Rod Temple

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'''Rodney Joseph Temple is the 44th and current Governor of the state of Florida. Born on January 26, 1967 in Tampa, Rod was the eldest of eight children born to Joseph, a small business owner, and Connie, a schoolteacher. Rod began his political career in 1992 after a successful run for the Florida State House of Representatives. He served in the House of Representatives for eight years and was elected to the State Senate in 2000. He served only one term in the Florida Senate before being elected Congressman of the state's 13th Congressional District in 2004. In the spring of 2006, he was a late entry in the race for the Gubernatiorial race for governor after many candidates dropped earlier on. Despite his late entry, he quickly won over the state with his intense campaigning. In November of that same year, he defeated Democratic challenger Soon Toh with 55.2% of the vote. He was sworn in January,2 2007. Since taking office, Governor Temple managed to take small steps to revamp the death penalty in Florida by ending the electric chair method of execution and be replaced by the firing squad by executive order. Other than pushing various legislations designed to give health care to all of Florida's citizens, Governor Temple introduced a controversial legislation regarding chemical castration for sex offenders. Although it didn't pass, Temple was optimistic that something of a more humane alternative to make Florida a safer place would be possible.