Jamal Simmons is a Democratic strategist and a familiar face on CNN's political coverage. Simmons has a Florida connection  having served as press secretary to Senator Bob Graham.  The Obama campaign alerted me that he was coming to the Bay Area, so on Thursday  I booked him for Flashpoint and then called the McCain campaign to see if they could provide a counterpoint for Simmons.   No callback. No joy. No Republican guest.  That has been a pattern this election season. The Obama campaign aggressively seeks out coverage and offers up key players for interviews. The McCain campaign... not so much.

Happily Creative Loafing's local smarty, Wayne Garcia proved to be an able complement to the nationally known Simmons for our Flashpoint discussion of the Presidential race in Florida.  Tune in Sunday and you'll get keen insight into how critical the Bay Area will be in determining the next President and by extension, the future of the world.  Great.

You'll also get in depth profiles of Republican, Gus Bilirakis and his Democratic challenger in the 9th Congressional district, Bill Mitchell.  That's Flashpoint this Sunday Morning at 11:00.