What Mitt Romney told $50k/head donors in Palm Beach

NBC:

PALM BEACH, FL — Mitt Romney went well beyond his standard stump speech at a closed-door fundraiser on Sunday evening, and offered some of the most specific details to date about the policies he would pursue if elected. 

In a speech to donors in the backyard of a private home here, the former Massachusetts governor and presumptive GOP presidential nominee outlined his plans to potentially eliminate or consolidate federal agencies, win back Latino voters and reform the nation's tax code.

And even Ann Romney, the subject of a national debate last week over the role of women in the workplace, was more direct than usual. She sounded like a political tactician when she described a Democratic consultant's criticism of her decision to be a stay-at-home mom as "an early birthday gift."

More here

Why George Zimmerman's case now helps the NRA -- and could help keep Stand Your Ground unchanged

Dennis Baxley is an author of one of the nation’s most notorious gun laws, Stand Your Ground.

And lately, he’s relieved.

When a special prosecutor last week charged George Zimmerman in the Feb. 26 killing of Trayvon Martin, it was a political public-relations indictment of those who said Stand Your Ground gave the shooter blanket immunity.

“I’m sort of happy about this guy being charged, on the political front, because I’m able to say: ‘See, I told you, it doesn’t say you can’t charge the guy,’ ” said Baxley, a Republican state representative from Ocala.

So it’s not just liberals, black lawmakers and others who cheered the second-degree murder charge against Zimmerman. Gun-rights advocates and the National Rifle Association received some political cover to resist calls to change the deadly force law.

Of course, if a judge tosses the charge and cites Stand Your Ground, the pressure will only increase to clarify the law’s intent. Indeed, the law goes on trial before Zimmerman in an actual court and in the court of public opinion.

But the facts of the Zimmerman case might make it politically tougher to amend Stand Your Ground in the Florida Legislature.

Here’s why: Special Prosecutor Angela Corey actually read the statutes. And they probably don’t give Zimmerman much immunity.

Corey probably found that, after chapter 776.013 (a k a Stand Your Ground), there’s another chapter, 776.041, called “use of force by aggressor.”

More here

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/04/15/2750993/stand-your-ground-may-yet-survive.html#storylink=cpy

Senate women find unexpected clout

On the final day of the 2012 legislative session, Sen. Paula Dockery worked the Senate chamber, counting "no" votes on a bill to turn failing public schools into private charter schools.

She and fellow senators —mostly women — had rallied against the controversial proposal for weeks.

"Are we still good?" asked Sen. Nancy Detert, R-Venice, as Dockery walked by.

"As of now, we're still good," Dockery replied, worried about possible swing votes.

By Dockery's count, the bill should go down on a tie vote (there are no tiebreakers in the Florida Senate). But she stood tense at the vote screen, biting a nail. The computer tallied the vote, and her hands swung over her head.

20-20.

Success.

The tie was another proud moment for Dockery, a Lakeland Republican, and her ragtag caucus of Senate floaters.

Together, they defeated a massive expansion of private prisons, blocked an omnibus antiabortion bill from debate and prevented unregulated, out-of-state companies from taking over state-sponsored homeowners insurance.

The unexpected force of unofficial leaders and whips had crossed party lines to build moderate coalitions aimed at thwarting priorities of Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, and his deputies.

The Senate's 13 women didn't always vote together — in fact, a woman sponsored the so-called "parent trigger" education bill. But there was enough camaraderie among them, enough powerful voices to influence nearly every close vote of the session.

In the 40-member Florida Senate, where three men hold the most powerful positions, another group came into their own.

The women of the Senate.