Rep. Michael Grimm to plead guilty to felony count of tax evasion, sources say

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23. Tampa and St Pete. (& Clearwater, etc) are one television market. When there is a Special Election

anywhere in the area, we all get blanketed with the ad buys. It was very clear where Sink and Jolly stood. The national media may have minimized the differences, but the differences were never in doubt. We all knew that Sink was going to stand with the President and that Jolly was going to be in opposition.

My observation on the campaign was that in our Tampa Bay region, what probably hurt Sink far more than the ACA (which she never voted for and which everyone knows isn't going to be repealed) was the unpopularity of the Congressional Democratic leadership - even though Reid doesn't have influence over the House of Representatives. Tying Alex to Nancy Pelosi and knowing that she would cast a vote to make her Speaker was more damaging than knowing she would vote for legislation favored by President Obama. I don't recall seeing an ad where it wasn't stressed that Sink would be supporting the Obama, Reid, Pelosi team, not just the Obama Administration. That was just too much to overcome in the absence of Jolly self-destructing with some campaign-imploding mistakes - and he really didn't make any, running a technically smooth campaign.