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Spraying Some Pam On A Rumor

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By STEVE OTTO

sotto@tampatrib.com

Published: February 15, 2009

Updated: 02/15/2009 12:22 am

Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio was in the news this week amid speculation she might consider a run for the U.S. Senate seat that will be up for grabs with Mel Martinez's decision to do something else for a living.

The timing would be perfect with the election coming a few months after she leaves the mayor's job.

And the speculation got a bigger boost with the release of a statewide poll this week that suggested she already might be the top Democratic candidate in a race that now looks to possibly have Gov. Charlie Crist running for the Republicans.

The survey of 1,200 Floridians by something called Strategic Vision matched leading Democrats and Republicans. In the theoretical matchups, Crist was the easy winner, but Iorio somewhat surprisingly scored higher than any other Democrat against the governor, getting 29 percent against Crist's 57 percent. Not too bad in a state where they don't know her mayorness that well. In the Panhandle they probably think Iorio is some kind of pasta dish.

Of course, all of this is more a game for the junkies right now.

Unless Crist can establish that he is more than an empty suit and Iorio can figure out how to impress the rest of the state with a riverwalk project, the question might be moot.

Politics is, among other things, about being in the right place at the right time. The surprise decision of Martinez not to run again just happened to make the Senate seat one of those timing things.

Place Your Bets

If I were betting, my guess is Iorio won't go for the Senate, which really isn't something she ever has seemed passionate about. She's a manager and an organizer. In the Senate she just would be one more voice - a powerful voice, but not one in control.

How about a scenario where she goes for the chief financial officer position now held by Tampa Democrat Alex Sink? The job has gained in prestige and Sink is the acknowledged top Democrat in the state. She seems to show up at an awful lot of press conferences and events in the news.

It also seems likely that if Crist goes for the Senate, Sink would go for his job. If Iorio were to go for the CFO office it would create the possibility of two Tampa Democratic women in Florida's top two jobs, which would be fascinating. It also would put Mayor Pam in a great position down the line for the top position in the state.

Really Tough Trivia

As long as you political junkies have meandered this far, see if you can answer this Sunday trivia question: Who is Jeff Kottkamp?

OK, that was a tough one. Try this one: Who is Florida's lieutenant governor?

Now for the last and toughest of them all: Why, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, did Lt. Gov. Kottkamp bill taxpayers $425,000 for 365 flights on state planes during his first two years in office? The paper claimed two-thirds of the flights involved getting Kottkamp to and from his house in Fort Myers. The state planes flew empty one way 70 times to pick him up or drop him off.

Kottkamp's office disputes the numbers and says the actual cost was just $86,000. He also sent in a check for $6,600 to cover expenses for his wife and son.

All right, one more question. Other than tooling around in the air, just what does a lieutenant governor in Florida do?

Keyword: Otto Graphs, to read more of columnist Steve Otto's musings.

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