Betty Castor gets Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post endorsements.

http://www.bettynet.com/site/PageServer?pagename=prs_MiamiPBEndorse

Herald's reasons for not endorsing Penelas or Deutsch:
SNIP..."All of the candidates express support for traditional Democratic issues and themes, but there are significant differences.

Mr. Penelas, 42, seeks to distinguish himself from the pack by calling for a withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq by a date certain. This position may have deep support among the Democratic rank and file, but is at odds with that of the party's presidential candidate, Sen. John Kerry. Nor does Mr. Penelas enjoy his party's favor, given his less than enthusiastic support for the ticket in 2000.
Popular at home, he will be challenged to win votes throughout the state.

Rep. Deutsch, 46, has well earned his reputation as an abrasive fighter in his six terms in the House. He harshly criticizes President Bush's policies on taxes, prescription drugs and most other issues. He would make reform of the healthcare system his top priority. Unfortunately, Mr. Deutsch's campaign to link Ms. Castor to an accused terrorist who was a tenured University of South Florida faculty member has only served to distract from the real issues in this campaign. By his own admission, there is no smoking gun here. Nor do we believe that support for Ms. Castor from the fundraising group known as Emily's List should be an issue, despite Mr. Deutsch's criticism....."

And the reasons from the Palm Beach Post:
SNIP...."For all of Rep. Deutsch's experience, he has spent more time attacking his opponents than discussing his record. He accused Mayor Penelas of costing Al Gore the 2000 election through indifference during the campaign and the chaotic recount in Miami-Dade, and he has stood by as a group of demagogues who have donated to his campaigns has defamed Ms. Castor by saying that she allowed USF to become "Jihad U." because a former professor was indicted as a Palestinian terrorist. In fact, during Ms. Castor's tenure, she got no information from the FBI that would have justified the firing of Sami Al-Arian. As late as 2001, Al-Arian was a guest at the White House.

Mayor Penelas led the petition drive in 2002 that resulted in a constitutional amendment guaranteeing preschool for all Florida 4-year-olds whose parents want it. He can appeal to the growing Hispanic electorate. But he angered Anglo residents during the Elian Gonzalez controversy by standing with other Cuban-American politicians from Miami-Dade and vowing not to assist the federal government.END SNIP

I felt sure the Emily's List thing would hurt Deutsch, and the 2000 lack of support of Gore would hurt Penelas.

I saw a post at Kos that she would be getting a MoveOn endorsement, but the press release is not out yet. Not sure about that.

I'm a bit surprised they didn't endorse the local candidate, Penelas. Waiting to see whether the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel endorses Rep. Deutch.

I expect to see Castor get the endorsement of most major newspapers in the Central and North Florida areas.

It made me furious.

The lawsuit reinforces the idea that Deutch is running a very negative campaign, which he is.