Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush have seemingly been jockeying for position under the proverbial basket for the proverbial rebound that is the run to the White House in 2016 -- particularly in Florida, which is not only a vital swing state but also has the potential to screw up every presidential election until the end of time.

But according to Thursday's super-informative Quinnipiac University Poll, it just might be Hillary Clinton who'll be grabbing that rebound and Jason Terrying the GOP come 2016.

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"A Ray hat? Really? Ugh."

Earlier this week, Rick Scott decided a tweet just wasn't enough. Nor was a Facebook message. Nor an email.

Rick instead did something wild. He wrote a letter, slapped a stamp on it, and shipped it across the land to Barack Obama in the White House using something called the "U.S. Postal Service." (We haven't heard of it either.)

Then Rick Scott did something really crazy: He accused Obama of not doing his job. "As the chief executive of this country, it is imperative that your administration do the hard work... If your administration fails to do its job to responsibly manage the budget, thousands of Floridians will lose their jobs under sequestration" (italics his: Booya, Rick).

Then Rick went on to excoriate BO some more. If only, Rick Scott said, Barack Obama was more like Rick Scott, the United States would be a fiscally sound land of balanced budgets and an unemployment rate that's "almost down to national average."

(Hooray, Florida! Almost average!)

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Rico Petrocelli, the broke Broward Republican chairman, has decided to go all Roberto Duran on us and say no mas.

See also:
- Rico Petrocelli, Broward County Republican Chairman, Broke as a Bad Joke

The Broward Republican Executive Committee issued a statement on Petrocelli's resignation, while the man himself is citing "irreconcilable differences" to Republican activists.

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Todd Rome and Carole Crist before they divorced several years ago.

Following an apparent "change of circumstances," a New York County judge awarded temporary full custody of Carole Crist's two teenaged daughters earlier this month to her ex-husband, Todd Rome, who alleges Florida's former first lady has abandoned and ignored her daughters for more than two years. More »

On Tuesday, the Senate renewed the Violence Against Women Act by an overwhelming 78-22 vote.

Parts of the renewal include domestic violence protection for gays, lesbians, immigrants and Native American women.

Bill Nelson voted "yes" to renew the act.

Marco Rubio voted "no."

Banner day for that guy.

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A group of eight Democratic senators and Republican senators have decided to stop it already with all the bickering and do some bipartisan work and have released an immigration reform framework that includes a "path to citizenship" for undocumented immigrants -- a day earlier than when Obama is supposed to announce his own ideas for reform.

The group includes Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, John McCain of Arizona, Democrat Robert Menendez of New Jersey, and our very own Marco Rubio.

Bottom line: The senators' proposal would give a pathway to residency, and citizenship, to many of the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States.

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Brenda Snipes OKs candidates opening their own absentee-ballot drop boxes.

Jean Robb, who's running for Deerfield Beach mayor against incumbent Peggy Noland, called the Broward County Election Supervisors Office the other day with a strange question: Could she open and manage her own absentee-ballot drop boxes?

The answer was yes. But it was a slow yes.

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"Have you seen my wife's new haircut? Bangs."

Today, a less popular, but in some ways, stronger Barack Obama will become our president for four more years -- well, kinda. Sure, he already took the oath yesterday, but that was just the wedding ceremony without the reception. Today's the party.

So what can we expect? Exactly that: a party. If history's any indication, inaugural addresses carry more platitude than policy, more bombast than substance. So while discontent and violence roils across northern and western Africa, while high unemployment becomes endemic, and the NRA sounds it's giant rifle conch against gun control advocates, Barack Obama will barely cover anything specifically important.

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There's a lien on these suspenders.

For once, we've found common ground with debt collectors: Broward County Republican Chairman Rico Petrocelli is impossible to get on the telephone and won't return calls.

At least when the calls refer to his crushing debt.

Petrocelli is mad broke. He filed for bankruptcy in November of last year -- and gots bills to pay. Around $300,000 worth of bills, according to records with the Southern District of Florida Claims Register.

Petrocelli = FISCAL HAWKZZ!

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Patricia Atkins-Grad

As first reported on this here bloggy blog by Bob Norman back in 2010, Tamarac City Commissioner Patricia "Positively Patte" Atkins-Grad was arrested and charged with bribery, official misconduct, receiving unlawful compensation, and conspiring to commit unlawful compensation after she threw herself one helluvan election victory party.

Nothing wrong with a party, of course. Except that this party was pretty extravagant, and was paid for by developers Bruce and Shawn Chait, whom Atkins-Grad had taken a total of $6,300 worth of benefits, including to help lease her a BMW.

See also:
-BSO and FBI Join Forces Against Corruption; and Who Paid for Patte's Party?
-Tamarac Commissioner Patricia Atkins-Grad Charged With Bribery

But, on Tuesday, jurors took just a little over an hour to find Atkins-Grad not guilty of all corruption charges against her.

Victory party, anyone??

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