Hopeful Penelas fights on

[Scurrilous]

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/8910036.htm?1c

<snip>

Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas is defending his Democratic bona fides as he runs the first partisan race of his career.

"When Florida's Democratic leaders declare their support for presidential candidate John Kerry at the national convention in July, Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas will be watching from the sidelines.

That's because the mayor didn't muster enough votes from activists around the state to serve as a delegate. The top Democrat in Florida's largest county got only enough support to go as an alternate who can't vote on the main floor."

<snip>

"What kind of Democrat is Alex Penelas, anyway?

He's a lifelong Democrat, yet his political base is the heavily Republican Cuban-American community. He's a leading party rainmaker, yet he has raised money for Miami Republicans such as U.S. Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart. He's an eloquent spokesman for the party platform but defied a Democratic administration during the standoff over Elián González and disappeared during the closest presidential election in U.S. history."

<snip>

"Though he has been in politics for 17 years, Penelas has never run as a Democrat. All of the offices he has sought and won -- for Hialeah City Council, Miami-Dade County Commission and Miami-Dade mayor -- are nonpartisan."