Eyes toward 2014 races as state, county horses line up

Eyes toward 2014 races as state, county horses line up

Now that this year’s lackluster little municipal elections have come and gone — well, all except the Miami Beach runoffs Nov. 19 — campaign professionals, political wannabes and junkie watchdogs like Ladra can start focusing on the 2014 races that promise much more drama at both the county and state levels. Several stabs for state […]

Post election campaign continues in Hialeah’s war of the signs

Post election campaign continues in Hialeah’s war of the signs

The election in Hialeah is over. But the war is not. Former Mayor Julio Martinez, a longtime critic of the current administration who lost solidly Tuesday to Mayor Carlos “Castro” Hernandez in what could be one of the lowest turnouts in city history, took to the streets Sunday with a new message: “If you didn’t […]

Dade Dems (finally) enter Beach race, for Micky Steinberg

Dade Dems (finally) enter Beach race, for Micky Steinberg

After what they called a huge victory with the successful campaign for newly-elected Homestead Mayor Jeff Porter, the Miami-Dade Democratic Party will divert its efforts to another race several miles away: The Miami Beach commission race in Group 1. The Dade Dems, who stayed out of the heated mayoral race because every single candidate was […]

Philip Levine wins Miami Beach recount; other runoffs are on

Philip Levine wins Miami Beach recount; other runoffs are on

It’s all over but the crying in Miami Beach for those who supported Commissioner Michael Gongora in his bid to become the next mayor. Or those of us who supported anybody but Philip Levine, the millionaire businessman declared the winner this afternoon after he held on to a narrow margin from Tuesday’s election through an […]

Lots of absentee undervotes in Miami Beach mayoral race

Lots of absentee undervotes in Miami Beach mayoral race

In Miami Beach, the mayoral race was certainly the most exciting contest on the ballot. But it wasn’t the only one. Yet it seems that hundreds of voters who picked millionaire businessman Philip Levine simply did not vote for any of the candidates in the commission races or answer any of the six referendum questions […]

Second chance runoff would be good in Miami Beach race

Second chance runoff would be good in Miami Beach race

Let’s not write Miami Beach Commissioner Michael Gongora off just yet. The nail-biter election in that city just drew a recount. While millionaire mayoral candidate Philip Levine may have won 50.48 percent of the vote Tuesday, the narrow margin called for an automatic recount after the provisional votes counted today did not push him toward […]

Re-elected Hialeah Mayor gloats with plane banner

Re-elected Hialeah Mayor gloats with plane banner

Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird! No, it’s a plane. Yeah, it’s a plane. A political plane with a message. It wasn’t enough for Hialeah Mayor Carlos “Castro” Hernandez to win with 81 percent of the vote Tuesday. It wasn’t enough to usher in two of his lackeys on the Seguro Que Yes […]

Homestead mayor’s win is victory for Dade Dems, too

Homestead mayor’s win is victory for Dade Dems, too

Newly elected Homestead Mayor Jeff Porter wasn’t the only one who won in that city’s election Tuesday night. The Miami-Dade Democratic Party, which went hot and heavy behind the Democrat against hotelier and Republican Mark Bell, husband of Miami-Dade Commissioner and uber conservative Republican Lynda Bell, claimed his 55-45 victory in that heated race as […]

Hialeah incumbents slide in easy, challengers hang around

Hialeah incumbents slide in easy, challengers hang around

Everybody saw it coming: Hialeah Mayor Carlos “Castro” Hernandez and the two councilmen up for re-election coasted back into office Tuesday on what looks like a mandate from the people. But what most people don’t realize is that, much more than simply an absentee ballot problem, Hialeah has a wider “hostile election climate” where many […]

Mark Bell’s Homestead loss ripples over to wife Lynda Bell

Mark Bell’s Homestead loss ripples over to wife Lynda Bell

Now that Mark Bell‘s bid for Homestead mayor is a thing of the past, how will his loss Tuesday to former Councilman Jeff Porter — who he outspent at least 4 to 1 — affect his wife, Miami-Dade Commission Vice Chair Lynda Bell? That is what everyone was buzzing about Wednesday. Bell is up for […]