COULD THE DEMOCRATS LOSE A HOUSE SEAT IN FLORIDA IN NOVEMBER? DEPENDS HOW YOU DEFINE "DEMOCRATS"

Last week Congressman Tim Mahoney of Florida voted for continuing the war in Iraq and for retroactive immunity. And why shouldn't he? After all, every single Florida Republican voted for both of those bills. All the Florida Republicans want to continue the war and all the Florida Republicans want to give Bush-- of all people-- the power to spy on people without warrants and the power to provide retroactive immunity to anyone inside or outside his regime who spied on American citizens illegally so that there are never trials and we never find out who got spied on or why. (And you may recall that, like all the Florida Republican congressmen, Mahoney has announced he does not support Barack Obama for president.) The problem, though, is that 2 years ago lifelong Republican Tim Mahoney, at the urging of Rahm Emanuel, switched his party registration and became a "Democrat."

I love when bigoted, greed-obsessed Republicans like Mahoney see the light and flee from the GOP embracing the progressive values and principles of the Democratic Party. Unfortunately, that isn't what happened... not at all. What did happen is that Emanuel got drift of the yet-to-be-revealed Mark Foley sex scandal-- still being referred to by the corporate media as a case of inappropriate e-mails even though several former congressional pages have talked openly about Foley have sexual relations with the pages; besides when Foley was caught breaking into the males pages dormitory after midnight, I sincerely doubt he was trying to borrow someone's laptop so he could send an inappropriate e-mail. In any case, Emanuel didn't take his information to the police or in any way seek to protect the innocent pages in Congress' charge. Instead he found a wealthy Republican who he promised the Democratic nomination to run for what he knew would be an open seat. Mahoney jumped at the chance and Emanuel and Hoyer then put immense pressure on progressive, anti-war school teacher, Dave Lutrin, an actual Democrat, to get out of the race. The congressional heroes of continued war funding and warrantless wiretaps managed to dry up Lutrin's donor base-- a slimy tactic they used over and over and over in 2006 in race after race-- and forced him out of the race.

So why rehash that today? Is it just because Mahoney has gone on to distinguish himself as one of the 20 Democrats who votes most frequently-- on contested substantive matters-- with his old mates, the Republicans? He certainly does, but that isn't the reason for today's post. Instead, the inspiration was a story in this morning's CQPolitics, Republicans in Florida Race Try to Move Past Foley Scandal by Rachel Kapochunas. CQ rates the race a toss-up, a really big danger sign for an incumbent. I suspect they're not even taking into account that Mahoney's voting record, closer, substantively, to local right-wing Republicans like Mario and Lincoln Diaz-Balart, Ric Keller, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Bill Young, and Vern Buchanan than it is to Robert Wexler's or Alcee Hastings', the progressive Democrats with whom he shares Palm Beach County, is likely to depress turn out from at least some traditional Democrats who are not eager to support a Republican-lite candidate like Mahoney. Joe Negron, who battled Mahoney for the seat in 2006 after the scandal forced Foley to retire prematurely, says the race could go either way.

It's ironic that the enthusiasm for change being generated by Barack Obama, a candidate Mahoney won't even endorse, is likely to save his worthless skin. And then he can work towards defeating all the initiatives Obama wants to make.

Meanwhile the three in the race who admit they are Republicans, Tom Rooney, who owns the Pittsburgh Steelers, far right state Rep. Gayle Harrell, and equally right-wing Palm Beach Gardens City Councilman Hal Valeche, are concentrating on undercutting each other in a vicious and incredibly expensive primary battle while attempting, incomprehensibly, to paint the very conservative Mahoney as a liberal. So far Valeche raised (or self-funded) $738,000; Rooney reported $693,000, and Harrell raised $547,000. Mahoney, a Blue Dog who caters to every special interest with a checkbook, was rewarded for voting with the GOP more than almost any other Democrat with a very plum assignment on the House Financial Services Committee, which lends itself well to massive bribes. He has raised more than the 3 Republicans combined.

Mahoney authored two bills, an incontroversial one establishing a Navy SEALS museum in Fort Pierce and one to protect businesses from class action lawsuits by consumers who have been victimized by businesses inadvertently leaving credit card expiration information on receipts. According to CQ's calculations, Mahoney is one of the 15 most disloyal Democrats, right up there with right-wing Dixiecrats and Blue Dogs like John Barrow, Jim Marshall, Melissa Bean, Heath Shuler, Chris Carney, Joe Donnelly, Dan Boren, etc.

Mahoney, who has pushed a “pro-business” agenda, is a member of the Blue Dogs, a coalition of Democrats who consider themselves fiscal conservatives, and the New Democrat Coalition, made up of party members who tout themselves as moderate, pro-business lawmakers.

Mahoney voted with most House Republicans against most members of his own party on 15 percent of the mainly party-line votes held in 2007, according to a Congressional Quarterly vote study. That opposition score put Mahoney among the 15 Democrats who broke with their party most often that year.

Mahoney goes to great pains to convince the lazy, credulous media that he is a moderate. And he is-- if you compare him to Mean Jean Schmidt, John Boehner, Mike Pence, Marilyn Musgrave or Patrick McHenry. If you stack up his voting record against the records of actual moderate Democrats like Bruce Braley, Chris Murphy, Mike Arcuri. Phil Hare or Joe Sestak (all freshmen elected on the same day as Mahoney) then you see that Mahoney is not a moderate at all, but a right-wing Republican disguised as a Democrat... and it pays well.