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Staying Out

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SUNCOAST NEWS

Published: January 21, 2009

Barack Obama is only in his second day as president, so it would be way premature to predict the late 2010 political lay of the land. Bill Clinton won the presidency in 1992, only to see control of Congress pass to the Republicans in 1994. If we had to put money down now we wouldn't bet on the same thing happening to Obama. Two years, however, is an eternity in politics.

It is interesting that two of Florida's best known political figures, one Republican and one Democrat, have already ruled out a 2010 run for the U.S. Senate seat Republican Mel Martinez says he will give up after only one term.

The first to say no thanks was former Gov. Jeb Bush. He's a savvy political hand, so it is not surprising that someone who is a Republican and whose last name is Bush has decided 2010 is a bit too early to mount a political campaign.

Perhaps more surprisingly, Democrat Alex Sink has no plans to run for the Senate in 2010 either and will keep her current job, as Florida's chief financial officer, according to her husband, Bill McBride. McBride lost the 2002 governor's race to Bush.

If Bush and Sink stay out, the 2010 Senate contest in Florida could become a mass battle of political lesser lights in the Republican and Democrat primaries. That could prove interesting.

On the other hand, maybe Gov. Charlie Crist will jump in. First, however, he'd have to decide whether he's a Republican or a Democrat.

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