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On today’s edition of Coffee and Markets, Francis Cianfrocca and Ben Domenech talk about Rick Perry’s comments on the Fed, and Florida’s Adam Hasner talks about his run for the Senate.

We’re brought to you as always by BigGovernment and Stephen Clouse and Associates. If you’d like to email us, you can do so at coffee[at]newledger.com. We hope you enjoy the show.

Related Links:

Perry Doubles Down on Fed: Open Up and Be Transparent
GOP Field Launches Sharp Attacks on the Fed
Florida Senate Race Heats Up Early
Adam Hasner Speaks at Redstate
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Sunday begins National School Choice Week, the annual seven-day period in the middle of winter when kids all over the country dream of either: (1) having the freedom to stay home from school on account of snow, or (2) moving to Florida.

Well, actually, kids dream of those things all the time.  But their parents ought to spend this week dreaming of Florida because the Sunshine State now boasts some of the most forward-looking school choice policies in the country.

In fact, last year a remarkable bipartisan coalition – which included most of Florida’s black and Hispanic state legislators – passed a major expansion of the Sunshine State’s landmark Tax Credit Scholarship Program.  This prompted The Wall Street Journal to marvel at “Florida’s Unheralded School Revolution.”

And last year, not coincidentally, Florida’s student achievement test scores continued to rise, catapulting the Sunshine State into the nation’s Top Five states in K-12 education, according to the American Legislative Exchange Council’s annual rankings.  (Not bad for a state that used to place in the bottom third of annual student achievement rankings.)

While there is much to celebrate in the Sunshine State’s schools, Florida still has its share of education policy problems.  For example, last year Florida’s politically-opportunistic former Governor (Charlie Crist) decided to curry favor with the powerful teachers’ unions by vetoing a merit pay for teachers’ bill that he had previously pledged to sign.

Crist’s political strategy ultimately backfired – he got trounced by Marco Rubio in the U.S. Senate race.  Yet, interestingly, his flip-flop on merit pay would not have even won Crist the 2010 prize for Most Unseemly Behavior by a Floridian in the merit pay debate.

That dubious honor, sadly, would have gone to a government teacher at East Ridge High School in Clermont who sent the Florida Senate President a packet of nearly 100 letters – all of them opposing merit pay for teachers – which his students had written as a class assignment.  In a cover letter, the teacher claimed that he had presented the bill (S.B. 6) to the students with “a neutral connotation.”  And the teacher also expressed “total amazement” that every single one of his students wrote a letter opposing merit pay.

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It’s been revealed that the Obama White House is trying to beat Marco Rubio to keep Hispanic-Americans from having a choice when it comes to political parties. This is the second time Democrats have done this, and the fact that they’re willing to take down another minority candidate to do so shows that it’s the Democrats, not Republicans, who are trying to keep minorities down in America today.

With the White House’s approval, President Bill Clinton tried to convince Congressman Kendrick Meek—an African-American Democrat—to drop out of the U.S. Senate race in Florida, and support independent (and former liberal Republican) Charlie Crist.

They did this for one reason: They want to deny minorities a choice, deceiving them into thinking that only the Democratic Party cares about minorities. They are happy to take down minority candidates—even Democratic candidates—to perpetuate this falsehood.

This is the second time Democrats have done this to a Hispanic. In 2001, Miguel Estrada was nominated to a seat on the nation’s second-highest federal court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Estrada was an American success story, a child immigrant from Honduras who didn’t speak English, who went on to be a top graduate from Columbia, then Harvard Law School, later clerking for the Supreme Court and serving under the U.S. solicitor general in both Democratic and Republican administrations. He’s a partner at Gibson Dunn, one of America’s top law firms.

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Just outside the DC Beltway, in Maryland’s sprawling first congressional district, an electoral battle is underway that exposes unique ideological fault lines beneath America’s political landscape.

The campaign pits freshman “Blue Dog” Democratic congressman Frank Kratovil in a rematch against Republican Dr. Andy Harris. Given the political tilt of the district, coupled with the Tea Party tsunami gathering force this year, one would think that this race should be a slam dunk for Harris.

A tall, affable family man, Harris is an anesthesiologist, Navy veteran, hardcore free-marketer, and constitutional conservative. By contrast, Kratovil, a former attorney, tries to portray himself as an “independent” who distances himself from Nancy Pelosi and the House Democratic majority. However, the Washington Post reports that “Frank Kratovil has voted with a majority of his Democratic colleagues 84.6% of the time during the current Congress.” Among his least popular votes since taking office: support for the “cash for clunkers” program, for the near-trillion-dollar “stimulus” spending orgy, and for the hugely expensive “cap-and-trade” energy bill. Plus, of course, his vote to elevate the widely reviled Pelosi to the Speaker’s position.

Yet, despite all that, a recent poll finds Harris holding only a statistically insignificant three-point lead over Kratovil. This, while other GOP candidates are faring much better even in usually “safe” Democratic districts.

What’s going on here?

One of the most infuriating spectacles this election season is supposedly “Republican,” “conservative,” and “pro-business” individuals and groups supporting entrenched liberal incumbents against free-market, limited-government challengers. For many special-interest “insiders,” even on the right, philosophical convictions are far less important than sharing a “seat at the table” with the politically powerful.

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Big primaries today in Alaska, Arizona and Florida. In just a couple weeks, the final match-ups for the Fall elections will be set.

With summer drawing to a close and most people having already taken or planned their vacations for this summer, this latest lame attempt by Obama to give the illusion he actually cares about the US Gulf coast, the people, and their businesses falls flat.  After taking serious heat in July for a vacation to Maine and Michelle’s lavish vacation to Spain, this 27-hour quickie (no worries, The One will take a real 10-day vacation to Martha’s Vineyard next week) will be seen for what it is by America–a token drive by.

If Obama truly wanted to help the Gulf residents and the tourism industry, then he would have planned his weekend getaway at the Gulf instead of Maine and people would have had a month and a half to plan a trip there.  With schools already in session in some districts and most others starting at August’s end, families are gearing up for back to school at this point.  The Gulf states could have benefited greatly the same way Maine saw a boost to its economy.

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Recent reports of Florida’s governor, Charlie Crist, inspecting the beaches of Miami seem to be more of a photo oops than anything else.   Obviously, I’m sure he’s concerned with his state, the revenue lost from canceled vacations, and the impending negative effects environmental disaster from the BP oil spill, it remains curious, though, why he hasn’t been back to the Gulf coast since early June.   Instead he has recently traveled to Miami and Disney World–in central Florida–to address the spill.  Yes, he’s touting that Florida’s hot spots are safe, but more attention needs to be paid by the governor to the Gulf coast.

Meanwhile, the Florida beach report states:

The beaches and waters at tourist hot spots like Destin, Fort Walton Beach and Okaloosa Island are open, according to the Emerald Coast Convention and Visitors Bureau, which represents the three destinations.

“The air here is also still fresh and clean, with no smell of oil whatsoever,” the bureau’s website said.

This beaches may very well be open, but the conditions of the beaches are debatable.  Swimmers I have interviewed at Destin have reported being covered in a gloss of oil after swimming in the Gulf, the water is not clear, and piles of oil-soaked dead seaweed have washed up on the shore.

Additionally, this is what the Destin shore looks on June 17, 2010.  This picture is not algea, it is of oil-soaked seaweed washing up on the beaches in large quantities.

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On January 28th, President Obama traveled to Tampa, FL. This is how he greeted the mayor of Tampa, an American city the last time we checked. These gratuitous displays of public humility suggest a deeper narcissism than we feared.