Florida’s controversial “Stand Your Ground” law wasn’t always so controversial. The law, which gives citizens the right to use deadly force if they “reasonably believe” they are in danger, has been the subject of national scrutiny in the wake of Trayvon Martin’s death. But the statute former Governor Jeb Bush signed in April 2005 enjoyed broad bipartisan support in the Sunshine State legislature. It sailed through the Senate unanimously, 39-0, and faced only token Democratic opposition in the House, where it passed 94-20.
Celebrity attorney Gloria Allred needs to join the 21st century. Or the 20th. Last week, amid the well-deserved outcry over Rush Limbaugh’s stunningly loutish remarks about Georgetown Law student Sandra Fluke — whom Limbaugh called a “slut” and a “prostitute” for supporting mandated contraception coverage — Allred made a stunningly asinine move of her own. She called [...]
They don’t call economics the dismal science for nothing, which helps explain why U.S. politics is riveted once more by social issues. After being locked for three years in a torture chamber of financial disaster, our elected officials are now looking at the improving metrics and deciding it’s O.K. to step back into their comfort [...]
TIME’s photo editors bring you the best pictures of the past week from the Beltway and beyond.
Spanish photographer Ricardo Cases embarked on a week-long road trip shooting the Florida primary (along with everything else in his path) for TIME. It was his first encounter with American politics. See more photos here on TIME’s photo blog, LightBox.
By the time fans began filing into his Election Night soiree in a capacious Orlando ballroom, there were signs Newt Gingrich had yielded to the grim reality awaiting him. Television screens, speeches and placards distributed to supporters broadcast the campaign’s new mantra: 46 STATES TO GO. “It’s not over,” the local Republican Party chairman assured the crowd.
Tampa, Florida At the Romney headquarters in Tampa, there are ghosts of the Republican past. On the wall, along with Florida maps and volunteer-made signs, is a collage of swag from the McCain-Palin 2008 campaign. It’s a symbol of GOP solidarity, but also a reminder that Barack Obama will be waiting to take on whoever [...]
By the end, it had become a matter of margins. Would Mitt Romney defeat Newt Gingrich in Florida’s Republican primary? Or would Romney obliterate his opponent, reestablishing himself as the race’s undisputed frontrunner? It didn’t take long to find out. Even before the polls closed, it was clear Romney had reduced Gingrich to a thin, [...]
Pompano Beach, Florida A political riddle presents itself on the trail with Mitt Romney: Can a true man of character constantly attack the character of another man? From the first introductions on Sunday, character was presented as the defining, most winning attribute of the former governor: Romney was touted as the candidate whose moral qualities [...]
For a moment, as he gazed out at the crowd gathered in brilliant sunshine, Newt Gingrich caught a glimpse of what might have been. Gingrich arrived at this retirement enclave in central Florida, with its rippling palms and golf-cart gridlock, to a front-runner’s welcome. These were Newt’s people. They waved signs and wore stickers and fanned themselves with copies of a senior’s magazine graced by Gingrich’s face over the tagline “the thinking conservative.”
