billso.com

Sports: The Tampa Tribune discusses Tino Martinez’ great season with the Rays. Twenty homers and .270 already. I hope they can bring him back next season, but the losing is weighing on Tino.

USA: Florida got spanked by Charley. This was a big one, a freaking nightmare of a hurricane that many residents were ill-prepared to handle. It got stronger and veered inland before it could hit Tampa, and a lot of people who thought they would be safe ended up in harm’s way.

These people need help yesterday, and I hope things get better for everyone there, including my family and friends, very soon.

Charley’s path was also rough: Fort Myers to Orlando to Daytona Beach. It could have been worse, but not by much. Andrew really concentrated his wrath on Dade County and Miami in 1992, by comparison.

A cynic might say that W is piling on the favors and attention to Florida, given what happened in 1992 (Hurricane Andrew) and 2000 (Hurricane Chad :). Whoever wins Florida will win the presidential election.

Of course, this article points out that Charley’s path also covers a lot of GOP territory. Kerry was leading W by 7 points in Florida last week.

It’s hard to ignore the political damage, but the storm’s damage has been a lot worse. I’m hoping that Florida gets a pass on hurricanes for the rest of the year: Charley was enough.