by Javier Manjarres

The Miami-Dade county Mayoral race is in its stretch run, and now it appears that underdog County Commissioner Carlos Gimenez is in position to take down the hands down favorite in the race, Hialeah Mayor Julio Robaina. In a recent Miami Herald poll, Gimenez leads Robaina 50-39 amongst ‘likely’ voters in the race- not good news for Robaina whose campaign that has been plagued with bad news during past several months.

Robaina has been showered with endorsements from the who’s who of Miami politics, including former Governor Jeb  Bush. One endorsement that Robiana did not get was that of U.S. Senator Marco Rubio. A source close to the Shark Tank has divulged that Rubio and others have been warned to not get involved in the race due to Robaina’s alleged criminal ties, and it appears that Senator Rubio and his people have heeded to the warning.

Robaina has been accused of failing to pay taxes on a property he owns as well as having close ties to the illegal gaming business that is currently under investigation in Miami-Dade. An interesting side-note to the race is the amount of cashola that is being spent on this race, most of it benefiting Julio Robaina. Read more about the gross expenditures and soft money being flung around in the race – Political Cortadito.

In years past, Miamians have typically turned their cheek to the shady dealings of politicos that run for office, a sort of  ‘que va, a quien le importa eso?”  Meaning- who cares about all of that, vote the guy in- he is a nice guy. Well it seems as if these same ‘not-so-caring’ voters, are now paying attention and not giving passes out to politicians, in light of the recent rash of embarrassing and criminal behavior their politicians have showed- the same politicians they voted into office without properly vetting them.

With only a week to go in the Mayoral race, things are shaping up for Gimenez- but as the saying goes- anything can happen in politics, and it’s never over until they count the votes.