Expect a bruising House run

[Freddie Stubbs]

By MARK LANE
FOOTNOTE

When the qualifying deadline for federal elections came and went last week, two U.S. House elections in Florida were done and settled. Kendrick Meek, D-Miami, and Corrine Brown, D-Jacksonville, will go back to Washington without appearing on a ballot, the smallest number of Florida representatives automatically re-elected since 2000.

Sure, two House seats filled without anybody voting is two too many. But in a state like Florida, where incumbents usually get free rides, this is surprising. Two years ago, five races were settled without the fuss and bother of this thing people call the democratic process.

On paper, it's kind of surprising that Brown would be the one to get another free re-election.

She has a lively, un-self-conscious personality and speaks her mind in ways that can be a little too vivid and spontaneous for general consumption. Her 14.9 percent missed-vote record is the highest in the Florida congressional delegation. Her ethical problems over the years have been widely reported. In 2000, the House's ethics committee, while absolving her of rules violations, also criticized her for "poor judgment" that created "the appearance of impropriety'" in her dealings with African multimillionaire and all-around international man of mystery Foutanga Dit Babani Sissoko.

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