About Naked Politics

The Miami Herald's veteran reporters covering the political landscape in Florida offer you the latest news, along with their perspective and analysis. Share your reactions by clicking on "Comments" after each post. Please keep it civil; this is a family website. We reserve the right to check the comments and remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable.

Sergio Bustos - State/Politics Editor

Sergio Bustos oversees the Herald's coverage of Florida and politics. Born in Chile, he was raised in northern Virginia. A graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University, he did post-graduate work at the University of Southern California as an International Journalism program fellow. He has worked at newspapers, large and small. He joined the Herald as an editor in 2005 after spending six years as a Washington correspondent for the Arizona Republic/Gannett News Service. He's also worked for the Staunton, Va., Daily News Leader, the Wilmington, Del., News Journal and The Philadelphia Inquirer. Follow him at @heraldbustos.

Marc Caputo - Political Writer

Marc Caputo is The Miami Herald's political writer. Hailing from Key West, he graduated from the University of Miami, earning a general studies degree with a specialty in James Joyce studies for which he wrote an undergraduate thesis (quite incomprehensible, upon reflection) on mysticism in the 10th Chapter of Finnegan's Wake. Having wound up in journalism for need of a paying job, he worked for newspapers in Key West, Naples, Arizona and West Palm Beach before joining the Herald in 2003. Follow him on Twitter: @MarcACaputo.

Mary Ellen Klas - Tallahassee Bureau Chief

Mary Ellen Klas is Capital Bureau Chief for The Miami Herald and a co-bureau chief of the paper’s merged bureau with the Tampa Bay Times. She is a graduate of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, and a graduate of the University of St. Catherine in St. Paul, Minn. Before she became bureau chief for the Herald in 2004, Mary Ellen was Tallahassee bureau chief for Florida Trend magazine and also served as a senior writer for the Palm Beach Post. She was bureau chief for the Palm Beach Post from 1990-94, after which she worked part-time for 10 years while her daughters were young. She is married to John Kennedy, who is also a veteran Tallahassee reporter, now as senior writer for the Palm Beach Post’s Tallahassee bureau. They have two daughters. Follow her on Twitter: @MaryEllenKlas.

Toluse Olorunnipa - State/Politics Reporter

Toluse Olorunnipa has been a reporter with The Miami Herald since 2009, covering a number of beats, including the economy, the auto industry and real estate. He has also written for the Wall Street Journal, the Tallahassee Democrat and the Stanford Daily, and is a native of Tallahassee. He now covers property insurance, economic development and foreclosures in the capital. Follow him at @ToluseO.

Erika Bolstad - Washington Correspondent

Erika Bolstad covers Washington for the Miami Herald. She came to the McClatchy Washington bureau in 2007 from the Broward bureau of the Herald, where she spent seven years covering politics, the state legislature, local government and hurricanes — including Hurricane Katrina from New Orleans. Prior to working at the Herald, Bolstad spent three years as a reporter at the News & Record in Greensboro, N.C. She began her career covering military affairs at The Item in Sumter, S.C. She worked from 2007-2011 as the Washington correspondent for the Anchorage Daily News and the Idaho Statesman -- both also McClatchy newspapers. Her work on the Larry Craig scandal for the Statesman was a finalist for the 2007 Pulitzer Prize in the breaking news category. Bolstad was born in Minneapolis, Minn., and raised in Willamina and Salem, Ore. She is a graduate of Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Va. Follow her on Twitter: @erikabolstad.

Patricia Mazzei Miami-Dade County government and politics reporter

Patricia Mazzei covers the Miami political scene -- including congressional and state legislative politics, and Miami-Dade County -- for The Miami Herald. She joined the newspaper in 2007 after graduating from the University of Miami. Her previous beats include covering the city of Miami, Broward public schools and municipal government in a variety of cities in Miami-Dade County. Born and raised in Venezuela, she is fluent in Spanish. Follow her on Twitter: @patriciamazzei.

Amy Sherman - Broward County Government Reporter

Amy Sherman covers Broward County government. She was born in Amherst, MA. and moved to Minnesota to attend college at Macalester in St. Paul. She worked for the St. Paul Pioneer Press before moving to Florida in 2004 and joining The Miami Herald.