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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - Suspended Broward Supervisor of Elections Miriam Oliphant has been charged with 55 counts of violating election laws. Oliphant, already facing a Senate trial for her conduct in office, is accused of not opening polls on time and not keeping them open late enough during the September 2002 primary. The Florida Elections Commission levied the charges against Oliphant at its Feb. 19 meeting. If found guilty, Oliphant faces a fine of up to $55,000. She has 30 days to respond and can choose to appear in administrative court or in front of the Elections Commission. Oliphant, a...

Senator Zaffirini shrugs off political opponent’s claims By Tricia Cortez Times staff writer Raymond Bruni has accused his opponent, state Sen. Judith Zaffirini (D-Laredo), of being “controlled by special interest groups” and of “abandoning the middle class and working families.” He pointed to campaign contribution reports filed with the Texas Ethics Commission, which show Zaffirini has raised $249,680 from July through the end of February, in which approximately one-third has come from PAC, or political action committee, money. Bruni has also questioned the communications workshops she has given to public entities in Laredo, in which her firm, Zaffirini Communications, has...

BOSTON – The image is unforgettable: John Kerry leaning overboard at some personal risk to save a life. But this isn't the oft-told tale of the senator's wartime heroism. It's the story of Licorice, the hamster. Long before Mr. Kerry ran for president, his daughter Vanessa, 6 or 7 at the time, took her pet rodent on a family vacation that also involved a boat and a big dog. When they pulled into dock, the dog got so excited that its tail knocked the hamster cage overboard. That's when dad – decorated with a Silver Star for dragging a Green...

<p>After John Kerry's Tuesday win in Wisconsin, it's fairly safe to say he's the Democrats' presumptive presidential nominee. But is it also safe to say, as a number of polls suggest, that Democrats, believing he is their party's best chance to beat George Bush, have been turning out for Mr. Kerry with zeal?</p>

<p>Sometime this week, would-be Democratic presidents will travel the misery circuit of South Carolina, barnstorming selected small towns and cities and seizing on the campaign red meat of abandoned textile mills, uninsured families, bedrock poverty, rising unemployment and the steady erosion of manufacturing jobs.</p>

Conservatives like me don't get a vote in Democratic primaries, but we do have an interest. Even we frothing right-wingers know that the country needs a serious and responsible Democratic Party to counter the Republicans when they need countering, and beat them when they need beating. So with the first actual votes about to be cast, I've been figuring out whom to root for. I've graded the candidates in three categories. INTEGRITY/LEADERSHIP By this stage in the 1992 race, Bill Clinton's character flaws were already evident. None of this year's candidates seem to have any of those sorts of problems....

BOONE, Iowa — Marisol Rincón sits in her modest kitchen while the temperature outside hovers in the low single digits and downy snowdrifts blanket the Iowa plain. At her feet, two Chihuahuas frolic while her son and nephews play video games in the living room. The McAllen native has lived in this town of 13,000 some 35 miles from Des Moines since 1997, one of a growing number of Hispanics putting down roots and creating booming immigrant communities in states like Iowa, Georgia and North Carolina. "Back then, there wasn't much raza," Rincón said of Hispanics. "Now you see us...

I wish Howard Dean's opponents would make up their minds. First they told us the former Vermont governor was a reincarnation of George McGovern, a scary, antiwar liberal who, if he wins the party's presidential nomination, would take Democrats over the cliff. Now, some of his opponents are suggesting that he is Newt Gingrich's political soulmate. My head is spinning. Would someone explain to me how Dean can go from being George McGovern one day to being Newt Gingrich the next. He can't be both, so which one is he? If I were Dean, I'd take the McGovern comparision as...

Le Cirque du C.A. Michael Graham www.michaelgraham.com Have you even seen such a sad collection of electoral oddballs, fringe political freaks and quasi-criminal losers in your life? This is the kind of campaign disaster that challenges one's commitment to the democratic process itself. It's scary to think that one of these knuckleheads gets to win. California? Who said anything about California? I'm talking about the Democrats' presidential primary. Not that the California Recall Election And Performance Art Festival isn't a cracking good show. A screaming Greek harpy, a black midget, a power-hungry Austrian millionaire, a porn lord in a golden...

The first known death threat against controversial Democratic presidential candidate the Rev. Al Sharpton apparently has come from an Akron home. According to police reports, a North Hawkins Avenue man called Powernet TV at 11:10 p.m. Sunday, about 10 minutes after the production company started broadcasting a Sharpton speech on Akron's Time-Warner Cable Channel 15. The message, in slow, slurred speech left on Powernet's voice mail, said: ``This is the Godfather. I'm gonna blow Al Sharpton's brains out.'' Caller ID traced the threat to the Hawkins Avenue house. Sharpton campaign manager Frank Watkins said the call is the first death...

THE SILENT HAWKSen. Bob Graham of Florida has been dialing for dollars over the past two weeks. While convalescing from serious heart surgery at first his daughter's home and then his own townhouse, Graham has been using his time calling longtime donors and fundraisers for his presidential campaign. "He's pulling in a quarter million a day," says a Graham adviser on Capitol Hill. "Not bad for a guy who hasn't been getting out." Much of Graham's backing is coming from Florida, where he is a Democratic Party icon. Graham has some catching up to do with party comrades already committed...

Candidate for governor caught dozing on tape released by rival Fri Apr 12,11:45 AM ETHARRISBURG, Pa. - A gubernatorial candidate is hoping that if you snooze, you lose, distributing an embarrassing videotape of his rival dozing at a political forum. The footage, shot by the campaign of Democratic candidate Robert Casey Jr., shows Edward Rendell nodding off several times during the Wednesday event sponsored by the African-American Chamber of Commerce (news - web sites) of Western Pennsylvania."It shows a glaring insensitivity to the issues important to African-American businesspeople," said Matt Casey, the candidate's brother and campaign adviser. "Apparently there wasn't...