It was like a clarion call coming out of the Florida Supreme Court in 1982, “All Senators Run.” The all powerful Senate Dean Dempsey Barron had crafted his reapportionment strategy to hang on to control of the Senate with only the even number Senators having to run for re-election. By most accounts counting the votes, that would ensure that enough Barron supporters would tip the balance against the fragile majority controlled by Barron’s opponent, Senator Mattox Hair (D., Jacksonville). I was in my legislative office in Miami when I heard the decision “heard around the world.” I was not running for re-election, but was still in the middle of the fight for control of the Senate and really the state of Florida. It was a major victory, but would be short lived, because Barron re-fashioned his coalition of conservative Democrats and Republicans under the leadership of his anointed President, Senator Curtis Peterson (D., Eaton Park) in 1983.
