If Arizona Wins The Craziest State Award This Week, Is Florida A Big Stinky Number Two?

GOP split likely to turn FL-12 blue

One of the several significant upsides to Charlie Crist's bailing on the teabagger-dominated Republican primary is that it's going to devastate Florida Republicans in down-ticket races.

One unintended consequence of Crist’s decision is the impact not having Crist and Rubio driving turnout in the Primary will have on down-ballot races, including partisan races, such as state legislative primaries and county commission races, and on non-partisan races where party affiliation may not be listed, but still remains a factor.

Take a look at some of the races in Tampa Bay, now that we know Crist and Rubio won’t be pumping tens of millions in Get-Out-The-Vote operations in July and August, that will have enormous impact in the GOP primaries for Florida State House Districts 45, 47, 57 and 60 and Florida Senate District 10 and 12.

Weren’t moderate Republican candidates like Kathryn Starkey (H-45) and Irene Guy (H-47) looking for Crist to turn out the support of moderate Republicans?

Wasn’t Paul Phillps (S-10) looking for a surge from conservative voters over “liberal” Rhonda Storms?
Regardless of who would have won, there is no doubt having Crist and Rubio on the ballot would have increased turnout.  How they would have impacted turnout is still debatable; not having Crist on the ballot in August takes away a major reason for moderate Republicans to head to the polls, just as not having Rubio on the ballot takes millions of dollars out of the GOTV plan to turn out the most conservative voters.

The real impact of not having Crist and Rubio on the ballot in August (and now having at least a nominal Democratic primary for the US Senate) will be felt in the non-partisan school board and judicial races that will be decided.

Although it wasn't Ted Nugent Ginny Brown-Waite endorsed yesterday, she did wait for the very last second to announce that she wouldn't be running for re-election. It has, after all, been all down hill for the poor imbecile ever since Congress rejected her brilliant idea of getting even with France for not invading Iraq by digging up the bodies of all the American servicemen and women who died in France during World War I and II and shipping them back to America. When she prematurely announced she was going to retire a couple months ago, the Florida GOP shut her up so they could position Richard Nugent as the only candidate in the race. It's an old trick both parties-- especially in uber-corrupt states like Florida-- use to undermine any semblance of democracy. With only an hour to file, no one-- from either party (although there's a good Democratic candidate, Jim Piccillo, already running)-- but the selected GOP candidate could get into the race. That's how Florida got stuck with Kendrick Meek as a congressman, except it was he and his congresswoman mother who pulled the stunt. It's a really repulsive tactic, one that would come naturally to Republicans but should be eschewed by Democrats.

But that was hardly the only surprise as the state's close of filing came and went yesterday. In fact, the other news, is... GREAT news. No surprise on the Democratic side, which pits a reactionary Blue Dog, Lori Edwards, backed by the Inside-the-Beltway lobbyists and Sugar Lobby crook and DCCC power-monger Debbie Wasserman Schultz, against the grassroots progressive, Doug Tudor. (Please contribute what you can to Doug's campaign.) The interesting news comes on the Republican side.

Polk County Commissioner Randy Wilkinson made it a three-party race Friday for the U.S. House of Representatives District 12 seat being vacated by U.S. Rep. Adam Putnam, R-Bartow.


Wilkinson, elected to the commission as a Republican, is running for Congress as a member of the Tea Party. On his campaign documents, the Bartow resident said he is a member of that party and not a registered member of any other party.

He had been assumed to be running in the Republican primary against shady corporate shyster and former State Representative Dennis Ross and another fringe right sociopath, John W. Lindsey Jr. By running as a Tea Party candidate, he almost surely guarantees that Doug Tudor will win the general election. I called Doug yesterday and he felt the same way I did about it. He told us, in pretty excited terms, that he couldn't have hoped for a better Filing Day outcome:

“With today’s federal filing deadline, the field is set in Florida’s 12th Congressional district. It is one progressive-- me-- running against four conservatives. Randy Wilkinson’s surprise filing as a TEA Party candidate ensuring a three-way general election, TeamTudor has never had a more clear path to victory in November. We know we can beat Blue Dog Lori Edwards, due to our superior grassroots and activist organization. Once Randy splits the radical right vote with big-insurance lawyer Dennis Ross in November, we will elect a Progressive and representative democracy will be returned to FL-12.”

FL-12 now moves up the rank to one of the best opportunities for a red seat turning blue. Again, please help make sure it's actually BLUE by helping Doug win his primary against a corporately-owned Blue Dog who has the same positions as the Republicans... though just on the important things. You can contribute to Doug's campaign here at the Blue America '10 page. And, in fact, every person who donates at least $25 in the next 24 hours will have his or her name put into a hat, from which one winner will be drawn. Winner? Winner? What's the prize? Ah... glad you asked. Remember, before I became a blogger I was the president of Reprise Records and one of our awesomest artists was Neil Young. The "winner" gets a rare, numbered VERY limited edition full color Neil Young print that has never been offered for sale. If you know a Neil Young fan, this is the ultimate gift.