Man being mentioned as possible VP candidate should be President

Super Tuesday and the Florida primary are well behind us and Trump has a commanding lead. Should the once unthinkable happen and he receives the GOP nomination, many policy wonks say an ideal running mate would be Ohio’s John Kasich. Which reminds us of an old story where one brother went hiking in a rugged forest and the other became Vice President and neither were ever heard from again. There’s another more factual story about the last Vice-Presidential candidate to be on a losing ticket and later become President. It was almost 100 years ago (FDR – 1920). And a third tale about the St. Louis Cards being most everybody’s second favorite team – because they do things right - much the same with John Kasich. For our nation’s sake, we would hope he would swallow hard and take second place on the ticket, if offered, even though he is more qualified than any other person who will get the top spot on either ticket. For his sake, we hope he remains the Governor of Ohio.

Around Tampa Bay

1. Let’s try to understand this. Hillsborough County is talking about lessening the penalty for pot possession for kids as well as adults? Should not it be the other way around? Kids are kids but adults should know better and more frequently operate cars and machinery. If anybody should be more strictly accountable, it’s adults – not kids.

2. A few weeks ago, your Humble Blogger was a guest at a beautiful home on the Withlacoochee River until recently owned by astronaut Bruce Melnick. Melnick is the only graduate of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy to fly in space. But he is one of two graduates of Clearwater High School (1967) to do so along with Nicole Stott (1980). Not bad for our little schoolhouse on Hercules Avenue!

3. Two things that dominated the Pinellas (and Tampa Bay) landscape for years that have become endangered species – bowling alleys and golf courses.

4. After a little over a year in operation, the Capitol Theater seems to be a success. Only one thing mysteriously missing – a tasteful marquee to highlight upcoming attractions.

5. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you attended that “new” elementary school established in fast growing east Clearwater in 1952 – Skycrest Elementary.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. As we close in on April 15 (actually April 18^th or 19^th this year – it’s complicated), a thought from renowned humorist Will Rogers, “Income tax has made more liars out of Americans than golf”.

7. This week (April 16 to be exact), we celebrate Record Store Day – a bow to the resurgence of vinyl in the music industry. While there are several record stores in the bay area, it’s hard to top St. Pete’s Bananas – ranked one of the top ten such stores in the country. There are two locations, but we prefer the original at 2226 16^th Avenue North – a little hard to find, but when you do, a record collector will think they died and went to heaven.

8. More vinyl - a few weeks ago, we listed five acts from the rock era who hit Number One with their very first chart entry. Here are another five – Ruby and the Romantics, the Essex, Bread, Tommy James and the Shondells and Simon and Garfunkel. The songs were Our Day Will Come, Easier Said than Done, Make It with You, Hanky Panky and Sounds of Silence. Both Tommy James and Simon and Garfunkel would hit Number One again – Simon and Garfunkel twice and all the others would enjoy additional hits on the Top 40 chart.

9. Related to above, perhaps an asterisk has to be added to Simon and Garfunkel as the boys, recording as Tom and Jerry, did have a record (Hey Schoolgirl - 1957) chart nine years before they starting using their real names and hitting the charts 17 times in the sixties and seventies.

10. As the NHL playoffs get started, this is only the second time in history (1970) that no Canadian team is in the post season. In 1970, however, there were only two Canadian teams as opposed to seven today.

Paul Boller’s companion for the election season

Paul Boller’s Presidential Campaigns takes you from George Washington, which was more like a coronation, through the emergence of Ronald Reagan in 1980. As nasty as 2016 has been, Boller’s book reveals there have been worse. There are tons of “inside baseball” in the 400 pages of the book and virtually all of it extremely interesting. You only wish there was some sort of addendum to the book covering the Bush-Clinton contest and the controversial Bush-Gore election. But he had to stop somewhere to be able to write the book – and a good one it is, a perfect companion for this time of year.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK – ADVICE FOR A FAILED PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE