"Woman Up!" Pavilion at #GOP2012

My friend Brian Hughes at Meteoric Media just sent me an email about the "Woman Up!" Pavilion at the Republican Convention next week in Tampa that his company is helping the YG Network promote.

There will be a lot of great speakers, panel discussions, interactive displays, and more throughout the week. Make sure to stop by and check it out! Here's the email with all the information:

Podcasts and a #GOP2012 Convention Preview

Sorry about the lack of posts the past few days. I've been busy getting ready for the Republican Convention in Tampa next week. It's going to be an amazing time and we're not going to let some stupid hurricane spoil our party.

Anyway, I may not have had much time to write, but I did manage to chatter away on some podcasts this week. I've also included some links and news about the convention below the break:

Rick Scott & Pam Bondi at Gasparilla

I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks this election season has gotten a little too intense and stressful from time to time. Here's a fun interview I thought you might enjoy...

Morning Coffee Reading for October 10, 2011

Today, we have a special "Häagen-Dazs" edition of morning coffee reading for you, serving up a nice generous scoop of stories and videos featuring THE Herman Cain that you may have missed last week:

Palm Beach Post | George Bennett | Cain no mere flavor of month; says 'I am Hagen Dazs black walnut with substance'

THE VILLAGES - The Republican presidential race has already seen the rise and fall in the polls of Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry. But the latest polling phenom, Herman Cain, insisted Wednesday that he has staying power.

"Unlike some of the other flavors of the week, I am Hagen-Dazs black walnut with substance," Cain said as he kicked off a national book tour here.

"That's the difference -- substance in terms of my economic growth and jobs plan, substance in terms of how I want to fix Social Security. Many of the other candidates are just talking generically about 'We need to fix it.' I am talking specifically about how we fix it, and that's what's resonating."

Adam Hasner to address Tampa 912 on October 10th

Florida Senate candidate Adam Hasner will address the South Shore Chapter of Tampa 912 on Monday, October 10, 2011 at 5:45 pm. Event flyer with all the details after the jump:

Herman Cain Book Tour in Florida on 10/5

Presidential candidate Herman Cain's book tour comes through Central Florida this week, stopping in at Barnes & Noble bookstores in The Villages and St. Petersburg on Wednesday, October 5.

Cain will start at noon at the Lake Sumter Market Place, 1055 Old Camp Road, The Villages, FL 32162, and then at 4:00 pm, he'll be at 2501 Tyrone Blvd., St. Petersburg, FL 33710.

Don't forget, this book tour and lots of other great events can be found at the "Events" tab on the top right of this website, and you can support Sunshine State Sarah by shopping at Amazon.

I Support Sharon Day and Paul Senft

I've publicly said that I want Florida to have an early presidential primary date. I understand why people in Iowa and New Hampshire like their early primaries, but I don't think it's in the best interest of the country (e.g., Iowa's disproportionate power in the presidential primaries is a large part of the reason why we have the wasteful and destructive ethanol subsidies).

As a Republican, I want Florida to have a prominent role in picking our nominee. We are a large, diverse state with complicated issues, so any candidate who can succeed here has proven the ability to succeed on a national scale.

That being said, news has broken today that the committee in charge of setting Florida's primary date is planning on scheduling it for January 31, 2012. Earlier tonight, Republican Party of Florida's National Committeeman Paul Senft sent out an email criticizing this date and laying out his reasons for opposing it. After reading the email, I agree with Senft that we should wait until early March.

I've cut and pasted the email below the jump. Read, and judge for yourself:

Getting ready for the CNN/Tea Party Express Debate

I'm at the Florida State Fairgrounds in Tampa, Florida and ran into Americans for Prosperity's Statewide Director for Florida, Slade O'Brien (pictured).

There is a huge crowd here, both waiting to get into the debate and at the Tea Party Express Dinner & Debate Watch Party.

You can follow my comments during the debate on Twitter @rumpfshaker (www.twitter.com/rumpfshaker) and I'll post blog updates when I can.

I'll also be giving some live post-debate commentary with Fox 35 Orlando (@myfoxorlando) at 10 pm so make sure to watch!

- Sarah

A monkey is running for mayor of Tampa

Tampa is electing a new mayor on March 1st.  This year's slate of candidates includes a very small and feisty member of the primate family:

Yeah.  A monkey is running for mayor.  Well, maybe.  According to the Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections office, the monkey has not yet filed candidate paperwork yet...and presumably would not be officially eligible since I'm pretty sure the monkey isn't a registered voter (unless ACORN already helped him out).

The Monkey has a blog, he's on Facebook and Twitter, and he's got a YouTube ad:

YouTube | Monkey for Mayor | What They're Saying About Monkey for Mayor

Oh, Monkey issued a press release too.  Read it here.

(Hat tip to Saint Petersblog, where I first noticed this exciting new campaign...and a special shout out to Jordan Raynor, who is the brains behind all this.)

I'm very interested to see how many write-in votes the Monkey gets.