mel martinez

Immigration advocates are wondering what the newly chosen Florida senator-to-be, George LeMieux (R), is going to mean for their campaign for immigration reform — as well as how the pick could influence how the growing number of Latino voters view the Republican Party.
Harsh questioning by Republicans of then-Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, confirmed earlier this [...]

Short answer: Hard to say.
Long answer: Retiring Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.) has been a moderate voice on environmental policy — he voted for cloture on the Lieberman-Warner cap-and-trade bill last year — and his departure could deprive Democrats of one of their few potential Republican allies on this issue. Odds are that the environmentally friendly [...]

Marco Rubio, the conservative underdog in the 2010 GOP primary for Florida’s U.S. Senate seat, tells CNN that Gov. Charlie Crist (R-Fla.) made a “disappointing pick” when he appointed his friend and adviser George LeMieux to the seat.
George LeMieux is a talented political operative and the governor’s best friend, but that doesn’t make him the [...]

From the St. Petersburg Times:
Gov. Charlie Crist is expected to turn to his political shadow and former chief of staff, George LeMieux, to stand in as Florida’s U.S. senator until Crist can win the seat himself in the 2010 election.
The governor’s office will announce the decision at 11:15 a.m. today in Tallahassee. Crist has said [...]

A comprehensive immigration reform bill might be drafted by the end of this year, but President Obama said in Mexico today that he would not expect anything to pass until 2010, according to The Hill.
Immigration reform has never been at the top of the president’s agenda, although he’s said he supports it, but today he [...]

This is the sort of big-headline political news that won’t matter much in the long run.
Though he has persistently denied the “rumor” that he’ll step down, Florida Sen. Mel Martinez might announce as early as Friday that he’ll leave office early, according to a number of sources in the state and nation’s capitals.
“It’s a deeply [...]

The Brady Campaign, the anti-gun group that had experienced a rather tough run during the Bush administration, is pointing out that three Republican senators who were endorsed by the National Rifle Association in their last campaigns have committed to supporting Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.), and Sen. [...]

With the growing number of Republican Senators saying they’ll vote for Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor — Dick Lugar of Indiana, Mel Martinez of Florida and Olympia Snowe of Maine are the latest — Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell is apparently feeling compelled to come out strongly against her.
A senior aide today told the Associated Press [...]

Minnesota’s Mohammed Abdullah Warsame has admitted to providing material support to al-Qaeda in the form of cash, military training and personnel. He visited al-Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan in 2000. And he kept in touch with old friends. “If you have any news or important information please let me know, because I don’t want to [...]

President Obama established five categories of detainees in his May 21 National Archives speech and discussed creating or reforming different mechanisms for dealing with them, including trials in federal courts, military commissions and preventive detention. During today’s Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.) wanted to know, accordingly: how does the administration distinguish [...]