POLITICS

Dist. 3 County Council candidate Jim Hathaway, shown far left) has picked up endorsements from Volusia Building Industry Association and the Sierra Club while fellow candidate Deb Denys has won the endorsement of the New Smyrna Beach Board of Realtors. And candidate Justin Kennedy is content with endorsements from the Volusia Sheriff's Deputies Association, Volusia Teachers Organization, Edgewater Professional Firefighters Association and the Daytona Beach Fire/Rescue Association.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- They're not quite Olympic gold medals, but for the three candidates running for Volusia County Council dist. 3 seat in Tuesday's primary, endorsements are golden.

Headline Surfer photos by Henry Frederick / New Smyrna Beach City Commissioner Jim Hathaway holds up his political signs during the first day of early voting for the Aug. 14 primary.

SMYRNA BEACH -- Jim Hathaway was one cool dude with his shades under the hot sun for the start of early voting and his quest for the dist. 3 seat on the Volusia County Council against fellow candidates Deb Denys and Justin Kennedy.

Justin Kennedy backed by unions; Jim Hathaway supported by 13 past & present elected politicians

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Volusia Tax Reform founder Margie Patchett has thrown her support behind county council dist. 3 candidate Deb Denys over fellow challengers Justin Kennedy and Jim Hathaway.

Headline Surfer photo by Henry Frederick / Daytona Beach News-Journal Editor Pat Rice, as shown here in a July 24 debate in New Smyrna Beach, will moderate his newspaper's final primary season debate tonight in Flagler County.

DAYTONA BEACH -- The Daytona Beach News-Journal will hold the final of its four public candidate debates tonight in Palm Coast at Daytona State College's Flagler/Palm Coast campus, Alan Smolen Amphitheater, 3000 Palm Coast Parkway Southeast.

The newspaper's debate session begins at 5:30 p.m. with a public-candidate meet and greet, followed by a debate for Flagler County sheriff between incumbent Don Fleming and fellow Republicans John Pollinger and Ray Stevens and Democrats Karl Tozzi and Jim Manfre, former sheriff.

The series of media debates are a lead-in to early voting that begins Aug. 4-8, followed by the Aug. 14 primary. The News-Journal has promoted its "partnerships" with Daytona State College in three of the debates and Stetson University in DeLand for the fourth, featuring the candidates for Volusia county chair.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- County Judge Bryan Feigenbaum came prepared to talk about his experience on the bench and why he hopes the voters in the 2012 elections will allow him to continue serving.

DAYTONA BEACH -- More than 550 Republican Party enthusiasts attended Friday night's Lincoln Day Gala Dinner to show their support for the Volusia County GOP's big fundraiser and the insightful wit of the featured speaker, conservative talk show host Neal Boortz. 

DAYTONA BEACH -- In the race for seat 2 on the Volusia County Council, former Ponce Inlet Mayor Nancy Epps' fundraising shows she's the David to incumbent Josh Wagner's Goliath. In a field of three, she only has to score one of the top two spots in the primary to force a November showdown.

That is, unless any of three wins the primary outright with 50 percent plus one. And with an incumbent, that's asking for a lot, including for the current office holder.

Epps likes her chances to force a November showdown just like she did four years ago.