Susan Bennett is a white Tampa lawyer and an early Hillary Clinton backer. She was among the 15,000-plus who attended last week's Barack Obama rally at the St. Pete Times Forum. "I supported Hillary, but I'm also a realist," said Bennett, 58. "When I saw him speak (at the Democratic Convention) in 2004, I remember turning to my husband and saying, 'This could be the next (2008) president.' We need to unite the party, and we need a new direction that starts with bringing troops home from Iraq and doing something about health care. It was an easy transition." Then there was Chris, a software engineer. He's a 36-year-old black man who didn't want to give his last name. That's because he was at the Obama rally – when he should have been at work. He called it an "extended lunch hour." He also called it an invaluable experience. ...more

May 23, 2008

Republican Sen. John McCain, campaigning through poverty-stricken cities and towns, said Wednesday he opposes a Senate bill that seeks equal pay for women because it would lead to more lawsuits. ...more

April 24, 2008

Republican Sen. John McCain on Tuesday called for a summer-long suspension of the federal gasoline tax and several tax cuts as the likely presidential nominee sought to stem the public's pain from a troubled economy. ...more

April 16, 2008

John McCain's embrace from the Republican establishment, once hard to imagine, is nearly complete. ...more

February 16, 2008

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., helped secure more than $340 million worth of special home state projects in last year's spending bills, placing her among the top 10 Senate recipients of what are commonly known as earmarks, according to a new study by a government watchdog group. ...more

February 14, 2008

For much of the past two decades, Americans have watched in frustration as presidents and members of Congress have repeatedly achieved deadlock rather than consensus on issues that are critical to our nation. The results of this partisan traffic jam are frightening. For example: ...more

February 3, 2008

With nomination contests in lily-white Iowa and New Hampshire settled, minority voting power now moves into the spotlight. ...more

January 13, 2008

Gazing through rose-colored lenses, we should be basking in the glow of American democracy in action during this election season. We should revel in the diversity of the men and women seeking the presidency and marvel at the incredible foresight our founding fathers had so many years ago. We can still do that, of course, but we also must add that a lot of racist baloney is going on by bigots who hate the thought of a black presidential nominee. ...more

January 6, 2008

Despite protests from state Republican Party Chairman Jim Greer, the full Republican National Committee voted Thursday to cut in half the national convention delegations of those states, including Florida, that hold presidential primaries before Feb. 5. ...more

November 9, 2007

TAMPA — A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit on Friday filed by a Tampa Democratic activist against the national and state Democratic parties over the national party's decision to strip Florida of its delegates for next year's presidential nominating convention. ...more

October 6, 2007