The Miami Herald from Miami, Florida • 2

2A SUNDAY DECEMBER 17 2006 FROM THE FRONT PAGE MiamiHerald com i THE MIAMI HERALD THE PALESTINIANS Abbas calls for new elections mentary elections although it does give him the right to fire the prime minister Advisors to Abbas argue that because the law does not explicitly prohibit him from ordering an early vote he has the right to do so A BLOODY WEEK 90-minute speech marked by anger and sarcasm came after a particularly brutal few days of factional fighting in the territories At the start of the week gunmen killed the three young sons of a Fatah-affili-ated intelligence officer and a Hamas military commander was assassinated two days later Then Thursday evening gunmen fired on a convoy carrying Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh in what Hamas called an assassination attempt there risks? Yes there are Saeb Erekat a Fatah lawmaker and close Abbas advisor said of early elections the risks presented by these ugly incitements we have been seeing are much In his often tart speech Abbas outlined what amounted to an indictment of the Hamas leadership He said the Hamas military wing the Izzedine al Qassam Brigades doomed economic prospects following the Israeli withdrawal last year by firing rockets into southern Israel He said the June 25 capture of an Israeli soldier in a cross-border raid an event Hamas has celebrated as a victory has resulted only in the deaths of hundreds of Palestinians in subsequent Israeli military operations will not allow a civil Abbas said to applause are committed until the end to the democratic ELECTIONS FROM 1A to go to early elections he can resign and enter an early presidential said Fawzi Barhoum a Hamas spokesman in the Gaza Strip for us we were elected by the Palestinians and we are not willing to go through with this experiment The call is Just hours after the announcement dozens of unidentified gunmen attacked a Gaza City training base of presidential guard the Associated Press reported A fierce 20-minute battle ensued and the sound of fire from guns and grenades mingled with the call for prayer this morning The gunmen fled after reinforcements were sent to the base from other presidential guard camps One person was killed and another was wounded medical officials said A BOLD STROKE Abbas is a cautious politician by nature and his announcement came at a time of increasing pressure from within his Fatah movement to resolve the nearly yearlong political standoff with Hamas whose victory in January parliamentary elections ended his long monopoly on power It was unclear however whether he will follow through with his decision which would lead to general elections around the middle of next year that his deeply divided Fatah party is by no means assured of winning A Fatah loss of the presidency and parliament would leave the government entirely in the hands of Hamas a radical Islamic movement considered a terrorist organization by the United States the European Union and Israel Abbas did not set a date for HATEM MOUSSAAP RALLY: Hamas backers in Gaza City carry signs picturing Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh the vote He finished his speech by emphasizing that a national unity government remains his to reduce alarming partisan tensions and end the economic sanctions that have crippled the Palestinian Authority since Hamas took power But advisors said he would sign a decree ordering a new vote after meeting in coming days with the Central Elections Commission The earliest the vote could be held would be next summer his aides said adding that they were not sure whether Abbas would seek reelection not just a matter of transformed state FLORIDA POLITICS BEFORE AND AFTER JEB BEFORE: When Jeb Bush was elected on Nov 3 1998 the Republican Party completed its takeover of the Florida Legislature The GOP had gained control of the Senate four years earlier for the first time in 120 years The partisan divide was 25-15 in the Senate and 75-45 in the House The six-member Florida Cabinet was evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans AFTER Bush will be succeeded by another Republican Charlie Crist on Jan 2 wo of the three other members of the Florida Cabinet are Republicans The GOP also dominates both legislative chambers 26-14 in the Senate and 79-41 in the House calling elections you also have to win said Mustafa Barghouti a lawmaker from the Independent Palestine party who has been serving as a mediator between Hamas and Fatah they were to hold elections tomorrow fairly certain the results would not be much In the Syrian capital of Damascus political leader in exile Khaled Mashal was joined by Farouk Kaddoumi the Fatah general secretary in denouncing decision as illegal Palestinian law is unclear on whether the president is allowed to call early parlia who as a state legislator clashed with Bush over affirmative action and the class-size amendment think the governor is more feared than called him King said state Sen Frederica Wilson also a Miami Democrat was like the Legislature was under Bush rarely sat out a debate and picked plenty of fights He led the crusade to repeal a constitutional amendment calling for a highspeed bullet train and helped thwart a referendum to expand slot machine gambling in Miami-Dade He unsuccessfully tried to foil the 2002 constitutional amendment reducing class sizes and attempted to intervene in a right-to-die battle over the brain-damaged Terri Schiavo took on big difficult issues that in many cases were unpopular and Sayfie said give the governor a lot of credit in daring to engage in issues that most elected officials would keep very far away Bush also gets kudos for unifying increasingly diverse electorate The governor speaks fluent Spanish and his wife Columba is Mexican-American He is as comfortable rallying abuelitos in a Hialeah senior center as he is mingling with executives on a trade mission to Latin America did more to consolidate the success of the Fpub-lican Party and Republican NEWS ANALYSIS Jeb Bush BUSH FROM 1A Ask his critics and well like to take the punctuation mark after his name and put it at the end of a long list of expletives They describe a man who wielded political power like a cudgel clamping down on Democrats strong-arming Republicans and seeking vengeance against anyone who dared cross him But whether his name is spoken with reverence or in a fit of anger clear that Bush has transformed Florida politics and left an enduring legacy The governor is leaving office with the highest poll ratings of his tenure in stark contrast to the dwindling popularity of his brother President Bush is akin to war history where you have these larger-than-life characters who dominate a chunk of history in the world usually through said Al Cardenas who served as chairman of the Republican Party of Florida during the first term a result of his leadership we in essence accomplished a Not since Reconstruction had a Republican Florida governor won a second term and a two-term Republican governor has never been followed by another Gov-elect Charlie Crist withstood the nationwide anti-GOP backlash last month partly because Bush had laid such a strong foundation Under leadership the GOP increased its dominance of the Legislature and Cabinet every two years until November when the party lost a handful of seats Bush his brother or father have appeared on every general election ballot in Florida except one since 1980 "He and his family have created a vigorous infrastructure of fundraising and grass-roots activism that will endure for Republican candidates for many said Justin Syfie former speechwliter and communi politics candidates across the state of Florida than any political figure said Republican state Rep David Rivera of Miami Bush far and away eclipses anyone else and partly because of his ability to attract In the last election Crist did not do as well as Bush among Hispanics but he did better among African Americans The governor-elect has proven himself to be a savvy politician a natural campaigner and prodigious fundraiser But not a Bush WILL BE was a two-term governor whose dad was president and brother is president this all-consuming type figure who enjoyed financial dominance while campaigning and instilled fear while said Screven Watson a former executive director of the Florida Democratic Party will be a void a vacuum The Republicans will have to figure out how to live in the post-Jeb Or not Bush has said repeatedly that not running for president but keeps getting asked As his longtime advisors and fundraisers sign up with 2008 contenders the political grapevine buzzes Returning to Miami in January he is likely to field lucrative offers from corporate boards and keep his hand in public policy through his educational think tank the Foundation for Future The nonprofit has nearly $2 million socked away When and if Bush does decide to seek public office again he can depend on legions of former staffers donors and activists across Florida and in Washington a standing Bush army of the best ways to measure political impact is how long it will said Cardenas the former party chairman Jeb foundation and his passion for public policy not going to ride into the Miami Herald staff writer Gary Fineut contributed to this report cations director approval ratings averaged 58 percent over his eight years in office and recently peaked at 64 percent according to figures provided by Mason-Dixon pollster Brad Coker His secret: overwhelming regard among members of his own party and even some Democrats despite hostility toward some of his policies the most divisive governor had since these polls started being in the 1970s said Robert Crew an American politics professor at Florida State University carved out certain conservative theories and stuck to them and that appeals to a more narrow segment of the predecessors Democrat Lawton Chiles and Republican Bob Martinez both grappled with legislative chambers dominated by the opposing party Chiles also faced Hurricane destruction and a sullen economy while an unpopular tax on professional and consumer services sank Martinez In contrast Bush enjoyed a prosperous economy and a pliant Legislature that ratified his agenda and expanded his powers Approval of his job performance dipped to its lowest point still a respectable 52 percent following his controversial executive order to ban racial preferences in college admissions and state contracts him it was either my way or the said US Rep Kendrick Meek.