Luke gets cold feet? Or switches?

Carlos Gimenez was left standing at the altar Wednesday, so to speak.

The former county commissioner and mayoral candidate was ready to announce a surprise "major endorsement" everyone knew was going to be from Luther Campbell, one of the nine candidates that did not make the run-off, at an inner city park Wednesday morning that was cancelled at the last minute. The official spokespeople said they did not know say what happened, but a Gimenez campaign staffer told Ladra late Wednesday that Uncle Luke "got cold feet."

Thursday morning, however, the campaign for Julio Robaina, the former Hialeah mayor also running for county mayor, said they had a surprise announcement to make this afternoon at a different inner city park and, while it did not mention an endorsement, everyone is speculating that Campbell got a better offer.

Ladra won't believe it til she sees it. Campbell, who had apparently been poised to back Gimenez but told the Miami Herald he was still on the fence (was he leading Gimenez on intentionally? we don't believe they would have called a press conference if they didn't believe the endorsement was solid in hand), has publicly lashed out at Robaina, saying at several public debates that Robaina had put Roosevelt Bradley, the former transit director, on the ballot to dilute the black vote. He even said Robaina may have financed the campaign of another longshot candidate, Wilbur Bell. Why would he now become a supporter?

Nah. Luke is a defender of transparency, as he advocated throughout his campaign, and Ladra thinks he still has and should have political aspirations that a switch like this could kill.

We will know in about half an hour, but Ladra predicts the endorsement will come from Roosevelt Bradley, who got almost 7,300 votes even though he was fired for alleged fiscal mismanagement that might be something about some "buried bones."

He is much more compatible with Robaina than Luke.