Jefferson-Jackson Dinner 2009: liveblogging, page 4

Next up are each of the U.S. Senate candidates. First is North Miami mayor Kevin Burns. "I have to deal with the issues that they deal with in Washington, but I have to deal with them every day." "I disagree with Gov. Charlie Crist that it's okay to have an oil rig three miles off the state of Florida. No offshore oil drilling in Florida!" Mayor Burns has an uphill climb, but he's making a decent showing for himself, I'll say that. "I support President Obama's position for an open and responsible dialogue for Cuba." Pretty decent applause for that. He's also advocating for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. And, as an openly gay man who with his partner has a 7-year-old daughter, he is tired of being "treated like a second-class citizen."

Now state Sen. Dan Gelber. He starts by saying, "I have an announcement." The crowd goes quiet for the first time as he draws out the suspense ... then says, "Will the owner of a silver car ..." Laughter. Next, he states that there is "one adult in the Florida Cabinet, and that's Alex Sink." Yes, he's accusing the Republicans on the Cabinet of being petulant children (I wish more Democrats would talk like that! -- ed.) Then he says he is "stepping back" from his Senate bid. That sounds a lot more like a withdrawal than it did in the Netroots meeting! (Rumor has it that he was "pressured" to withdraw. I can neither confirm nor deny ... but he reiterated that he wants to "explore his options" with regard to the state Cabinet. The intrigue is that he's kicking around the AG spot ... but so is state Sen. Dave Aronberg. Should be interesting ...

Finally, the favorite for the nomination, U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, steps to the podium. A number of Meek signs pop up around the ballroom. I'm sure it's spontaneous ...

He's hitting all the hotspots ... employment, education, environment, and so on ... but he's talking like the nominee already, which is exactly the right thing to do politically at this point.

Next up, my political hero (well, one of two), former governor and U.S. senator Bob Graham. Graham starts by congratulating Dan Gelber for his "courageous" statement in putting aside his ambition for the good of the party. Now he's marveling that a small baby born into relatively modest circumstances was imbued with leadership characteristics that led to us knowing him today as the president of the United States. But at about the same time, there was a little girl baby "who had the potential for some unique characteristics. She ... grew up in America as it really is ... who married a wonderful man and has raised a beautiful family ... who has worked to serve the private sector and the public service. ... In the Bible, it says that if the people are without vision, they will perish. My friends, Florida has been without vision for the last ten years. What an opportunity we're going to have to support someone in whom we have complete confidence." He compares November 2010 to November 2008 and expresses how proud he is that he could endorse this woman ... and he introduces a short film to show us who Alex Sink is. Roll film ...