Republican leaders called for a “declaration of renewed independence” from federal fiscal policies Thursday as hundreds of happy, flag-waving conservatives celebrated income-tax day at the Florida Capitol.

“Welcome, patriots!” Jerome Hudson, a Tallahassee Community College student, said at the start of the three-hour festivities. Hudson, who is black, contradicted some national media critics who have called the “tea parties” thinly veiled racism and mob emotionalism.

“The tea-party movement is not a racist movement,” he said. “The spirit of the tea party movement, as found in ‘We, the people,’ is the spirit of America.”

Speakers and hand-lettered signs in the crowd derided President Obama, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. A few participants warned of “infiltrators” — liberals who act like extremists to make the movement look bad — but the crowd was upbeat and orderly, accompanied by singing patriotic and Christian songs.

Preston Scott, a Tallahassee radio host who introduced speakers and performers, even asked the crowd to turn facing Apalachee Parkway and smile and wave at motorists, “just to let them know we’re not an angry mob.” Several drivers honked and waved as the Capitol shadow spread across the crowd, estimated at about 600 by police. Scott said he thought the crowd reached about 1,000 at its peak.

David Beamer, whose son Todd gave the memorable command “Let’s roll” as passengers of United Flight 93 fought hijackers on Sept. 11, 2001, silenced the crowd with a solemn plea for strength in domestic and foreign defense.

“I don’t care what color President Obama is, I care what color he is not — he’s not red, white and blue,” said Beamer, who repeated that line about Pelosi and other Democratic leaders. Beamer, who lives in Jacksonville Beach, drew applause when he added, “This chap Marco Rubio looks red, white and blue to me.”

Rubio is running for the U.S. Senate against Gov. Charlie Crist in the Republican primary. No Crist signs were seen at the rally but several wore Rubio stickers. Local and district candidates, as well as the Leon County Republican Party, had tables to sign up voters.

House Majority Leader Adam Hasner, R-Delray Beach, and Senate President Jeff Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, said the Legislature passed a resolution calling on Congress to balance the federal budget. Hasner also noted that there is a memorial to Congress urging “no civil trials for enemy combatant terrorists.”

Speakers included John Stemberger, the Orlando lawyer and family-law activist who led the successful 2008 constitutional amendment legally defining marriage in Florida, and Glenn Beck, who sent a videotape saying “time is on your side” in changing national policy.

Atwater, running for chief financial officer, said that in 1789 “the states created the federal government, not the other way around.”

He also cited criticism of the tea parties by Reid and Pelosi.

“They called us an angry mob,” he said. “Well, we have a message for them: This country was founded on an angry mob. … We, the people — it’s our country and we’re taking it back.”

Hundreds of conservatives rallied at the Capitol on Thursday afternoon at the Tallahassee Tax Day Tea Party to protest big government and call for more responsibility from politicians.

A number of local campaigns set up at the rally, including Republican congressional candidates Steve Southerland and David Scholl. Also present were independent congressional candidate Paul McKain and Republican activist Ann Yarko, who is running for the state House seat currently held by Rep. Michelle Rehwinkel Vasilinda, D-Tallahassee.

Some of the Tea Party attendees carried signs criticizing President Barack Obama, while some focused on U.S. Rep. Allen Boyd. There was a banner saying the nation missed Ronald Reagan, a few Sarah Palin 2012 T-shirts and even a sign advocating former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s possible presidential bid.

Based on the number of stickers and signs, former House Speaker Marco Rubio, currently running for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate seat, is the most popular politician with Tea Party activists. There was also a large number of stickers for Senate President Jeff Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, who is running for state CFO.

Speaking to the rally, Rep. Anitere Flores, R-Miami, said that the Tea Parties were not about Democrats or Republicans. “It’s about being a conservative,” she said.

As McKain’s presence suggested, this was not a strictly partisan event. A number of Tea Party activists carried signs that called for throwing out every single incumbent. When incoming Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, was introduced to the crowd, there was scattered applause but no widespread cheers or jeers.

Scholl, a retired Air Force officer, talked about his time at an event earlier with decorated veteran Col. Bud Day, who spent more than five years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam.

“Service and sacrifice, that’s what this is all about,” said Scholl. “We’re not seeing that out of our servants in Washington.”

“I think it shows that people want an active voice in their government and are upset about what’s going on,” said Yarko. “We have to take a hard look at how much we’re interfering in people’s lives.”

A roaring Tea Party crowd cheered on Sarah Palin on the Boston Common today as she slammed President Obama promising it’s “nothing a good old fashioned election can’t fix.”

Palin, wearing a lipstick-red leather jacket, urged “less government” and “cut spending” and do more than “stall the spending spree we’ve been on.”

Check out reader-submitted photos from today’s Tea Party Express rally.

The common-sense hockey mom praised Bostonians for electing upstart GOP star U.S. Sen. Scott Brown as she stood in the shadow of the Democrat-controlled State House.

“Bostonians have never been afraid to stand up for their freedoms,” Palin said. “Shoot, look at what Massachusetts did in January. You shook up the U.S. Senate.”

She called for taxes to be cut so families can “keep more” of what they earn. She tossed in a call for “drill, baby drill” and to stop America from “bowing to Saudis.”

It was a speech aimed directly at the Democrats and it was the fuel that pumped up the Tea Party Express crowd.

The turnout – clearly well in the thousands – went beyond expectations, Tea Party organizers said. The crowd filled the Common to hear Palin who took the stage before 11 this morning.

Palin took to the stage to pound away at “Obamacare” and the borrowing that will tax future generations, she said.

“The first test will be at the ballot box in November,” she said, calling on Tea Partiers to get out the vote.

Almost everyone said they came today to catch a glimpse of the conservative shooting star, but she’s not the only draw.

Gold Star Mother Debbie Lee told the story of her son, Mark, who was killed2 in Iraq. She broke down in tears to remember a boy she lost to war who stood in the line of fire to save his squad.

“He did that for each and every one of you today,” she said of her son’s death. “We’ve got political insurgents in Washington, D.C. And will you have the same response my son did? ‘Roger that. Let’s go get ‘em.”’

The rally, which kicked off before 10 a.m. and will last until about 1 p.m., has made the corner of Charles and Beacon the epicenter of the Tea Party movement today.

“This may be our only opportunity to see her live on the East coast,” said Dennis McHale, a police sergeant who worked a night shift on Long Island and then hit the road to the Hub.

John Philip Souza IV was the first speaker to take to the podium, where he railed against big government. “From the bottom of my heart, I thank you for the restoration of smaller government,” he ended his speech with.

It’s still Palin who is the big draw.

“She’s a political up-and-comer and I’m excited to see her,” said Franklin High senior Taylor Trenchard.

“It’s a great experience. I want to see Sarah Palin speak,” said Nick Melfi, 18, also from Franklin High. He came along with others in his AP government class to witness democracy in action.

Historian and Plymouth preacher Paul Jehle said the Tea Party picked the perfect location to hold an anti-tax, anti-big government rally.

“There’s a hunger here to return to liberty and constitutional law – and that’s a good thing,” said Jehle, who is dressed as a Minuteman as he works the crowd.

“In 1773, Boston voted against paying a 3 cent tea tax. It was lawful resistance to an unjust tax,” Jehle said, adding he hopes the Tea Party movement can cling to those ideals.

Protesters also milled around the packed Boston Common, including Theresa Pope, 49, who dressed up as Alice from Alice in Wonderland.

“This is all madness, so we’re going mad a little ourselves,” said Pope, of Jamaica Plain.

Another protester, who would only give his first name Peter, said police kicked him out of the area.

“This is what these people talk about, freedom of speech, but when I practice it they don’t want to hear it,” he said.

It was a ground zero of sorts for Marco Rubio as he spoke with a backdrop of road construction vehicles and plant employees who’d seen coworkers let go.

In an hour-long visit to the Ring Power Corp. in St. Johns County on Wednesday, the Republican U.S. Senate candidate said he learned about production slowdowns that serve as proof the federal stimulus package has so far failed.

“You can read about job losses and laying people off but when you come to companies that face that you get the full impact,” Rubio said after giving a campaign speech to about 200 people, many of them workers at the massive Caterpillar dealership near World Golf Village.

Rubio remains far ahead of Gov. Charlie Crist in the popularity polls among Republican voters as the Aug. 24 primary election inches closer.

He hit on the usual talking points: Big government is failing business people and spending should be reduced.

“His message is good. We need fiscal responsibility and spending limits,” said Tim McGuire, a senior sales executive who’d taken Rubio on a tour of the business just before the speech.

McGuire told Rubio the garage areas used to be much more active — and noisy — as mechanics and engineers worked on heavy machinery like backhoes, tractors and road-graders. That’s all equipment that Rubio reasoned should have gone into high demand amid the stimulus rollout.

McGuire said the company has shrunk from 2,300 employees to about 1,600 over the past 18 months as the construction market went into hibernation. But he also walked Rubio past an area of the plant where workers were refurbishing military vehicles as part of a government contract.

Proving the stimulus package wrong has been a key campaign strategy for Rubio. He’s generated momentum among voters who argue such spending would make for more debt than it’s worth and that Crist should have taken a pass on the money.

Critics, both Democrat and Republican, have argued the stimulus dollars have come in too slowly. Rubio described the package as more of a sugar rush than anything that could support long-term economic growth.

However, the Florida Office of Economic Recovery contends that the stimulus money has been a relief to the beleaguered state budget.

Within his audience stood a crowd of blue-shirted workers who’d come to the speech from the Ring Power shop areas. That’s a demographic the main Democratic candidate, U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, also is after in Northeast Florida.

Meek has laid out a strategy to meet working-class voters and help them understand the benefits on the way because of Democratic platforms like the stimulus and health care reform. Meek has gained the support of many local laborers as well as the state and national chapters of the AFL-CIO.

Caterpillar opposed the health care bill, arguing it would be too costly. Company officials wrote letters to Congress last month saying the law would boost the company’s health care costs by $100 million in the first year alone.

Bob Smith, one of Rubio’s six campaign managers in St. Johns County, said the GOP holds the advantage in the area.

“This is a natural place for Marco,” he said. “It’s very conservative, highly educated. We have 70,000-plus Republicans. Here, this is fertile ground.”

Organizers say thousands of people are expected at the rally, which coincides with the federal tax-filing deadline.

Speakers include Robert McClure of the James Madison Institute; John Stemberger, president of the Florida Family Policy Council; Senate President Jeff Atwater; Preston Scott, organizer and host of “The Morning Show with Preston Scott;” and other elected officials.

Check out their Web site at WeThePeopleRally.us for more information.

From 4:00 to 7:00 PM at the Old State Capitol. 



Pick-up the kids a little early from school, perhaps close up your shop and invite the staff to join you.  This rally will be different in many respects.  You simply need to be there to know what I mean.



Across the country there are more than 1,000 rallies planned in various communities.  Ours is important if for no other reason because this is Florida’s state capital.  We will be linking up symbolically with millions of other citizens who are staying engaged; not going away.  Yes, bigger cities may have more recognizable names to headline their events.  I will tell you in all candor that there will not be a better roster of speakers than we will have today.



You will leave today’s rally informed, challenged, motivated, and encouraged.



Of course, parking will be a challenge.  It always is downtown.  But, really…isn’t it worth it?  We are not talking about having to hitch up the horses and wagon; fight through skirmishes and worry about encountering a firing line.  We are talking about parking and making a little walk; carving three hours (or two, or one) out of your schedule.



Numbers matter.  Will you be counted?



See you there,



James Etherton is one angry retiree.

But if you ask him why, you’d better be ready to sit a spell and listen.

Because Etherton, 76, has a list.

“You name it,” said Etherton, a retired Pensacola Junior College band director. “Anything going on in Washington, basically. The whole tax thing. The way they’re tearing our Constitution to pieces. The way they tell us we can learn what’s in a bill when they pass a bill. The whole Washington mess — they’re all idiots.”

He goes on for a while listing his grievances before pausing for a few seconds to catch his breath.

“Ehhh,” he grumbled. “I’m ticked at everybody.”

Etherton will be one of thousands of angry men and women expected to attend a tea party tax protest from 3 to 6 p.m. Thursday in front of University Mall.

The protest is organized by the Pensacola Patriots, a local tea party group. Last year, more than 2,000 people attended a similar protest in conjunction with hundreds of nationwide protests on the deadline for U.S. citizens to file federal income tax returns.

The tea party movement is a loose union of small-government supporters.

This year, there are more than 800 similar protests set to take place Thursday across the nation, according to SurgeUSA, a conservative Web site.

John Baker, 72, organizer of the Pensacola Patriots, said he has about 500 RSVPs for the event, which will focus on taxes, and maybe term limits.

He expects at least five people will attend for everyone who RSVPed.

There are 2,000 people on the Pensacola Patriots mailing list, though Baker — a retired Maryland police commander — said there is no membership.

“It’s just a group of people who are worried about what’s happening to the country,” Baker said. “There’s no group that has control over them. I don’t even know who most of them are. They just show up.”

And some come carrying signs.

“We don’t want them to mention specific names,” Baker said. “It’s not about one person. It’s about issues.”

Malissa Cahoon, 39, of Navarre already has made a few signs.

Cahoon, who describes herself as a homemaker, has made a sign that reads “The Silent Majority Isn’t Silent Anymore” and “Stop Wasting My Money.”

She said she never protested anything before attending last year’s tax protest in front of University Mall.

Cahoon said she also will have a sign that will voice her displeasure with President Obama by name, despite Baker’s pleas to avoid naming names.

“I don’t like the president’s policies,” she said. “He’s trying to turn our democracy into socialism. I’m really upset with the way this government is wasting our money.”

Baker said he doesn’t expect people to travel too far to attend the protest, since there are so many scattered across the country.

“But we are getting a lot of calls from people in Atmore, (Ala.), and Molino,” he said.

The first hearing in a nationwide lawsuit that seeks to strike down key elements of the recently enacted health care reform law is set for today in Pensacola.

Senior U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson is to preside over a scheduling conference beginning at 9 a.m. in the fifth-floor courtroom. During such conferences, which are routine, judges set dates for filings and future hearings.

The lawsuit filed by Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum and more than a dozen mostly Republican attorneys general from around the nation challenges the health care reform signed into law March 23 by President Barack Obama.

It claims the legislation is an illegal expansion of Congress’ regulation of interstate commerce and unfairly penalizes uninsured people who refuse to buy into the program.

U.S. marshals who provide security at the federal courthouse say they are on alert due to the strong political divisions caused by the new law.

“We’re basically keeping our eyes and ears open,” supervisory deputy U.S. Marshal Tom Miller said Tuesday. “We do have a heightened sense of awareness as far as the upcoming health care case.”

John Baker, organizer of the Pensacola Patriots, a local anti-tax tea party organization, said he hasn’t talked to anyone planning to protest the court case.

“I hope no one is planning a protest,” said Baker, 72, a former police officer. “You don’t intimidate judges to make a decision one way or the other.”

The attorneys general retained conservative constitutional law attorney David Rivkin, who is expected to appear in court today.

McCollum will not be in court, and many of the other parties involved in the lawsuit will appear via a teleconference.

Rivkin was an outspoken critic of the Clinton administration’s push for health care reform and has opposed the recent national heath care legislation.

McCollum has vowed to take this case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. He announced Tuesday that Georgia has joined the original 13 states named in the lawsuit, and a total of six other states have committed to join the lawsuit.

Defendants include the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Treasury Department and the U.S. Department of Labor.

The government agencies contend the health care reform law is constitutional.

They say the attorneys general will not prevail due to the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution, saying the powers of the federal government supersede those of the state governments.

“These lawsuits are meritless,” Health and Human Services spokesman Nicholas Papas said. “Opponents of reform have always turned to the courts when major legislation that they disagree with is signed into law. History and case law make clear that those efforts have failed.”

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of likely voters finds Obama with 42% support and Paul with 41% of the vote. Eleven percent (11%) prefer some other candidate, and six percent (6%) are undecided.

Ask the Political Class, though, and it’s a blowout. While 58% of Mainstream voters favor Paul, 95% of the Political Class vote for Obama.

But Republican voters also have decidedly mixed feelings about Paul, who has been an outspoken critic of the party establishment.

Obama earns 79% support from Democrats, but Paul gets just 66% of GOP votes. Voters not affiliated with either major party give Paul a 47% to 28% edge over the president.

Paul, an anti-big government libertarian who engenders unusually strong feelings among his supporters, was an unsuccessful candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008. But he continues to have a solid following, especially in the growing Tea Party movement.

Twenty-four percent (24%) of voters now consider themselves a part of the Tea Party movement, an eight-point increase from a month ago. Another 10% say they are not a part of the movement but have close friends or family members who are.

(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it’s in the news, it’s in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.

Thirty-nine percent (39%) of all voters have a favorable opinion of Paul, while 30% view him unfavorably. This includes 10% with a very favorable opinion and 12% with a very unfavorable one. But nearly one-out-of-three voters (32%) are not sure what they think of Paul.

Perhaps tellingly, just 42% of Republican voters have a favorable view of him, including eight percent (8%) with a very favorable opinion. By comparison, 42% of unaffiliated voters regard him favorably, with 15% very favorable toward him.

Twenty-six percent (26%) of GOP voters think Paul shares the values of most Republican voters throughout the nation, but 25% disagree. Forty-nine percent (49%) are not sure.

Similarly, 27% of Republicans see Paul as a divisive force in the party, while 30% view him as a new direction for the GOP. Forty-two percent (42%) aren’t sure.

Among all voters, 19% say Paul shares the values of most Republican voters, and 27% disagree. Fifty-four percent (54%) are undecided.

Twenty-one percent (21%) of voters nationwide regard Paul as a divisive force in the GOP. Thirty-four percent (34%) say he is representative of a new direction for the party. Forty-five percent (45%) are not sure.

But it’s important to note than 75% of Republicans voters believe Republicans in Congress have lost touch with GOP voters throughout the nation over the past several years.

Sarah Palin, the former governor of Alaska and the GOP’s vice presidential nominee in 2008, is another Republican who has been bucking the party’s traditional leadership and was the keynote speaker at the recent Tea Party convention in Nashville. Fifty-nine percent (59%) of Republican voters say Palin shares the values of most GOP voters throughout the nation. Just 18% of Republicans see Palin as a divisive force within the GOP.

Rasmussen Reports released survey findings yesterday that take a closer look at the political views of those who say they’re part of the Tea Party movement. Among other things, 96% of those in the movement think America is overtaxed, and 94% trust the judgment of the American people more than that of America’s political leaders.

When it comes to major issues confronting the nation, 48% of voters now say the average Tea Party member is closer to their views than Obama is. Forty-four percent (44%) hold the opposite view and believe the president’s views are closer to their own.

Fifty-two percent (52%) believe the average member of the Tea Party movement has a better understanding of the issues facing America today than the average member of Congress. Thirty-five percent (35%) of voters now think Republicans and Democrats are so much alike that an entirely new political party is needed to represent the American people. Nearly half (47%) of voters disagree and say a new party is not needed

If the Tea Party was organized as a political party, 34% of voters would prefer a Democrat in a three-way congressional race. In that hypothetical match-up, the Republican gets 27% of the vote with the Tea Party hopeful in third at 21%. However, if only the Democrat or Republican had a real chance to win, most of the Tea Party supporters would vote for the Republican.

Please sign up for the Rasmussen Reports daily e-mail update (it’s free) or follow us on Twitter or Facebook. Let us keep you up to date with the latest public opinion news.

It is, of course, a really silly thing to even think about, given the clout of the Chicago Machine boys currently occupying the White House.

But, just say, the Real Great Talker continues his spiraling descent in the polls over the next 12-18 months; already the Democrat is barely tied with Any Republican in opinion polls looking toward 2012.

Even worse, a majority of Americans have already decided they don’t want Obama to have a second term.

And just say under Obama’s leadership and insistence on his unpopular healthcare bill over jobs, all the spending and exploding deficits, plus the certainty of new taxes to cover his costs, the Democrats in Congress get thoroughly thrashed by the GOP come November. Maybe they even lose control of both houses.

This week a new poll showed Americans now preferring the GOP on a generic congressional ballot. And despite eagerly optimistic recent administration economic claims, the unemployment rate is likely to hang high, and now comes a new ABC News Poll finding national consumer confidence actually waning, not building.

Do you think then maybe by a year from now some Democratic Party bigwigs and money people might be whispering to each other that this arrogant Illinois guy is pulling a Jimmy Carter, constructing a disastrous….

…single term that teed up 12 straight years of Republican White House rule?

Well, it turns out, there is another Democrat — another former senator, in fact — hanging around now free of political tussles with an enhanced resume burnished on the world stage, thanks to Obama himself.

And a new CNN/Opinion Research Poll has just revealed that even today Americans like that other Democrat more and dislike that other Democrat less than they do the incumbent Democratic president.

That other Democrat is, of course, Hillary Clinton, who fought and scratched her way mightily but unsuccessfully through those bitter, belligerent Democratic primaries and caucuses of 2008. The former first lady and current secretary of State professes no intra-mural interest in challenging her White House boss, as she must as long as she’s an administration team member.

The published CNN article focused on an Obama matchup with Sarah Palin. But within the data were Favorable/Unfavorable ratings for numerous prominent politicians of both parties. Here are the surprising new poll numbers for Clinton:

61% now think favorably of the former senator and only 35% unfavorably, both numbers improved from the 56% and 40% she had during the Democratic National Convention in late August of 2008.
An early 2012 political button

It is, on one level, an impressive turnaround for the once polarizing political figure.

And on another level it’s a comment on the polarity of the political climate presided over by someone who promised to bring people together and change Washington’s harsh partisan tone, another postponed campaign vow like eliminating Guantanamo and “Don’t Ask-Don’t Tell.”

By comparison, in the same CNN poll, 57% of Americans now think favorably of Obama, down from 78% just before his inauguration; and 41% now think unfavorably of him, more than twice his unfavorable rating of early 2009.

Clinton’s numbers also beat all other both Democrats and Republicans in the new poll.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi has 38-50 Favorable-Unfavorable; Sen. Harry Reid 28-35. The good news for Reid is that 20% of Americans have never heard of him; the bad news is Nevadans know him well and have him trailing any conceivable Republican candidate in this November’s election.

Among Republican names, Mike Huckabee’s favorable-unfavorable rating is 43-29; Mitt Romney 40-34; Newt Gingrich 38-38 (see his recent speech video here); and Sarah Palin 39-55, up from her other recent numbers. See Palin’s recent speech video right here.

Loyal Ticket readers may remember this item of ours from last December when USA Today and Gallup found the two most admired females in America were Clinton and Palin — and only 1% separated them.

Even more loyal Ticket readers will recall our item from nearly two years ago here revealing that the day after she surrendered to Obama upon losing the party primary race and said she heartily supported him, Clinton associates purchased a Web domain name: HRC2012.

Probably just an over-eager staffer, wouldn’t you think?