of giving Americans some relief at the pump. To lower gas prices now by an estimated 25 to 50 percent, we must reign in...

Consider: The Brazilian government has a 58 percent controlling stake in Petrobras's voting shares and 32percent of its total shares, which means that some of the profits go straight to the government's bottom line, giving the politicians more money to spend on bribing their constituents. In the United States, American politicians do not benefit from a successful oil industry, since corporate profits go to shareholders, pensioners and employees; therefore Congress has a much greater incentive to respond to the concentrated power of the special interest group known as the "greens." There are plenty of other examples, says O'Grady: In Mexico,...

The U.S. would no longer use the Electoral College to choose its presidents under a proposal introduced Friday by Florida's Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson. Instead, presidents would be picked by popular vote, a method that would have given former Vice President Al Gore the White House after the contested 2000 election. "It's time for Congress to really give Americans the power of one person, one vote," Nelson said in a statement. But changing the system requires a constitutional amendment and a meat grinder of legislative tests. First, Congress must approve the idea, and then 38 state legislatures must ratify...

WASHINGTON, June 7 (UPI) -- Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., citing the 2000 presidential election, has introduced an amendment to abolish the Electoral College. Nelson, in a release, pointed to the election of President George W. Bush, even though former Vice President Al Gore had more popular votes, The Hill reported. The election was decided in Florida after the U.S. Supreme Court blocked a recount, giving Bush the state and a majority of the Electoral College. Nelson's bill includes the creation of a rotating primary system to avoid disputes like those this year over the Florida and Michigan votes. The Democratic...

Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) introduced a constitutional amendment to abolish the Electoral College on Friday, less than a week after the Democrats settled on how to handle delegates from Florida at their national convention. “It’s time for Congress to really give Americans the power of one-person, one-vote, instead of the political machinery selecting candidates and electing our president,” Nelson said in a release announcing the amendment. Nelson had announced he would offer the legislation in an address to his state’s senate in March. Nelson said his principal argument for making the change is that the Electoral College permits a candidate...

A couple of weeks ago I emailed the following to my FL congress crittters. How high must fuel and food costs go before you reverse your opposition to domestic oil drilling and support for Soviet style ethanol tariffs and subsidies? Here is what Sen Bill Nelson (Rat - Fl) had to say: "Dear (Jacquerie), Thank you for contacting me regarding drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. I oppose drilling in the Arctic Refuge. As a native Floridian, I realize the importance of protecting our natural habitats and preserving environmentally sensitive lands. Just as I oppose drilling off Florida, I...

In a state that has seen its share of electoral problems this decade, Florida’s senior Sen. Bill Nelson made a rare appearance before the state Senate Thursday to unveil sweeping federal election reform legislation that would eliminate the Electoral College. As the state now wrestles with the national Democratic Party to find a solution to seat its 210 delegates at this year’s presidential nominating convention, Nelson noted that “the solution is very elusive,” but that, “If nothing else, this election has provided further evidence that our system is broken.” The Democratic senator, who sued the Democratic National Committee and Chairman...

Sen. Bill Nelson believes that the only practical way to settle the state's delegate mess is to hold a second Democratic presidential primary by mail, his chief of staff said Saturday. The state has three options to try to seat its delegates at the Democrats' national convention: Hold another primary at the polls, vote by mail or hold caucuses, said Nelson chief of staff Pete Mitchell. A primary would be too expensive and would require the Republican-led Legislature to approve it. Caucuses would be difficult to organize in a state as large as Florida, especially since the state isn't used...

Florida Democrat Sen. Bill Nelson today called on the Democratic National Committee to sanction and help pay for a new presidential primary or accept the results of the state's disqualified Jan. 29 contest. Florida's senior senator said it's crucial that his state's Democratic delegates be reinstated to avoid a "train wreck" for the party heading into the August national convention in Denver. "We'll explore this and see if there's some funding there [for another primary], but if there's not, we're heading into the biggest train wreck you've ever seen," said Mr. Nelson, who has endorsed Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton for...

Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) warned the Democratic National Committee (DNC) Thursday that it is facing the “biggest train wreck you’ve ever seen” if a standoff is not resolved over his state’s pledged delegates to the party’s presidential nominating convention. Nelson sent a letter to DNC Chairman Howard Dean Thursday asking the committee to either accept the Jan. 29 results of the primary election or pay for a redo of the elections, which could cost in the range of $20 million. He sent the letter after Dean did not return his telephone call Wednesday. “If they go to the Democratic Convention...

(AP) -- A jury on Wednesday convicted the son of U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson on charges of battery on a police officer and resisting arrest stemming from an incident that occurred after a reelection party in November. Charles William Nelson, 31, faces a maximum penalty of six years in prison but could also get no jail time. Sentencing was scheduled for July 31 by Orange County Circuit Judge Stan Strickland. ''While we are disappointed with the verdict, we respect our system of justice,'' Sen. Nelson and his wife, Grace, said in a statement issued in Washington. ``And we love our...

I suppose certain puffed-up congressmen are feeling their oats since the election, but that's no excuse for their unauthorized trips overseas to meet with leaders of foreign nations. This destructive practice must be stopped. Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson traveled to Syria and met with its president, Bashar Assad, without the authority and contrary to the wishes of the Bush administration, including the State Department. The well-known policy of the Bush administration is that the United States has limited diplomatic ties with the Syrian government because of its support for terrorist organizations Hezbollah and Hamas, its support of terrorism and ethnic...

Senator Bill Nelson (D-Florida), on Wednesday, December 13, 2006, chose to ignore this reality – and the advice of the White House and the State Department – by meeting with Syrian President Bashar Assad.... ...While Senator Nelson has demonstrated a willingness to work with our enemies abroad, another Senator has chosen to do so a little closer to home. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-California) likes to give out what her staff calls “Certificates of Accomplishment.” These are presented to community leaders who have exhibited qualities worthy of receiving such praise as comes from this recognition. Unfortunately, this month, one of these...

Contact Bill: office locations Senator Nelson has eight offices throughout Florida and one in Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C. United States Senate 716 Senate Hart Office Building Washington, DC 20510 Phone: 202-224-5274 Fax: 202-228-2183Orlando Landmark Two 225 East Robinson Street, Ste 410 Orlando, Florida 32801 Phone: 407-872-7161 Toll Free in Florida: 1-888-671-4091 Fax: 407-872-7165Miami-Dade 2925 Salzedo Street Coral Gables, FL 33134 Phone: 305-536-5999 Telephone Fax: 305-536-5991Tampa Sam Gibbons Federal Court House 801 N. Florida Ave., 4th Floor Tampa, Florida 33602 Phone: 813-225-7040 Fax: 813-225-7050West Palm Beach 500 Australian Avenue Suite 125 West Palm Beach, Florida 33401 Phone: 561-514-0189 Fax: 561-514-4078Tallahassee...

In a direct affront to the Bush administration, a Democratic senator spent an hour Wednesday with Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus, emerging from the meeting to say Assad was willing to help control the Iraq-Syrian border. Sen. Bill Nelson (news, bio, voting record) of Florida, a member of the Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees, met with Assad after the State Department said that it disapproved of his trip. The United States has limited diplomatic ties with Syria because of its support of Hezbollah and Hamas, which the U.S. deems terrorist organizations, and President Bush has expressed reluctance to...

US Senator Bill Nelson met Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Wednesday, a week after a US bipartisan panel recommended the Bush administration engage Syria to help stabilize Iraq. Nelson, a Democrat, was named to the Senate Intelligence Committee this week and said he was on a fact-finding mission to the region. He left later for Amman, Jordan.

Fla. senator defies Bush, visits Syria By ANNE PLUMMER FLAHERTY, Associated Press Writer 14 minutes ago In a direct affront to the Bush administration, a Democratic senator spent an hour Wednesday with Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus, asking him to do more to stabilize Iraq. Sen. Bill Nelson (news, bio, voting record) of Florida, a member of the Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees, met with Assad after the State Department said that it disapproved of his trip. The United States has limited diplomatic ties with Syria because of its support of Hezbollah and Hamas, which the U.S. deems...

ORLANDO, Fla. - Republican Katherine Harris and Democrat Bill Nelson clashed on taxes, the Iraq war and the future of Social Security in their final debate before next week's U.S. Senate election. Harris, a Longboat Key congresswoman, again attacked Nelson as a liberal who would raise taxes. Nelson, the incumbent senator, said he voted against President Bush's initial tax cut bill because it was flawed but has voted 81 times to cut taxes or extend tax cuts."I'm not going to let her get away with this," Nelson said, sitting at a table with Harris and moderator Tim Russert in the...

Anyone who wants to help kick MoveOn.org's backside this election can help by blogging about how MoveOn.org knowingly and willfully welcomed anti-Semitic, racist, and anti-Catholic hate speech at its Action Forum until the widening scandal forced the scandal to shut down on September 24. Please circulate this information as widely as possible, especially in states like Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Connecticut where MoveOn.org is backing candidates. Here is a list of MoveOn.org candidates: Ned Lamont (D-CT) Patrick Murphy for U.S. Congress (D-PA-08) Diane Farrell for U.S. Congress (D-CT-04) Robert Byrd for U.S. Senate (KKK-WV) Bob Casey for U.S. Senate (D-PA) Nick...

With three weeks until Election Day, U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris has less than $1 million in the bank, an amount that leaves her Senate campaign all but dead in the water, according to political analysts. Unless Harris dumps millions of her own money into the campaign, there is little chance she'll dent the double-digit lead of Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson. "The outcome is all but preordained at this point," said Robert Jackson, a professor of political science at Florida State University. University of Central Florida professor Aubrey Jewett agreed. "That is anemic," said Jewett. "She'd need a heck of a...

The E-mail records prove that MoveOn.org has, for the past two years, knowingly and willfully allowed its Action Forum to be used as a gathering place for vicious anti-Semites and other bigots.

TAMPA, FL— This morning, Congresswoman Katherine Harris, the Republican candidate for United States Senate continued a targeted effort to inform Florida voters of how Bill Nelson supports amnesty at great peril to our economy and security. Standing in front of the Tampa Sub Office for the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Katherine Harris reminded voters that she is the only candidate in this race who will strongly oppose efforts to grant special rights and privileges to millions of illegal immigrants. Congresswoman Harris commented, “Unlike my opponent, I will fight for our hard-working families who struggle to afford our Florida lifestyle...