@MarcACaputo, @SteveBousquet, @PatriciaMazzei
Remember this morning's blog that said Carlos Lopez-Cantera was emerging as a top Lieutenant Governor candidate and the announcement could be as early as this week? Right on both counts, it appears. Here's the story:
Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s long search for a new lieutenant governor ends Tuesday, when he’s expected to appoint Carlos Lopez-Cantera, a former state legislator who is Miami-Dade County’s elected property appraiser.
Scott plans to make the announcement at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday — 10 months after the resignation of former Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll.
Lopez-Cantera, 40, would be the first Hispanic to hold the largely ceremonial job. His presence on the 2014 Republican ticket would add diversity and could boost Scott’s standing among Hispanic voters, especially in the state’s largest county.
As talk of his possible selection intensified over the weekend, the usually accessible Lopez-Cantera disappeared from public view. He did not answer phone and text messages and emails, and his longtime aide said “no comment” when asked whether he was working Monday.
“If anything, I want to help beat Charlie Crist,” Lopez-Cantera said last month. He recalled that he was one of the few Miami-Dade Republican legislators to endorse Crist over Republican rival Tom Gallagher in the Republican primary for governor in 2006.
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