• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, March 3, 2023

If a new bill submitted to Florida's legislature this week becomes law, "Red, White & Blog" could end up in big trouble. That's because Florida Senate Bill 1316 would require bloggers who write about Governor Ron DeSantis and his administration to register with the state within five days of posting something that mentions state officials.

And while I can't imagine that Florida's legislature will actually vote that bill into law, or that it wouldn't ultimately be challenged as un-Constitutional (you know, the First Amendment), the mere fact that it was introduced says a lot about the DeSantis team as it begins prepping for a presumed presidential campaign bid.

The bill does not explicitly state that a blogger needs to even be publishing in the state of Florida, although I know at least some of our subscribers receive emails while there. It just defines a blogger as anyone being paid to write blogs based on political reporting -- other than for the website of a newspaper or similar publication -- to be subject to the proposed law.

For the record, "Red, White & Blog" does not plan to register with the state of Florida, and I think there are good odds we may mention at least one of the state's officials in our political coverage soon.

In fact... Ron DeSantis, Ron DeSantis, Ron DeSantis.

Three times, because, well, you know (see below).