Conservative responses planned for the State of the Union will have a new flavor this year. Take this run-up event, where Florida U.S. Rep. Jeff Miller will host tea parties in his D.C. and Pensacola offices Wednesday.
“Constituents and friends are invited to come by for a cup of tea and to bring your questions and comments.”
Miller represents the state’s First District, the “emerald” panhandle coast, which draws local tourists and is a military hub. This is how Miller describes his district at his website:
This has been military country ever since John Quincy Adams persuaded Spain to sell Florida to the U.S. in 1819 to get the port of Pensacola. It was the site of the nation’s first naval aviation training base and the birthplace of carrier aviation. The Air Force also has a massive presence in Eglin Air Force Base, which spreads over the lion’s share of three counties.
Culturally part of Dixie, this area was economically dependent in the 1940s and 1950s on the military bases for growth. Even today almost 14,000 people are employed at Eglin Air Force Base, which spreads over three counties and, with approximately 100,000 square miles of airspace stretching over the Gulf of Mexico to the Florida Keys, is considered the largest air base in the free world. Eglin developed the BLU-82 “daisy cutter” and the “bunker buster” JBU-28 bomb that would later be used in Afghanistan. In March 2003, this was the test site for the largest conventional bomb in the U.S. arsenal, the 21,000 pound ordinance referred to as the “Mother of All Bombs.”
What does U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn have planned for his Colorado Springs district? Nothing yet at his website.
Hat tip to Weigel.
Comments are closed.