THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

ELECTION UPDATE .....

Welcome to our seventh of nine weekly reports analyzing the contested judicial elections in Miami-Dade County. In Week One, we focused on the only contested County Court race of Lindsay v. Lesperance. Since then, we have provided you with the Circuit Court races of Cueto v. Velis; Migna v. Manny, Colodny v. Kopco v. Millan, Garcia v. Glick and Corona v. Cynamon.

As we reported on May 2, 2008 on this blog, there are nine contested races here in Miami-Dade County; eight in the Circuit Court and one in the County Court.

Our final three reports cover three Circuit Court races where an incumbent has a challenger: this week we cover the Chumbley race, next week Geri Cohen, and the final week we cover the Bernard Shapiro race.

Today, we cover Group 51, a seat currently held by Judge Douglas Chumbley.

MARCIA CABALLERO .....

Marcia has been a member of The Florida Bar for 19 years. She was a school teacher for three years before becoming an attorney. She filed to run in October of 2007 and has raised more than $21,000 from 108 contributors. Marcia has throw in another $50,000 of her own money.

Ms. Caballero graduated from Thurgood Marshall Law School at Texas Southern. Her practice primarily handles criminal defense and PI cases, but she also takes on family law, probate and real estate matters. She also donates her time as a Guardian ad Litem.

You can read all about Ms. Caballero on her website at caballeroforjudge.net.

DOUGLAS CHUMBLEY (i) ....

Judge Douglas Chumbley earned his present job when Governor Bush appointed him to the Circuit Court bench in June of 2006 to replace retiring Judge Fredricka Smith. He has spent the past two years sitting in the Juvenile Division. Prior to becoming a judge, Chumbley was in private practice for 24 years with three different firms; spending the last nine years with Carlton Fields.

Chumbley has been a member of The Florida Bar for 26 years and he graduated from Washington & Lee Law School.

As a siting Judge, Chumbley has been extremely successful in the fundraising department bringing in $68,651 from 332 contributors. He has also kicked in $100,000 of his own money to the campaign.

You can check out keepjudgechumbley.com for all the latest news on Judge Chumbley's campaign.

Please do your homework on the two candidates. Help out our readers by giving us your comments, pro and con, on each of the candidates.

The election takes place on Tuesday, August 26, 2008.

CAPTAIN OUT .........