CONTRIBUTOR
REGIONAL PERSPECTIVES / NATIONAL IMPACT
Matt Mitchell
Member For
31 weeks 4 days
BIOGRAPHY
Matt Mitchell was born on 20 May 1988 in Sarasota, Florida. A first-generation Floridian, his parents sent him through Catholic school in Venice, where he would be picked up each day just in time to catch the last few minutes of Rush Limbaugh on the radio five days a week. He would become the first of four current or soon-to-be Republican super voters raised by his parents, who are eagerly anticipating thank you checks from the RNC for their handiwork. Matt was a scholar-athlete in high school, doubling as a cross country and track runner, and was accepted at the University of Florida in 2006. He graduated in August 2009 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science.
While at UF, Matt was a member of the College Republicans at the University of Florida, and helped found a conservative student news magazine called The Florida Frontier. After serving as Managing Editor for a year, Matt spent most of 2008 back in Sarasota serving as a full-time staffer for Congressman Vern Buchanan’s re-election campaign, helping the freshman Republican turn a 369 vote win in 2006 into a 55,000 vote rout in ’08. While campaigning, Matt befriended Sarasota RedCounty editor Rich Swier, who recommended giving RC a shot as a Diarist, and is now heading up RedCounty’s Alachua County edition.
Matt is currently single and lives in Gainesville, Florida.
COMMENTARIES
Tuesday news and notes
By Matt Mitchell | 04/21/09
President Obama's had a rough start to this week as he rounds out his first 100 days in office. While this probably was to be expected, his challenge to Cabinet departments to cut $100 million from their operating budgets was shot up to hell from critics on the right and viewed with bemusement from supporters and independents...to be charitable. It seems almost like an elementary mistake from his press operators, to be presenting cuts in the... read more »
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Election Pulse: Florida 4/20/09
By Matt Mitchell | 04/20/09
Don't forget to visit my blog at www.CiceroWriting.com and follow me on Twitter (www.twitter.com/CiceroWriting). It's Monday, meaning time for another edition of Election Pulse: Florida! Today's topic is the open Florida Senate race. With Mel Martinez's announcement that he would not seek re-election in 2010, all eyes looked to this race as one to watch in the general election. However, the attention has seemed to shift from November to... read more »
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The Internet is serious business.
By Matt Mitchell | 04/19/09
The WashPost's Dana Milbank gives us a whimsical, light-hearted look into the angry, virulent, hate-filled ball of incoherent psychobabble that is the comment section of online newspaper articles. Regardless of what you take out of Milbank's attitude, the content certainly reveals the dehumanizing effect Internet media can have on people. Things that people wouldn't say to our politically opposing friends and neighbors can be lobbed out across... read more »
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Greer v. Kosmas?
By Matt Mitchell | 04/18/09
Believe it, folks. Republican Party of Florida Chairman Jim Greer, a one-time Oviedo City Council member before his current job, has been encouraged by Florida GOP fundraisers and insiders to run for Florida's 24th Congressional District seat, currently held by freshman Democrat Suzanne Kosmas who defeated embattled Republican Tom Feeney, another Oviedo native. The Republican leaning district is certainly winnable for the right candidate,... read more »
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Breaking free...
By Matt Mitchell | 04/17/09
...of context and syntax! For neither seem to be helping Texas Democrats understand that Texas can secede from the Union, but neither would, nor should. First, Rasmussen says that 75% of Texans would oppose secession out of hand according to their newest polling. And even if they did secede, the historically weak government in Austin would be crippled by the resulting loss in federal revenue, amounting to over 20% of the state's operating... read more »
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PSU Psych Services applying for DHS grant money?
By Matt Mitchell | 04/16/09
Might be old news to some, but Penn State University seems to take a bit of a paternalistic attitude towards returning war vets. This training video was produced for PSU's Counseling and Psychological Services office to depict a "real world" example of students displaying worrisome behavior in class. Specifically, the troubled student is a veteran from an undisclosed war, but context suggests Iraq. He is disputing a term paper grade... read more »
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The kids (and their grandparents) are alright!
By Matt Mitchell | 04/16/09
The numbers are in on the Tea Parties. 2,000 right wing extremists demonstrated in Sarasota and Tallahassee. 3,200 in the uber-liberal Eugene, Oregon. 3,000 in Miami. 5,000+ in Chicago and Sacramento. Looks like Homeland Security Director Napolitano has a whole lot of phones to wiretap now. Either that or all those returning Iraq war veterans have a whole lot of neighbors looking to turn them into the next Timothy McVeigh. Sarcasm aside,... read more »
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Tea Time!
By Matt Mitchell | 04/15/09
Happy Wednesday morning to all. It's Tea Party day, but unfortunately the blue heart of Old Florida is lacking in the demonstration department. With that I have to give a shout out to Francisco Gonzalez in Tallahassee with the James Madison Institute for giving our friends at FSU the special guidance they need to congregate in groups of more than three people for more than five minutes and setting up a great rally at the Old Capitol Building.... read more »
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Homeland Insecurity?
By Matt Mitchell | 04/14/09
It's enough to make a man see the positives in being a libertarian...kind of. I was watching House last night when Ocala's FOX affiliate was promoting their 10 o'clock newscast and made their lead story, a Department of Homeland Security agent using DHS resources to stalk and threaten his girlfriend. This was after hearing of TSA officials harassing a Ron Paul staffer at an airport for carrying a large amount of cash from a convention in St.... read more »
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Election Pulse: Florida 4/13/09
By Matt Mitchell | 04/14/09
As originally posted at CiceroWriting, my personal blog. Welcome! This will be a little weekly-ish feature of the blog showcasing the top Election 2010 story for the Sunshine State. Check it out: This week: The other big race. The Sarasota Herald-Tribune, my local daily paper, gives a great outline of the Florida Governor's race. It's considered a foregone conclusion that Charlie Crist is going to be running for and barring a gay sex... read more »
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