There are 18 states, as columnist Mark Shields recently pointed out to me, that have gone Democratic in each of the last five presidential elections. Of the 36 senators who represent those states, only two are Republicans. Both are from Maine, one of the last, storm-lashed, surf-pounded footholds of the Yankee GOP. So it is hardly shocking that the lone Republican supporter of Democratic health reform on the Senate Finance Committee should be Maine's Olympia Snowe. ...more

October 21, 2009

Florida's new speaker said Friday that his ousted predecessor Ray Sansom will have a committee chairmanship in the House of Representatives. ...more

February 7, 2009

It's no surprise that Ray Sansom stepped down as Florida speaker of the House. Under criminal and ethical investigations, Sansom had become a liability to his Republican colleagues, who wanted him out of the limelight pronto. ...more

January 31, 2009

In 1996, as a freshman member of the House of Representatives, I wrote the Defense of Marriage Act, better known by its shorthand acronym, DOMA, than its legal title. ...more

January 11, 2009

U.S. Reps. Gus Bilirakis and Adam Putnam, who represent parts of Brandon, Valrico, Riverview, Lithia, Plant City and Seffner, hoped to vote to rescind the congressional ban on offshore oil drilling. The area Republicans will have to wait, however, until the House returns from its summer recess. ...more

August 20, 2008

The Federal Communications Commission, overturning a 32-year-old ban, voted Tuesday to allow broadcasters in the nation's 20 largest media markets to also own a newspaper. ...more

December 19, 2007