Debbie Mucarsel-Powell had four endorsements to announce last week in her challenge to the popular and veteran Sen. Anitere Flores.

Problem is, she didn’t really. She only had two. Or, at best, three.

A social media graphic was posted Thursday boasting the endorsements of Miami-Dade Commissioner Daniella Levine Cava, who got a lot of love from the Democratic Party in her non-partisan 2014 race and is paying it back; Monroe County Commissioner Heather Carruthers, Florida City Mayor Otis Wallace and Goulds activist J.L. Demps.

But Demps said he didn’t endorse her. In fact, he endorsed Flores.

“I met her and I did have a conversation with her,” Demps told Ladra about Mucarsell. “She’s a very nice person also.”

But why would she get the idea that he had endorsed her? “I don’t know,” he said.

Mucarsel-Powell, who describes herself as a professional fund raiser for non profits and organizations, told Ladra that Demps inclusion was due to “confusion, a mix up.” They had met at an school event in Goulds and when they spoke afterwards she assumed she had his support. But her campaign manager, Kate Coyne-McCoy, admitted that they did not have a signed endorsement form from Dumps.

Flores does.

“This didn’t surprise me, because there are so many false allegations coming from her campaign,” the senator told Ladra, referring to mailers that have gone out against the incumbent. “How can she be trusted if all she’s doing is lying to confuse voters?”

Read related story: Democratic Party throws GOP right bloc at Anitere Flores

When it comes to Wallace, Mucarsel-Powell says there is no confusion. “I had his support from the very first day I met him,” she told Ladra. Coyne-McCoy didn’t know if she had a signed endorsement form from him Saturday but said she would check.

It’s not like Flores needs him. She’s got a hefty list of endorsements, including the PBA, AFSCME, the Florida Chamber of Commerce, the United Faculty of Miami-Dade, Monroe Sheriff Rick Ramsay, the Florida Professional Firefighters Associations and all seven elected officials in Homestead, which is in the district — even though most are Democrats (only Commissioner Jon Burgess is a Republican).

Meanwhile, maybe Mucarsel-Powell should stick with the very predictable endorsements she really has: Emily’s List, SAVE Dade and the Democratic Veterans of Florida.

And make sure they sign the endorsement forms.

Everybody is wondering if the news Thursday that Sen. Gwen Margolis was withdrawing her re-election bid and retiring will cause Andrew Korge to switch seats again to the first one he looked at way back before he was a congressional candidate even. Or if it is causing State Rep. David Richardson (D-Miami Beach) to take another look at the Senate run.

Korge, son of Democratic fundraiser and Miami International Airport concessionaire Chris Korge, is currently running against Flores for the Senate seat in District 39 after briefly going after Annette Taddeo in the congressional primary in District 26. But he may go back to his original plan, which was to run for Margolis’ seat before she surprised everyone by saying she would stay put for another term.

Margolis is retiring now, under pressure to apologize for her comment (shouldn’t she still?) in which she dismissively referred to her challengers as “three Haitians, some teacher and some lawyer.”

Read related story: Alex Penelas crowd hosts Andrew Korge’s Senate kick-off

Now, Ladra happens to think that statement is generally true. And it doesn’t have to be a bad thing to be one of three Haitians in a race. There is no other district in which this happens, so there is obviously a significant Haitian electorate in the district. But we know Margolis meant it as a slight. “That’s all they are,” was implied. She is not the most sensitive girl. And it seems she hasn’t learned much since La Gwen got her nickname from Ladra after a spat with Sen. Miguel Diaz de la Portilla over redistricting. He pushed for her district to change due to changes in racial and language minority demographics. She did not want the change and said that Cubans should not be considered a minority.

“The Cubans came in 1960. Believe me, they can speak English,” Margolis said, back then. “They prefer not to, but they do speak English. They went to school in Miami-Dade. Their children go to school in Miami-Dade. They’re English-speaking people.”

Esa es La Gwen. It’s true, but still leaves you a little incredulous. Ah, life and politics was so much easier when there weren’t so many Cubans and Haitians around, right?

Insiders say Margolis had intended to retire after this last term because she was older than dirt, not because she was racist. She was expected to endorse Richardson (D-Miami Beach) but that she got cold feet after Korge, whose daddy can raise a lot of money, got into the race. Both withdrew out of respect to the longtime legislator — a former county commissioner who is also the first female elected Senate President.

So why were there a whole five other Democrats running against her —  the three Haitians and the teacher and the lawyer. Most notably among them is State Rep. Daphne Campbell, who may become the immediate front runner among the wannabes, if only for her name recognition, but not because she has more money. That distinction goes to Jason Pizzo, the attorney of the bunch (a former prosecutor turned land use attorney), who has loaned himself $200,000 for the campaign. The group is rounded out by former State Rep. and radio show host Philip Brutus, who has tried four other times to get back in office (State House, Senate, Congress and county commission), teacher Don Festge and the third Haitian, Anis Blemur, who owns and operates a North Miami accounting firm.

Read related story: Doubletake: David Richardson jumps back to House for 2016

But everybody is wondering if either Korge or Richardson will come back to that race now.

Korge is the obvious choice. He’s lost some key endorsements to Flores (more on that later) and she’s blowing him away with fundraising (more on that later), so it might make sense to move to an open seat race that is less Hispanic.

Richardson, the first openly-gay representative, might be too comfy in an incumbency where he’s popular. Yes, he wants the Senate and there’s opportunity here. But if he’s still seen as La Gwen’s handpicked successor, her Haitian opponents are going to run with that. Who wants a tainted legacy?

Sure, Richardson — who told Ladra in a text message he would have a response after he returned this week from business in D.C. — does have opposition to his re-election. But former Miami Beach Commissioner Deede Weithorn is trailing way behind in fundraising, which leaves her less money to get her message across and her voters out.

Wait a Miami minute! Maybe DeeDe Weithorn will run for that now open Senate seat. Or maybe her husband, Mark Weithorn, who has run unsuccessfully for state House and for city commission. Ladra has also heard that it is a seat Sen. Dwight Bullard could win more easily if he really wants to stay in office, since he’s going to lose in the primary now to Ana Rivas Logan if he stays put.

Am I crazy or could even Miami Lakes Mayor Michael Pizzi ditch a sure loss in the town for this more high profile race.

Wait another Miami minute! What about Annette Taddeo? She’s never switched mid-stream so maybe that’s a winning strategy.

Stay tuned. And let the musical chair melody begin. Because we certainly haven’t heard the last of this.

It’s going to be a busy week for Republican checkbooks.

We’ve got at least four fundraisers planned this week, two for Tuesday and two for Wednesday, for GOP candidates in state House and Senate races.

First up is former Congressman David Rivera. We already told you he’s back, running now for the seat abandoned by State Rep. Frank Artiles, who is running for Senate. His fundraiser kick-off is Tuesday at Cuban Crafters on NW 7th Street and it is the most mysterious. No telling who might show up — since there’s nobody on the host committee.

The same night, Artiles is having his own fundraiser in Tallahassee hosted by some of his colleagues and would-be colleagues in the legislature and only two state reps (Jose Oliva and Jose Felix “Pepe” Diaz. Los dos pepes) from the 305, because Artiles is not liked that much. The others are from elsewhere, albeit heavy hitters from leadership — including President-designate Joe Negron, Senate Majority Leader Bill Galvano and Speaker Designate Richard Corcoran — perhaps indicating that the GOP is seriously trying to take the blue seat from Sen. Dwight Bullard.

Read related story: In battle to keep Senate seat 40, Dems eye Ana Rivas Logan

Or maybe everybody else is getting their hair done and their shoes shined for Wednesday. That’s when, between them, Sen. Anitere Flores and State Rep. Manny Diaz, Jr., have all the serial political event hosts in town at their soirees, respectively, in Coral Gables and Hialeah.

Let’s ignore that it’s strange for these two — both of whom work in the charter school industry and who arguably draw from the same pool of donors — to have their fundraisers on the very same day at the very same time. Maybe Flores will go to Hialeah next week and Diaz will come to Coral Gables. Cuidado!

The invites are engaging simply because of the large list of inviters — especially with Flores, who is apparently not taking the challenge from Democrat trust fund baby Andrew Korge lightly.

Flores’ event has nine special guests/speakers, 14 event chairpeople, and 25 names so far on the host committee that is “still in formation.” Still in formation?!? When is the elevator at capacity?

Among the special guests is the entire Cuban Congressional GOP caucus (Carlos Curbelo, Mario Diaz-Balart and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen) and five of the 13 county commissioners — Jose “Pepe” Diaz, Rebeca Sosa, Javier Souto, Xavier Suarez and Juan Zapata — as well as Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez.

Read related story: Senate 39’s Andrew Korge vs Anitere Flores gets ugly fast

Chairs include lobbyists Ron Book, Al Cardenas and Manny Kadre, builders Sergio Pino and Pedro Munilla, automobile mogul Norman Braman and Miami-Dade Republican Party Chairman Nelson Diaz. Hosts include more Jeb Bush, Jr., container queen Remedios Diaz Oliver and a slew of more second tier lobbyists like Jose “El Chino” Fuentes, Luis Andre Gazitua, Bob Levy and Ralph Garcia-Toledo, who is now playing with the big boys thanks to his tour of duty as driver for then Commissioner Gimenez. (Tell your kids: Forget college! Drive a politician around and you’ll get rich!)

All 48 of them invite us to Bulla Gastrobar on Ponce de Leon Boulevard at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Half an hour later, though, we are invited to another fundraiser for Diaz Jr. at Hialeah Park, which you know is impossible in Miami-Dade traffic. Our hosts here include Sen. Rene Garcia, State Reps. Jose Oliva and Bryan Avila, former State Rep. Eddy Gonzalez (who is the RSVP on the invite) and Miami-Dade Commissioner Esteban Bovo, all of whom kind of do stuff in lock step. They also include Hialeah Mayor Carlos Hernandez and Hialeah Gardens Mayor Yioset de la Cruz as well as the full council of both cities.

We don’t have to wait long to see who wins the prize for best fundraiser. Checks written Tuesday and Wednesday will appear on the March campaign reports, which are due and become public April 10th or 11th.

My money is on the Gables soiree for Flores — if simply because of the numbers.

Game on, people! Warm up those wrists!

We all know that Frank Artiles plans to run for the Senate against incumbent Dwight Bullard.

The question is “Why?” He has another term in the House left so why would he risk a sure thing for a seat that that went to President Barack Obama by 7 points in 2012?

Well, because redistricted seat 40 may be more Democrat, bu it is also waaaaay more Hispanic, with a 74 percent Latino vote pool. And it includes a little of the area once represented by Sen. Anitere Flores, who promised to move after she and Bullard were drawn into the same district and will instead run for a newly created open seat (District 39; because the numbers play musical chairs, too).

That’s why former State Rep. Ana Rivas Logan was in Tallahassee last month, talking to folks about running in that seat against Artiles. Bullard knows he’s vulnerable. Several sources confirmed that Bullard has been approached about stepping down and letting Rivas Logan take on Artiles. And they all say he same thing: He has an emotional attachment to the seat, which belonged to his mother, the late Sen. Larcenia Bullard, who died in 2013. He sort of inherited her seat in 2012 (though he beat off four other Dems, including former State Reps. Ron Saunders and James Bush, III) like he inherited his dad’s House seat before that.

It’s a pride thing. And it could become a black thing. His has been an African American legislative seat at least since 2002, only one of two black Senate seats in the 305.

Bullard, who replaced Annette Taddeo as chair of the Miami-Dade Democratic Party, might think he has a good chance to defend himself in a district that voted last time for Obama by 54 percent. But Obama is not on the ballot this year and black voters may not turn out as heavily for Hillary. Everyone is worried about that. And half of the district’s Democrat voters are Hispanics anyway. Artiles could peel some off there. Most likely, however, he’ll grab a bunch of the Hispanic independents, enough to make a difference.

The newly redistricted seat represents South Miami Heights, West Perrine, Richmond Heights, Fairway Heights, Howard, Country Walk and West Kendall. It also includes portions of the Westchester, Cutler Bay, South Miami and Coral Gables.

There’s also this: Artiles won his old district (which used to be Bullard’s old House district) which went to Obama with 51% in 2012, by double digits against a Democrat in 2014 — albeit a Democrat nobody and on an off, non-presidential year. But Gov. Rick Scott only got 49 percent of the vote there, so Artiles got 8 percent more votes than the Republican at the top of the ticket.

Trust me, Artiles did not give up his likely re-election to the House for his last term with full tenure if he didn’t have a poll that shows what consultants call a path to victory for a coveted Senate seat.

He has also shown a better knack for raising campaign funds, accumulating a total of almost $800,000 between his campaign and his PAC, Veterans for Conservative Principles, since 2012. Bullard raised $85,000 for his 2012 race.

Is defending the Bullard legacy worth the risk of losing a Democratic seat in the Senate? Especially against Magilla Gorilla? A man who is best known for punching a college kid in the face, pushing a law that regulates bathroom use and living outside his district? That’s what state party leaders are grappling with.

Rivas Logan told Ladra that yes, she had, indeed been in Tally last month talking to interested parties (read: the Democratic Party) about running again, but she said there were a number of seats discussed — and for both 2016 and 2018, which is conveniently when she retires as assistant principal at Robert Morgan Technical High, where she prepares seniors for college and life after high school.

“All the pieces line up for me in 2018,” said the one-time Miami-Dade School Board member, coyly leaving the door open for Bullard to bail: “However, should something become available that is a good fit, I would seriously consider it.”

There it is. She’s just waiting for Dwight to make a difficult decision.

Meanwhile, the party keeps grooming her for something. That’s why you see Rivas Logan commenting on immigration policy on MSNBC and Spanish-language TV or why she delivered a message to the audience at the Democratic debate at Miami-Dade earlier this month. That choice — she spoke right after Florida Democrati Party Chair Allison Tant and before DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz — says something about their confidence in and hope for her, because she’s really only been a Democrat for about five minutes.

Last time, Rivas Logan held office, she was a Republican House rep. But a falling out over immigration policy and the fact that the party went with State Rep. Jose Felix Diaz against her when they were drawn into the same district sort of put the ice on that.

Wouldn’t it be just so Florida and like the 305 if Diaz, who is termed out next cycle, faced Rivas Logan again in a 2018 Senate race?

I said it first.