Update: Florida's Senate Race

Progressive icon Alan Grayson seems to be feeling pretty good about his ability to beat Chuck Schumer's Wall Street puppet, "ex"-Republican Patrick Murphy, in the Democratic primary for the Senate seat Marco Rubio is giving up. After all, it's a Democratic primary and there is no one from the Florida federal delegation who better represents the values, hopes and aspirations of Florida Democrats than Grayson-- while even the tersest examination of Murphy's voting record shows him voting for the Boehner agenda far more frequently than for progressive initiatives. 

Murphy has been a stalwart defender of the Wall Street banksters and has used his position on the House Financial Services Committee for two purposes: to undercut Dodd-Frank reform and to feather his nest with legalistic bribes from the banksters-- $1,127,650 last cycle alone, more than any other Democrat other than notorious Wall Street shills Joe Crowley ($1,184,858) and Jim Himes ($1,144,988). Even consistent Wall Street boosters like Steve Israel ($953,942), Sean Patrick Maloney ($833,197) and Steny Hoyer ($797,550) didn't rake in the kind of cash Murphy did. So, like I said, Grayson seems confident that, despite a pattern of sabotage against him orchestrated by Wall Street darling Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), he'll come out on top in the Democratic primary.

But what happens after the primary? I'm guessing Grayson is hoping Tea Party extremist Ron DeSantis is the GOP nominee. Establishment groups are nervous about DeSantis' ability to hold the Senate seat because of his crazy and extreme position. He's being supported by the extremist wing of the GOP-- Club for Growth PAC, the Madison Project PAC, RedState, Senate Conservatives Fund, FreedomWorks PAC-- and by right-wing Members of Congress like Tom Rooney.

Other Florida Republicans running include Lt. Governor Carlos Lopez-Canter and Congressman David Jolly. Jolly was unsure about running, but his congressional district, which was already leaning blue, looks like it will basically be unwinnable for a Republican after redistricting, so he has nothing to lose. Conservatives, however, think Jolly is too much of a mainstream conservative for their taste and too likely to compromise with Democrats from time to time. Jolly, who is definitely a top contender, is frantically trying to convince them that they're wrong.

[W]hile his record is solidly conservative, he’s certainly no Tea Partier, and wouldn’t have been elected in last year’s special election in the moderate, swing-district if he had been.

His stance on some votes, as well as his his support for same-sex marriage, have put him in the crosshairs of some conservative D.C. groups, who have blasted him as being insufficiently right-wing.

In a memo sent to members of his steering and finance committee last week, Jolly fired back on those groups such as the Club for Growth, writing that his early support has “threatened the special interest scorecard groups in Washington who make a living off dividing our party, off encouraging and ensuring obstructionism and dysfunction, and off misleading the American people for their own financial gain.”

“These groups claim to be conservative, but the policies they push are geared toward centralizing power in Washington, the only place where they have power,” he writes. “And their aim is to fundraise off division to pay their own salaries. This is what the Washington establishment does. It’s most unfortunate, and we as a nation, and as a party, deserve better.”

The Indian Shores resident follows up by mentioning his conservative stances on deficit spending, trade (which he derisively dubs “Obamatrade”), border security (the memo never even mentions the word “immigration”), life (and not abortion), foreign policy and fiscal responsibility.

“I was the only Florida Republican who voted against the Ryan budget because the budget resolution did nothing to realistically achieve a balanced budget,” he writes, underlying the phrase to indicate that in fact, he was a hardline outlier on voting against the GOP budget earlier this year (one of only 17 out of the entire House caucus to do so).

...Although a vote in the GOP-led Senate to defund Planned Parenthood went down to defeat this week when it did not get the required 60 votes, Jolly boasts in the memo about its House companion-- legislation he sponsored directly that would do the same.

...With Congress now out for a break until September, he’ll undoubtedly be telling this tale to groups throughout the state to fundraise in the contested GOP primary election scheduled for a little more than a year from now.

Polls indicate that Florida Republicans are truly undecided about who to nominate. The most recent poll shows Jolly with 16%, Lopez-Cantera with 10%, DeSantis with 9% and Todd Wilcox with 2%. An earlier poll, from mid-July, shows Jolly leading with 22.1%, followed by Rep. Jeff Miller, who has since said he's not going to run, with 12.1%, Lopez-Cantera with 11.1% and DeSantis with 9.3%. "Someone else" and "undecided" poll 45.6% combined.

If you'd like to help Grayson win both the primary against the "ex"-Republican and then the general election against whichever rightist the GOP throws up, this page is for both.

UPDATE: Grayson Watched The GOP Debate

He sent a message to his supporters this morning, one that will no doubt drive Chuck Schumer insane:

Thursday night's Republican debate reminded me of Yogi Berra's famous quote:

"It was like déjà vu all over again."

After two hours of attacks on Social Security, Medicare, Obamacare, Hillary Clinton, President Obama, and even poor Rosie O'Donnell, I was overtaken with a sense of déjà vu. Where had I seen all of this before? Why did all of this feel so familiar? Who did the debate remind me of?

My opponent, Patrick Murphy.

Murphy is a registered Democrat, but he is the one who supports cuts to Social Security and Medicare. He's the one who has voted to delay parts of Obamacare. He's the one who supports the Republican Congress' witch hunt against Hillary Clinton on Benghazi. He's the one who condemned President Obama for bringing Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl back home.

Thursday night's debate reminded me of Murphy because there is virtually no daylight between his policies and the Republicans on stage.

Washington doesn't need another Republican masquerading as a Democrat. We have enough of those already. It needs a Senator with Guts-- and that's exactly what I'll be after we win.