Buckhorn Tells Crowd He's Rays' Hometown Mayor

Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn seems to make Rays headlines even when he's not trying (or was he?).

The Tampa Bay Times' Tia Mitchell reports Buckhorn told a crowd in Tallahassee that he was "lucky enough to be mayor of the 55th largest city in the country and more, importantly, home to the Tampa Bay Rays" (link to tampabay.com):

Buckhorn later clarified his comments, which came during a speech to the Economic Club of Florida.

"We're all Rays fans at this point," he said. "They may physically reside in St. Petersburg, at least for a little while, but we all share in their success and I consider myself to be their mayor just as Bill Foster considers himself to be their mayor."
Buckhorn says he doesn't want to be the boyfriend in the divorce between St. Petersburg and the Rays. But he also is waiting to talk.

"We can't talk until the city of St. Pete and the Rays come to some agreement," he said. "I'm frustrated, and I'm sure a lot of people are frustrated that there has been no movement on that. We are no different a position than we were six months ago. That has to take place. As good as the Rays are, as much as the bay area loves the Rays, it's not going to work in St. Petersburg."

Several columnists and bloggers have referred to Buckhorn as the unofficial "Mayor of Tampa Bay" (link to tampabay.com), so maybe that's what he was referring to?