May 9, 1912Pensacola, Florida And so, the race begins again. Three weeks of nonstop activity. Live speeches in fourteen counties. It will be the most compressed, pressured project ever undertaken, and I cannot let on how damned tired I am, nor how my stomach turns over in knots whenever I […]
October 3, 2022Chevy Chase, Maryland Second primaries, also known as runoff primary elections, were conducted in Florida until 2005, when Governor Jeb Bush signed a bill eliminating the second primary. The reasons for discontinuing them came down to timing and cost of conducting a third contest in an election year. […]
September 1, 2022Chevy Chase, Maryland Here’s an interesting article about Emmett Wilson’s final speech to the public as he was winding up the Congressional campaign. I’ve transcribed the text from the newspaper, and have included annotations/notes here and there for additional information, in brackets. I liked how the writer (unnamed) […]
August 9, 2022Chevy Chase, Maryland At this time in Florida politics, it was customary to hold two primaries for the top two Democratic contestants, even if the races weren’t all that close, which would be decided in late June of the election year. The winner would face the Republican nominee […]
July 7, 2022Chevy Chase, Maryland Emmett had a hard campaign ahead of him, and to be honest, I don’t think he was as prepared (mentally, psychologically) as he thought. It wasn’t for a lack of trying, or a lack of loyal, hardworking and experienced campaign staff. Emmett was a virtual […]
June 2, 2022Chevy Chase, Maryland Here’s the thing that has puzzled me ever since I started research on Emmett Wilson’s life story: What was the main reason Frank Mayes (and The Pensacola Journal) endorsed Emmett for U.S. Congress? Frank was no dummy; he was a prescient newsman who kept close […]
May 31, 2022Chevy Chase, Maryland Every year, on the anniversary of Emmett Wilson’s death, I like to go back to the old notes, check in on research sources and database updates, in case there’s fresh information I didn’t have at the start of Emmett’s story. And every year, I’m always […]
May 13, 2022Chevy Chase, Maryland On February 4, 1912, Emmett announced to the public his official candidacy in several West Florida newspapers, but his actual platform was not published until March 17, 1912. It’s a big piece, and was expensive to run in several of the state’s newspapers, therefore, Emmett […]
May 3, 2022Chevy Chase, Maryland Between January 7 and 11, 1912, Emmett said he was unsure about throwing his hat into the contest for U.S. Congressman from the third district; at least, that was the official story he told reporters for the Pensacola Evening News in the January 11, 1912 […]
April 17, 2022Chevy Chase, Maryland Now, this was interesting. Just one day after Judge Charles B. Parkhill announced in the same newspaper that he was running for U.S. Congress, he changed his mind? According to the information in The Pensacola Journal, Parkhill issued a written statement to the same paper, […]
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