Jim DeFede

While Florida keeps blowing sunshine, its dark past keeps opening up and swallowing up the present, writes Jim DeFede.

The Donald, suddenly riding high in the 2012 polls, drew rave reviews at a Tea rally in Boca Raton. Jim DeFede reports on why the birther card is working—and what Trump has learned from Gary Busey.

Tuesday night’s Florida Senate debate may have been the last chance for Crist to pull off a game-changer. Jim DeFede on how the governor’s flailing independent campaign fell short.

It’s Florida's oddest campaign yet: an ex-GOP star frantically hunting Democratic votes, a Latino frontrunner with an anti-Latino agenda, and a black candidate snubbed by his party. Jim DeFede reports. Read our exclusive report of Crist's "white wine summit" that helped him recruit a top Obama Latino adviser; how the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee snubbed Florida's Democratic Senate nominee; and Rep. Alcee Hasting on "the black tax”—and the deals he thinks Democrats are making to elect Crist.

The BP disaster will plague the Gulf for years. But there’s a silver lining, if you’re a newly minted independent looking to remind Florida voters that you’re the man in charge.

Marco Rubio wouldn't even bill himself as conservative at the outset of his Senate race in Florida. But since CPAC, he's running to the right of Glenn Beck.

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist embraced President Obama this time last year. Since then, his political fortunes have plummeted. Jim DeFede on the greeting that derailed a Senate campaign.

America’s premier political dynasty has been shying away from public office of late. But Maria Shriver’s brother, eyeing the governor's race in Florida, may be about to change that.

Two priests. Two sex scandals. In a row. And you think your church has problems. Jim DeFede goes inside St. Francis de Sales—perhaps the most sordid Catholic pulpit in the country.

Picking a seatwarmer should be the political equivalent of a layup. So why is Florida Gov. Charlie Crist suddenly in so much trouble?