* “Of the roughly 350,000 people licensed to be self-employed under the new (Cuban) laws by end of 2011, 67 percent had no prior job affiliation listed–which most likely means they were running underground businesses that then became legitimate.”–Damien Cave, New York Times.
* “Among younger Cuban-American voters, the split between Mr. Obama and Mr. Romney wasn’t even close–Mr. Obama won handily. Clearly, the demographic handwriting is on the wall, not only for the brand of hard-line conservative thinking that has often kept a stranglehold on local pols, but also for the 50-year-old United States economic embargo against Cuba, enduring only out of the perceived presidential kingmaker role held by Miami’s Cubans.”–Brett Sokol, arts editor for Ocean Drive magazine.
* “The worst error politicians can make is to spin themselves. It’s time for the GOP to face the hard truth, no matter how painful. The Republican brand is dying, many of our strategists are incompetent, and we still design campaigns to prevail in the America of 25 years ago.”–Mike Murphy, Time magazine.
* “Polls show that large majorities of Americans are inclined to blame Republicans if the country goes off the ‘fiscal cliff.’ The business community, which needs a deal to boost confidence, will turn against them. The national security types and the defense contractors, who hate the prospects of sequestration, will turn against them. Moreover, a budget stalemate on these terms will confirm every bad Republican stereotype.”–David Brooks, New York Times.
* “If this benefit goes away, who’s going to pick up the slack?”–Rev. Larry Snyder, president of Catholic Charities USA, referring to special tax deductions that encourage Americans to make charitable contributions.
* “SoPo.”–Post-Superstorm Sandy reference to “South of Power” coined by residents of Lower Manhattan.
* “If you laugh, think and cry, that’s a full day.”–The late Jim Valvano.
* “Abraham Lincoln only served one term in Congress, too.”–Defeated U.S. Rep. Allen West.
* “The question is how do we take what is the Obama coalition and translate that to a Democratic coalition that outlasts Obama.”–Outgoing Florida Democratic Party Chairman Rod Smith.
* “We had a really good election. Sixty-two of 67 counties performed very well. But it doesn’t take but one county to not quite meet the standards for Florida to get a reputation.”–Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner.
* “Absentee ballots are processed and verified using different standards than regular ballots, and as such are routinely rejected at a higher rate.”–University of Florida political scientist Daniel Smith.
* “We are not going forward with a (casino) petition drive effort and there have not been any petitions gathered.”–Brian Ballard, lobbyist for Malaysia-based Genting Group.
* “What I would tell my friends on the other side of the aisle is when it comes to Charlie Crist, be careful what you ask for–you may get it.”–Republican state Sen. Tom Lee.
* “It’s not a marathon. It’s a sprint.”–New USF football coach Willie Taggart on expectations of early success.