Who Dares Imagine Good Election Day News From Florida?

One of my friends is a total worry-wart. He spends his days before elections calling voters for progressive candidates and trying to persuade them to get out and vote. Today he e-mailed me: "I’ve been making calls for Andrew Gillum. Did 75 mins last night. Afraid he’ll lose. Especially with trump going to rally in Fort Myers next week (It’s not official yet, but there are reports from CNN). 538 says Dems will won the house, but you can’t trust the polls. And I feel like the Dems strategy isn’t working." Good, keep working and working and working. Because we know the right is. Their spending has gone up dramatically in the last week.

Perhaps the ugliest ads of the cycle are all being put out in Florida by Republican neo-Nazis working for Ron DeSantis. The new robocall is shocking.

A racist robocall that refers to Andrew Gillum as a "negro" and a "monkey" is making the rounds in Florida, prompting a furious response from the Democratic gubernatorial candidate's campaign.

Florida voters who receive the call-- audio of which was obtained by NBC News-- hear a man impersonating the African-American politician.

"Well hello there. I is the negro Andrew Gillum and I'll be askin’ you to make me governor of this here state of Florida," the voice says.

“My state opponent, who done call me monkey, is doin' a lot of hollerin’ about how ‘spensive my plans for health care be,” the voice says. A chimpanzee noise is played during the word “monkey.”

That was the second robocall along these lines from the Trump/DeSantis' racist supporters. The one in August also impersonated Andrew: "We Negroes...done made mud huts while white folk waste a bunch of time making their home out of wood an' stone." There's a way to answer the Republicans. Please consider helping Andrew get out the Democratic base by clicking on the Blue America 2018 gubernatorial thermometer on the right. DeSantis and his neo-Nazi buddies are desperate. He bombed in the CNN debate a few nights ago and his polling has been in the toilet ever since Trump delivered him the Republican nomination. He has come out behind in every poll since August. The FiveThirtyEight forecaster gives him a 7 out of 9 chance to win (78.2%) and rates the race "likely Democrat."

The brand new Quinnipiac poll of Florida shows him with a 52-46% lead of DeSantis with likely voters-- and "with big leads among women, black, Hispanic and independent voters... Only 2 percent of Florida likely voters remain undecided and 4 percent of those who name a candidate say they might change their mind in the next 14 days... [T]here are wide racial, gender and partisan gaps:

• White voters back DeSantis 54-44 percent. The Democrat leads 99-1 percent among black voters and 59-36 percent among Hispanic voters;
• Women back Gillum 59-38 percent, as men back DeSantis 54-44 percent;
• Gillum leads 96-4 percent among Democrats and 57-39 percent among independent voters. Republicans back DeSantis 89-8 percent.

"Looking inside the numbers of the governor's race between Mayor Andrew Gillum and former U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis, we see shining examples of the problems Republicans face this year, not just in Florida, but around the country," said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll.

"The GOP has faced strong opposition from women and other anti-Trump voters. These defections have hurt GOP candidates around the country and made it difficult to attract the numbers of independent voters that are often major players in successful campaigns.

"Here in Florida that has translated into an 18-point Gillum lead among independent voters."

"Even more problematic for the GOP and telling about Mayor Gillum's candidacy, is that a liberal Democrat is on the plus side of a 50 - 47 percent split among white women," Brown added.

Ironically, the very conservative Florida Democratic establishment is counting on Gillum to drag a ticket of mostly right-of-center down-ballot candidates to victory on his coattails-- from sleepy, uninspiring and meaningless centrist Senator Bill Nelson right down the toilet to right-wing Blue Dog garbage like Congresswoman Stephanie Murphy in the Orlando area. Florida has almost no decent Democrats running for federal office... and Gillum's position at the top of the ticket is helping every one of these problematic voters who will be voting to oppose almost everything he hopes to see America accomplish.