Dems eager to take on Miami Republicans?

The Southern Political Report suggests Democrats are eager for another bite at Miami's three Republican members of Congress, pointing to a blizzard of press releases the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in Washington has issued assailing the trio. (Last week's example, for voting against the climate change bill a release went out saying that: "Given the chance to create 2.5 million clean energy jobs, Representative .... just says No."

The report doesn't name any challengers for Lincoln Diaz-Balart, whom it notes easily dispatched former Hialeah Mayor Raul Martinez 58 to 42, but it notes 2008 challengers Joe Garcia and Annette Taddeo haven't ruled out reprising their bids against Mario Diaz-Balart and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, respectively.

B. J. Chiszar, chairman of the Miami-Dade Democratic Party, tells the report that party "intends to challenge at least two of the three.

It isn't Taddeo at SBA, but Hispanic groups hail Obama's Cabinet choices

Annette Taddeo earlier this week was said to be in the running to head up the Small Business Administration, but Karen Mills, a founding partner of the New York-based equity firm Solera Capital, just accepted the job on stage in Chicago.

Rep. Hilda Solis, D-Calif., who campaigned with Taddeo this fall, touting her as a superior alternative to Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, was named secretary of labor.

Hispanic leaders, who had pushed for Hispanic representation in Obama's Cabinet, applauded his picks, with John Trasvina, chair of the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda, saying they demonstrate that "Latinos will have a key role in governing and shaping needed change in America."

Taddeo in the mix for Obama administration?

Annette Taddeo, the novice politician who ran a spirited challenge against Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen is said to be in the running for a job in the Obama administration.

The Washington Post reports that Monica Lozano, a Los Angeles businesswoman and publisher of La Opinion, the largest Spanish-language paper in the country -- had been expected to be tapped to head up the Small Business Administration -- "not quite a Cabinet job but kind of."

But the paper writes that the posting "doesn't appear to be happening" and there's talk that Taddeo, a Colombian-born business executive who started her own translation company is in the running.

UPDATE: Taddeo declined to comment.

By the numbers....the battle of the small t-titans

Democrats had said they were prompted in part to try to topple Miami's three Republican members of Congress because unknown, poorly funded candidates in 2006 managed to score 40 percent of the vote
against the Republicans.

But that's about as much as Raul Martinez and Annette Taddeo did against Lincoln Diaz-Balart and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen -- even after both sides spent millions. Diaz-Balart clocked in at 57.8 percent to Martinez's 42.2 percent; Ros-Lehtinen got 57.7 percent to 42.3 percent.

But Joe Garcia made it a closer contest, pulling 47.2 percent to Mario Diaz-Balart's 52.8 percent.

Diaz-Balart camp: "There's only one titan in town"

A victorious Carlos Curbelo, who helped run both Diaz-Balart brothers' campaigns, introduced Lincoln Diaz-Balart at his victory party Tuesday by mocking the Miami Herald for billing the Diaz-Balart vs. Raul Martinez matchup as a clash of political titans.

"There is only one titan, and he is in this room!" Curbelo shouted. Also in the room, contentedly sipping a beer as Diaz-Balart spoke: Bill O'Connell, a retired Hialeah police captain who appeared in a Diaz-Balart TV ad. In the ad, O’Connell accused Martinez of being the "most corrupt politician you will ever see in your life."

"He was a dictator that destroyed a lot of people's lives," O’Connell said of Martinez. "This is justice."

- MICHAEL VASQUEZ

Ros-Lehtinen declares victory

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen has declared victory and thanked her "wonderful" constituents for backing her even in a year when she faced "a very serious challenge" and the Republican brand was under fire.

Though a spokeswoman for her Democratic rival, Annette Taddeo, has said it's still too early to call it over.

"This could have been the perfect storm," Ros-Lehtinen said anyhow, citing a mix of an unpopular president, an unpopular war, a slumping economy and an "Obama wave."

"It had all the makings of me going down," Ros-Lehtinen said. "If I can make it in this election, I can make it in any election.

"This is as tough a campaign as I ever had and I probably ever will have," she added.

- PATRICIA MAZZEI

Election returns, Ileana style

Alternating between greeting supporters -- "Heeey, Roberto!", "Yo! Yeeaaah! This is party central!" -- and talking to reporters, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen started her post-election party at JJ's American Diner in Coral Gables shortly after 7 p.m.

"You guys and all your technology," Ros-Lehtinen jokingly told reporters. She pointed to her father and one of her daughters sitting at a diner booth. "He's got a transistor radio and he's listening to Radio Mambí." Apparently he's also got a list of precincts to keep an ear out for.

Shortly after walking in the restaurant, which the campaign rented out for its party, the campaign celebrated that of the votes reported in Miami-Dade's elections site, Ros-Lehtinen held a lead over Democratic challenger Annette Taddeo.

Taddeo is expected a little bit later at her party at Soyka restaurant on Biscayne Boulevard.

Last-minute Taddeo, Ros-Lehtinen campaigning

Yep, that was Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, on a cell phone and holding a campaign sign on the corner of Bird Road and 67th Avenue for a honk and wave around 11 a.m. Tuesday.

Ros-Lehtinen and members of her staff and family -- including her 84-year-old father, Enrique Ros -- drew loud honks from cars whizzing by the busy South Miami intersection. Meanwhile, Ros-Lehtinen was being interviewed (not very successfully, thanks to the noise) on the phone by Spanish-language radio station WQBA 1140 AM.

The Republican congresswoman has done relatively little campaigning this year, choosing meetings with constituents over election events. Still, people pulled over to say hello, telling her she had their vote.

"You helped my cousin get a visa," said one. "You remember me from the Westchester Eckerd photo lab?" asked another, Victor Lanz. "My father was your best customer!" came Ros-Lehtinen's reply.

Meanwhile, her first serious opponent in 19 years, Democrat Annette Taddeo, has been greeting voters in polling places in a schedule that has her going from Homestead to Surfside throughout Election Day.

Ros-Lehtinen worried her vote won't be counted

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen cast an absentee ballot this election -- but the Elections Department has not received it yet.

"I'm a little bit concerned about that," she said on 850 AM radio Tuesday morning. "I have kind of a vested interest in this election."

Ros-Lehtinen faces her first serious reelection challenge in 19 years from Democrat Annette Taddeo, although the Republican congresswoman said she was "optimistic" about her chances.

But she was less upbeat about her ballot, which she sent her ballot the day she got it in the mail and online tracking shows it has not arrived, she said.

"The Elections Department did not handle this absentee ballot process well," Ros-Lehtinen said. "Now I regret it."

Ros-Lehtinen makes her pitch

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen may have broken the record for sports puns in two radio spots geared towards sports listeners airing on WQAM and WAXY790AM during Dolphins and Hurricanes games. Give a listen here: