How Incompetent Do You Have To Be To Keep Losing To Florida Republicans? Let's Take A Look

 

How does the FDP keep losing to this batch of dogshit?

On Friday, Florida reported 5,245 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the already horrific state total to 832,625-- 38,767 cases per million Floridians. 52 more Floridians died from the infection on Friday-- so all told 17,016 Floridians who have been killed on the alter of Republican ideology. So far. It's probably going to get much, much worse.

You may have noticed-- Florida is a mess. And it's not just that Trump won and that 2 Democratic congresswomen in solidly blue districts in Miami-Dade-- one D+5 and one D+6-- were defeated by Republicans. The Florida Democratic Party, which some time this cycle sank below the Ohio Democratic Party to become the worst state party anywhere in America, failed up and down the ballot. Some attribute it to incompetence; some attribute it to venality and self-serving. I can't see how anyone could make the case it is anything other than the toxic combination which has laid the party so low.

Aside from losing to Trump, they managed to lose every single attempt to flip a seat in Congress, in the state House and in the state Senate. Although, to be honest, "attempt" applies they actually tried to accomplish something. Did they, though?

Trump won the state 5,646,949 (51.2%) to 5,269,926 (47.8%). As of August 31, Florida's party registration looked like this:

• Democrats: 5,203,795
• Republicans: 5,020,199
• independents: 3,653,046

Two problems come to mind. Did the FDP turn out their voters? Did the FDP fail to persuade voters with no party affiliation that Biden was the better-- or at least the less badd-- candidate? In 2016 Hillary also took 47.8% of the vote-- so the exact percentage Biden took-- while Trump increased his percentage from 49.1% to 51.2%.

Of Florida's 67 counties, Biden won 12, an increase of 3 over the 9 Hillary won. These were the 12 Biden counties with their 2020 numbers followed by their 2016 numbers:

• Alachua- Biden: 89,527 (62.7%); Hillary: 75,370 (59.0%)
• Broward- Biden: 617,689 (64.8%); Hillary: 546,956 (66.5%)
• Miami-Dade- Biden: 617,289 (53.4%); Hillary: 623,006 (63.7%)
• Duval- Biden: 251,952 (51.2%); Hillary: 210,061 (49.0%)
• Gadsden- Biden: 16,139 (67.9%); Hillary: 14,994 (67.9%)
• Hillsborough- Biden: 374,714 (52.7%); Hillary: 306,422 (51.5%)
• Leon- Biden: 103,364 (63.5%); Hillary: 91,936 (60.5%)
• Orange- Biden: 394,602 (61.0%); Hillary: 329,579 (60.4%)
• Osceola- Biden: 97,157 (56.4%); Hillary: 85,287 (60.9%)
• Palm Beach- Biden: 432,117 (56.1%); Hillary: 371,411 (56.5%)
• Pinellas- Biden: 277,191 (49.4%); Hillary: 233,327 (47.5%)
• Seminole- Biden: 132,213 (50.8%); Hillary: 105,611 (47.1%)

South Florida-- the heart of the FDP-- was the problem. The big 3-- Palm Beach Broward and Miami-Dade-- all under-performed, and in Miami-Dade's case, drastically so. While Democrat performance increased in most of the counties, it really fell apart in Miami-Dade and Palm Beach. Trump increased his Palm Beach vote from 270,762 (41.2%) in 2016 to 333,927 (43.3%) and in Miami-Dade from 333,666 (34.1%) in 2016 to 532,460 (46.1%). Why? Why so different, for example, in Alachua County where Democratic performance increased so smartly?

The FDP seems to have missed the class in Politics 101 where they teach you that if you don't play, you don't win. They backed avery narrow subset of mostly mediocre candidates and left most of the state to the Republicans, uncontested. When Janelle Christensen of the Florida Environmental Caucus and Fergie Reid of 90For90 stepped in to recruit candidates for every legislative district the FDP flipped out (in a bad way, in some cases extremely negatively and in others just deciding to ignore the candidates altogether).

Janelle Christensen of the state Environmental Caucus, who is being boosted for the state party job now, reiterated that "Running candidates EVERYWHERE, even in red districts, did not have the overwhelming results that I would have liked. However, we did see marked improvement in Democratic turnout in historically red districts. Collier county, for example, had over 90% of the registered Democrats show up to vote. Lee county and Sumnter also were very impressive. If historically blue counties had shown up in the way they did for Clinton, we would have seen the impact. It seems that we had the Trump Administration scared that he would lose his 'home state'... and we forced them to spend a lot of time and money here in Florida. If that means he lost margins elsewhere, even in other states like Georgia, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, then it was worth the effort. Please note, many of our candidates had a budget of about $10,000... and their Republican opponents spent one million in several of the state House races. That says they were scared."

In Alachua County, congressional candidate Adam Christensen was basically ignored by the FDP and the DCCC. His exciting, super-active grassroots campaign generated so much heat that Alachua and his whole district came into play. He didn't win but he did better than any Democrat ever had previously in the district and forced Trump to campaign there three times, three times that he could have been campaigning in Arizona, Georgia or Pennsylvania.

What Christensen accomplished was spectacular for this election cycle. "We ran as close to a perfect race as we could have in a +9 R district in Florida," he told me this morning. "We turned out over 80% of Democrats in Alachua, Clay, and Marion County (The 3 most populous counties in our district). We outperformed the average Democratic candidate in Florida by nearly 7% in one of the most heavily Republican counties in the state (Clay County). We also flipped nearly 8% of Republicans in Clay. On top of that we raised $225,000 completely grassroots. Our average donation was less than $23. We made over 120,000 calls, knocked on 10,000 doors in Clay County and successfully proved a new model for running in rural/Republican areas in Florida."

But that isn't all Christensen and his team accomplished. He also tested the standard Democrat data (NGP Van) and found that nearly 80% of it was wrong in Republican areas. "We bought Republican data for Clay to test it out and found that it was almost 3x more effective. It appears that the reason Democrats got absolutely crushed in Florida is because Republicans could spend $1 to $3 Democrats spent and get the same effect. The Florida Democratic Party also breached their contract with us a week before the election by refusing to release Republican data to us for us to send final persuasion messages. No amount of money or organizing can overcome that. By laying this groundwork we set the stage for 2022 when redistricting happens and a new congressional seat is drawn through Gainesville towards Tampa. We also did all of this without the help of the party or DCCC."

 

In their Wednesday election analysis of Florida, the NY Times, noted that most of the counties in Florida swung further right, "allowing him to win the state with a margin that is nearly three times what he had four years ago." They also identified Miami-Dade as the big problem, Biden underperforming in many precincts with a majority Hispanic population, particularly those in the Cuban-American communities of Miami-Dade County, which supported overwhelmingly. "The surge among Cuban-American voters boosted Mr. Trump’s vote totals in the county, where he picked up nearly 200,000 more votes than four years ago."

One of those districts was the one where Bob Lynch was running in, trying to oust GOP power-monger Dan Perez, a politician the FDP isn't interested in ousting.

The FDP should have been focused like a laser on flipping the state Senate-- thereby stopping the GOP from gerrymandering Florida for the next decade. They only needed to slip 3 seats. Instead, they targeted two, giving up in advance. The obvious district they should have contested was SD-20 (Hillsborough, Pasco and Polk counties) where Kathy Lewis had run well before and where the FDP had tried to recruit Alex Sink, who declined. When she declined, racists inside the FDP, decided an African-American candidate like Lewis couldn't win the district and they abandoned it. The biggest part of the district is in Hillsborough County and Lewis won there 63,094 to 58,024. She needed FDP help in red-leaning Pasco and Polk counties. They refused.

The FDP spent over a million dollars on Patricia Sigman's campaign in Seminole and Volusia counties and on the campaign of lobbyist Javier Fernandez in Miami-Dade and Monroe counties. They spent zero on Kathy Lewis' race. The results:

• Patricia Sigman- 47.6%
• Kathy Lewis- 45.16%
• Javier Fernandez- 42.79%

I'd also like to mention another state Senate candidate Blue America backed besides Lewis-- progressive Katherine Norman, who ran against the chairman of the Florida RepublicanParty, Joe Gruters, who the FDP didn't want to anger. They refused to help Norman in any way and she wound up getting far more votes-- 131,313-- than Fernandez's 95,088 and nearly as many as Sigman's 133,630. What is wrong with these people?

Many things-- and we'll save that for another day (literally)-- and just say that they need to be removed and replaced, for the sake of Florida and the sake of the whole country. This state is too important to leave to a gaggle of small-minded, corrupt incompetents.

Fergie Reid noted that "Trump visited Florida several times late in the 2020 campaign cycle, holding rallies in, The Villages, Pensacola, Fort Myers, Sanford, Jacksonville, Tampa, Ocala and Miami-Dade. A 'strong' GOP incumbent probably wouldn’t spend so much time in a state like Florida unless his campaign and his state managers considered it imperative. Trump was not in Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina, or Nevada during these visits to Florida. The rallies helped motivate an overwhelming voter turnout of his GOP supporters, leading to a great election night of victories for Florida Republicans."

He said that "Republicans are now in complete control of Florida’s horrendous COVID outbreak and response strategies, (such as they are). They’re celebrating their awesome governing situation. The GOP is dominant in Florida, and they’re providing their 29 electoral college votes to Donald J. Trump, who will soon be moving his family’s traveling grift show to Palm Beach Co.’s Mar-a-Lago, where he will no doubt take over control of the Florida Republican/Trump Party. 'Winning !!!...?????' Ask Joe Gruters, Chris Sprowls, Ron DeSantis and Wilton Simpson how that’s working out for them several months from now.

Meanwhile, Reid explained, "Grassroots rank and file Democrats in Florida owe a great debt of gratitude to the 83 Democratic candidates who challenged Republican-held seats this year. None of these challengers won their contests; many received zero help from the state party apparatus; however, their 'party building' candidacies, in some of the most Republican districts on the map, will pay dividends for years to come if the new Florida Democratic Party leadership takes proper advantage. Many thanks to these heroic, awesome Democrats."

Message To The Florida Democratic Party: You Can't Win If You Don't Play, Bozos

 

So what happened with the $780,000 in PPP money the FDP grabbed? 

Maybe you saw the comparison between the competent Texas Democratic Party and the incompetent Florida Democratic Party that we ran yesterday. Dr. Fergie Reid, who ran the 90For90 effort to recruit state legislative candidates in every district had some thoughts he expressed to me that I asked him to jot down.

"You can’t win," he reminded me (again), "if you don’t play."

That sounds like a trite, obvious, throw away phrase; but, in politics, it’s very controversial. Between late March 2020, and the Florida state legislative filing deadline on June 12, Janelle Christensen and I made this argument to many Florida Democratic officials and prospective candidates. It’s a logical argument. However, in some political circles, the "smart" play is to NOT run a candidate in any district that is perceived to be "unwinnable."

"It’s a waste of money, we can’t afford it."

"We’ll be able to run more candidates in more districts when we start winning more."

"Running Democrats here in this part of Florida, just makes Republicans mad."

"We can’t find a good enough candidate."

"We like the Republican incumbent; he’s very friendly; we know him personally."

"You just don’t understand the way it works around here." [Yes, the fatal embrace of toxic dysfunction, a ruling principle of the FDP.]

"Why is someone from Los Angeles, so interested in Florida?"

"You are a toxic influence, and an 'outside agitator.'"

"You are a net negative to the candidate you’re trying to help; you should stop helping her, and let us handle her."

"What’s the use in running a candidate if you can’t finance them adequately to win?"

So many excuses NOT to run a Democratic candidate, from people whose job it is to run Democratic candidates! Oy Vey!!

Fergie, Janelle Christensen, Margie Stein and a whole lot of very helpful folks, ended up getting it done; a Democratic candidate running in each and every one of the 141 state legislative races on the Florida ballot in 2020; they recruited 36 of these 141, and facilitated ballot access for at least that many. That’s fully one quarter of the state legislative contests... absolutely amazing !

They asked the Florida state party for help, either in recruiting or financing ballot access; they declined, but said "good luck." They were introduced to their assigned overseer of "down-ballot” races, who had a separate budget specifically for “down-ballot" projects. We asked for help from this group; they declined, but said, "good luck."

"Janelle and Margie," Fergie told me, "made sure each candidate had basic care and nurturing; in many instances, including candidates that we did not recruit, but who needed, asked for, or would otherwise benefit from a little love and attention. Janelle and Margie did what the party would not do... talk to the candidates. 'Are you alright? Do you need anything that we can get for you? Call us if you need us.' That is basic human kindness and appreciation in action. Janelle and Margie did that. Bob Lynch helped more than a few of these candidates with early financial support and advice; Matt Rogers of Politidope provided much appreciated political experience and help to many; scores of grassroots activists gave their time and sweat to make these heroic candidates understand how appreciated their personal sacrifice truly was." Reid continued:

Some of the state party officials understood the importance of this effort and joined in with gusto. Others resisted; and continue to resist. With an opportunity to achieve parity in the Florida state Senate totally within his grasp, the Dem Caucus Chair, Senator Gary Farmer, still hasn’t endorsed Kathy Lewis in FL SD 20, a crucial seat that could give Gary Farmer shared power with his Republican counterpart, Wilton Simpson. The Dem Senate Caucus hasn’t yet called the 9 Democratic Senate candidates who are running in the perceived, "unwinnable" districts. (Do these candidates have "cooties?" Do phones not connect into their Republican districts? Do good form and manners cease to exist at the doorway to the Senate Caucus offices?) Yet, the candidates persist. They carry on. Because, if they don’t play, they can’t win. They probably define winning differently than the old guard party apparatchiks. By running and persisting, they’re winning marginal votes for Joe Biden in their districts; they’re winning hearts and minds of disaffected and previously disrespected voters who have been neglected cycle after cycle; they’re winning the argument within these disregarded communities about the environment, the economy, civil rights, voting rights, and COVID; they’re in the game, sweating, putting in the work.

That’s cool. That’s heroic. That’s high level citizenship.

Are they all going to win? Absolutely not. Some-- and remember, these are all districts the state party decided to not compete in-- are getting tantalizingly close and actually may win. And all of them are turning out votes for the Biden/Harris ticket which is perhaps even more important than Gary Farmer's and his cronies' careers of systemic corruption.





No one ever said all these candidates are going to win. Some of them are running in beet red districts where Democrats haven't run in years. Of course, that's part of the reason they may be so beet red. Rachel Brown is running for the state Senate in Lee County, which the FDP always seems too eager to write-off as "unwinnable." If she wins, the Senate flips from red to blue. But Gary Farmer was dating a Republican running in that district and he literally demanded Rachel drop out. (His GOP girlfriend lost her primary-- in a massive landslide-- and, thank goodness, Rachel didn't drop out. Today she's busy helping turn out Democratic and independent voters for Biden-Harris and she's educating voters about what Democrats stand for. "Always trying is the key," she told me this afternoon. "The second we give up any state, we lose momentum. For those who don't like the party, change it. For those who like the party and think sacrificing battle grounds with no fight... bad strategy. Even if you think you will lose, continuing to talk about medicaid expansion, Rights of Nature, a Green New Deal, will all add to the momentum that our party is lacking and shoot us into the right direction. The only thing we are doing by not having progressives run is creating intellectual deserts."

Before he became a candidate in a swing district state legislative seat in Miami-Dade where the Florida Democratic Party didn't want to run anyone (which would upset GOP powerhouse Daniel Perez), Bob Lynch had a career in Structured Products Trading on Wall Street. That included mortgages, auto, student loans, and also SBA loans. He has an intimate knowledge of loan documentation. "I can tell you with 100% certainty," he said, "that there has never been a single loan that walked into a bank and applied for itself. The Florida Democratic Party created a shell company in order to apply for this loan because political organizations were ineligible for obtaining a PPP loan. The stated purpose of this loan was to save 100 jobs, despite the fact that this entity had no payroll."

In short, Terri Rizzo, the party chair, and Juan Peñalosa, the party executive director, were committing fraud. Lynch:

Why is it that when the Florida Democratic Party was shamed into returning the loan, no jobs were cut? In fact, they hired more people... including third party consultants and contractors with multi million dollar budgets that were never accounted for.

Campaigns like Ricky Junquera’s in HD-118 were funded by this money. Subsequent donors contributions were essentially used to backfill this fraud. That’s a big deal.

When I called for Juan Peñalosa to be fired, I was attacked by the party and accused of being a racist. None of this money went to black or brown women.

Leading Florida Dem “strategists” told me that I should not kick the hornets nest and that because of Juan Peñalosa, Latino strategists such as Rosy Gonzales Spears, Luisana Pérez and many others finally had a place at the table.

All of this was a cash grab. It came down to the people who blew the election for Andrew Gillum and Bill Nelson. Now they’re going to blow it again because that’s what these people do for a living.

Nobody cares about actually winning. It’s just about who can get the biggest piece of the wallet share. The Florida Dems spent over $14mm this cycle and $2mm of that went to an independent contractor to focus on only 19 races.

Following the money is extremely straight forward. Why can’t anyone tell me how any of this adds up?

On Wednesday morning, if you wake up and see that Rachel Brown won her Florida state Senate race in "red" Lee County, it means more than just the state Senate flipping blue; it will mean a whole new day dawning in Florida politics. "I think if I don't like something I should fix it," Rachel told me a few minutes ago. "There were many things the Florida Democratic party could have done to help us, requiring no money. In the future, the party should have an orientation in June, telling candidates about the 0.03 cents texting that they told us about two weeks to election day at the point where we were too busy to give them our money and they were too busy to give us the service, about robocalls, about 'data tickets,' about the hundreds of volunteer callers from around the U.S., they had the whole time, who wanted to help flip Florida. They should have one person whose job it is to call through those lists and assign them to campaigns."

She continued, explaining that she didn't want to just sit and complain about how the FDP does its business. "I know how frustrating that attitude must be to party leadership. I'm going to make sure future candidates know about these things and actually help get them started. I'm happy about the positive improvements in the party I've seen locally. For example Lee County Democrats made slate cards for the first time and distributed them to all the Democrats in the county. That's work. We all had many sleepless nights, making ads, printing, cutting and stapling flyers... and days of lit drops and phone calls and texts, and interruptions from media, emails and, of course, questionnaires that never amounted to anything. Anselm [Weber, candidates for the state House in the same area] and I had a volunteer who did 20 hours of phone calling a week. We had a couple join us, calling, making graphics, social media posts, running errands, and lit drops. I found comrades in the Haitian Creole and Spanish-speaking communities who did translations for me. I had a 15 year old volunteer who couldn't vote because of her age but wanted to help and learn from us. Local donors in the vegan community, friends sharing posts and helping make events. We had someone donate huge signs for us to paint, and then put them up for us! There's a man in Bonita Springs, just going house to house registering Democrats to vote and making sure they do... There's so much being done here. I plan on keeping up that positivity and making comrades in Lee County."

Janelle Christensen from the state environmental caucus reiterated tome today that "Running for office, especially when you know the odds are not in your favor, takes incredible dedication to the democratic system. I see the biggest barriers as the antiquated system that the State of Florida has set up for candidates to register to run, the barriers put up to keep people from qualifying and the challenges in finance reporting. Margie and I tried (and at times failed) to help candidates navigate the system designed to keep out the average person. Despite those barriers each candidate has made connections in their communities, educated about climate change, and ensured that entrenched Republicans did not get to set the narrative without challenge. I am happy Margie and I could help candidates in any way we could. I hope we can do it again." She asked me to acknowledge the incredible difference the Blue Wave Coalition has made in some critical areas... they helped register voters and get out the vote in deep red Lee (DEC Chair Gabe Spukes) and Collier (DEC Chair Annisa Karim) Counties and the DEC Chair of Sarasota County, Joanne DeVries has been an amazing advocate and support system also. Some of the best voter turnout is happening in red districts." This is a spreadsheet Janelle updates several times a day.

The Case For A Progressive Democrat In A Red-Leaning Florida District-- Adam Christensen (FL-03)

 

Florida's 3rd congressional district is an unlikely place for one of the iconic races of the 2020 cycle. Obama lost the R+9 both times he ran-- with 44.2% in 2008 and 41.9% in 2012. Then Clinton did even worse-- 40.2%-- against Trump. Although Alachua County is solidly blue, it is the only one of FL-03's six counties that is. Alachua has the most voters but Clay County has nearly as many and it is far redder than Alachua is blue. And with Marion and Putnam counties this has made the district unfriendly territory for Democrats. In 2018, the blue wave never reached the district and radical right tea-bagger Ted Yoho beat Yvonne Hinson 176,616 (57.6%) to 129,880 (42.4%), with strong wins in 5 counties and a thrashing in Alachua.

And then three things came along to change the complexion of the congressional race: 4 years of Donald Trump, whose unique behavior has offended Republicans in Clay County Jacksonville suburbs in and around Middleburg, Green Cove Springs and Orange Park; the mishandled COVID pandemic which has brought Marion County 10,706 cases and 347 deaths, Alachua County 10,114 cases and 74 deaths, Clay County 5,966 cases and 117 deaths, Putnam County 2,335 cases and 50 deaths; and Adam Christensen, a political outsider and an energetic and dedicated smart young progressive, a very different kind if candidate than what FL-03 has seen before.

Christensen, who turned 27 last weekend, won his 3-way primary by concentrating his efforts not in bright blue Alachua County but by taking his populist message to the rural precincts of the district. Now he's working to persuade voters in those areas to back him in replacing Ted Yoho, who has decided to retire from Congress. Christensen has made more headway with independent voters in the rural counties than he has with Blue Dog Cheri Bustos and her DCCC, who have refused to take FL-03 seriously. Florida progressive icon and former congressman, Alan Grayson, looked at the race and endorsed Christensen, noting that "Adam chose a [campaign] URL-- ForTheManyNotJustMe.com-- that conveys why he is running for Congress: for the many, not just him. And, as it turns out, that is the most important thing in a candidate, because if you don’t start out with that in your heart, you’re sure not going to pick it up on the way. Good luck in FL-03, Adam. There’s only one right reason to run for Congress, and you’ve found it."

In his closing message to north-central Florida voters, Christensen wrote that those who have followed his race know his opponent has based her entire campaign on following an insulting GOP cookie cutter playbook unrelated to the real issues facing the district's families-- "attacking AOC and fear-mongering about progressive women of color in Congress. Why? Because just like her boss Ted Yoho, my opponent has no vision for our district. She’s not interested in helping people and knows she can’t win on the issues, so she resorts to constantly throwing out rightwing red meat to try to rally her base. Our campaign is the exact opposite. I'm running BECAUSE for too long our district has been neglected by Washington politicians like Yoho and my opponent while they use their office to pursue their personal ambitions." 

We believe the job of a Representative is to help their constituents secure a better life. That’s why we just released the most ambitious and innovative jobs plan our district has ever seen.

Our plan would create 32,715 jobs over the next 5 years just in Florida’s 3rd district alone, with widespread effects for job creation across the region. It’s a blueprint for a sustainable future with shared prosperity for all.

Our plan will:

• Invest in high speed rail
• Provide high speed broadband internet for all
• Recommit to supporting small businesses and farms
• Protect our towns and rural communities from destructive big corporations
• Bring tourism and talents back into our district

This is about a movement of all of us to create the change we seek in this world, to say enough is enough and stand up to fight back against corporate greed and a corrupt political establishment that have decimated our communities.

We believe that a better world is possible. And with your help, we can replace Ted Yoho and accomplish so much here in FL-3 and throughout the country.

Thank you for supporting our campaign, and standing up for progressive values that put people over profits.

A few days earlier, Christensen's campaign listed 10 reasons why voters should support him and not his GOP opponent. Please take a look and if you like what you see, consider sending him a last-minute contribution for his Get Out the Vote program by clicking on the Trump District Dems thermometer on the right.

1. He would be the youngest person in Congress. At age 27, Adam is the youngest Dem congressional nominee in the country. And if elected, would be the youngest sitting Congressperson. Let’s invest in the next generation of progressive changemakers.

2. Adam will stand up for working families. Growing up in post-Recession Indiana, Adam saw firsthand how corporate greed destroyed working and middle class communities. That’s why in Congress, he’ll always stand up to special interests and fight for working people.

3. He will fight for middle-class tax cuts-- including cost-saving, common sense health and education solutions like Medicare for All and Universal Pre-K.

4. This campaign is helping flip Florida blue. Our race is in a dead heat right now, and so is the state of Florida. If we can flip this district, our victory will help ensure Donald Trump is defeated in Florida and becomes a one-term president.

5. He will protect the environment and ensure no one gets left behind. Adam supports the Green New Deal to make sure that our community and environment survive for future generations.

6. He has a plan to create over 30,000 good-paying green jobs in FL-3. Adam believes everyone deserves a good union job with a living wage.

7. Adam will fight for dignity and justice for all. From comprehensive immigration and criminal justice reforms, to caring for our veterans and people with disabilities, Adam will fight to ensure that in the wealthiest country on earth, everyone is treated fairly and gets a dignified life they deserve.

8. He will fight to end predatory business practices. Adam’s day job is catching corporate fraud. From cash bail to Big Pharma price-gouging, Adam will stand up to greedy corporations that cheat and rip off working people everyday.

9. He will fight for small business. Adam successfully started two companies on his own, and knows the struggle of small business owners trying to provide good benefits for their employees while growing their businesses. That’s why he’ll fight to make Medicare for All a reality, and will make sure the federal government provides direct investment and assistance to help small businesses thrive.

10. He has the cutest dog! Look at his pomsky puppy Pummel! 

Abandoned By The DCCC 2020

 

With a tiny handful of exceptions-- basically Kara Eastman in Omaha, Joyce Elliott in Little Rock and Dana Balter in Syracuse (who is running in a D+3 district)-- Cheri Bustos and her DCCC have once again decided to spend all the big money primarily on corporate-friendly conservative candidates backed by the Blue Dogs and New Dems. To say movement candidates don't get a fair shake from Bustos, would be the understatement of the cycle.

Sri Kulkarni is a good example. He's running in TX-22, Tom DeLay's old district in the suburbs south and southwest of Houston, primarily Fort Bend County with a chunk of Brazoria and a sliver od Harris. With a PVI of R+10, Trump beat Hillary there 52.1% to 44.2%. Kulkarni lost to Republican Pete Olson in 2018-- 152,750 (51.4%) to 138,153 (46.5%), a good showing but not as good as Beto O'Rourke had. Olson is retiring now and it makes sense for the DCCC to chase the district. Kulkarni, though is an extremely flawed candidate on many levels. We'll just mention one: he's been endorsed by the Blue Dogs and New Dems. The Blue Dogs have been known to reject conservatives who they don't view as conservative enough. They see Kulkarni as right up their alley.

Kulkarni has outraised Republican Troy Nehls $4,863,231 to $1,532,299. But the big spending is the district is coming from the DCCC and Pelosi's House Majority PAC and from Kevin McCarthy's Congressional Leadership Fund. As of last week, the DCCC and Pelosi had spent $5,749,664 slamming Nehls and bolstering Kulkarni. Meanwhile McCarthy had put $5,692,407 into slamming Kulkarni and bolstering Nehls. Those are signals that the committees are serious about backing candidates. Corporate conservatives like Christy Smith (CA), Carolyn Bourdeaux (GA) and Amy Kennedy (NJ)-- all endorsed by the New Dems-- have also been benefiting from mega-DCCC independent expenditures. Progressives? Nope; with a couple of exception-- just peanuts that send a very different signal.

We've just re-activated Blue America's Abandoned by the DCCC ActBlue page, which you will find by clicking on the thermometer on the right. These are progressive candidates who won their primaries and each is on the verge of flipping a red seat blue-- without any real help-- or in most cases, without any help-- from the DCCC, which endlessly whines that progressives are "too liberal" for the districts they're running in.

I spoke with a movement candidate who looked over the list of the DCCC favorites. He said, "I think we can persuade some of them to vote progressive at least some of the time." OK, better than nothing, but what about candidates you don't have to persuade, leaders like Jamaal Bowman, Mondaire Jones, Beth Doglio and Cori Bush who have already proven that they don't need any persuading?

I'm thinking this is going to be the last Blue America ask before the election. So please read what history of ideas professor-- and Riverside County progressive candidate-- Liam O'Mara told me about what's behind the DCCC abandonment of progressive candidates.

"The idea that I am 'too progressive for the district' is rubbish... We currently have the best early return rate of any Democrat in recent memory, and that follows a primary cycle that saw more votes to the Dems than any previous primary in ages. Right now FiveThirtyEight gives my campaign a better chance of flipping the district than they've seen yet, and a higher chance of flipping the seat than quite a few candidates in the long list of candidates the DCCC is spending on. Progressive-populist leaders used to dominate in the most socially conservative corners of the country, because more people vote their wallets and their hopes than anything else. To say that we are out of touch with the needs and wishes of the electorate is to surrender preëmptively to Republican control and Republican arguments... when what we ought to be doing is standing out there and winning over hearts and minds. The Democratic party needs to stop focussing on safely blue seats and start trying to win people over... and we can't do that with tepid, half-baked conservatism."

The Florida Democratic Party never looked seriously at the north-central Florida district centered on Gainesville, but this year, after Ted Yoho announced his retirement, 27 year old Adam Christensen has made a real race out of it. If he win, the DCCC will be in shock-- especially because he's the kind of independent-minded progressive that the establishment fears. "The DCCC hasn’t spent a penny on this race," Christensen told me. "They wrote it off a long time ago and refused to even look our way. Even without their help we have managed to raise more money than anyone who has ever run here, all from small dollar donations, and have brought an 'unwinnable' within the margin of error. If we had $100,000 more this race would be over. It is the best Return-On-Investment of any race in the  country and would winning it would flip Ted Yoho’s R+9 district. So if anyone wants to make a good investment Florida CD-3 is about as good as you can find."

Criminals Hate Regulations-- Who'da Thunk?

 

You know who hates rules and regulations? Criminals-- and not just the Mafia. It includes the exploitative class and the conservative political parties that represent that class' interests. It's why I've never voted for a Republican. And it's why I've never identified as a Republican... despite knowing how corrupt and worthless the Democratic Party has become over the course of my lifetime, especially since Bill Clinton helped usher in a take-over by the Republican wing of the Democratic Party in 1992.

But even most of the worst of the conservaDems tend to back at least some regulatory protections for workers and the environment. Republicans don't. Many of them will drown in an anti-Trump tsunami in two weeks but they were willing to make that bargain with the devil in order to wreck the American regulatory infrastructure and to pack the courts with the kinds of right-wing zealots who will uphold that for the aforementioned exploitative class.

Last week, The NY Times published a look at the GOP wrecking ball by Eric Lipton. Don't forget, he morons who attend Trump rallies may love chanting "lock her up"-- whether about Hillary, Kamala or Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer-- but those with the money and power behind the GOP are more concerned with allowing their criminal proclivities to run rampant without government interference than with the theatrics of Trumpism. Lipton clearly laid out how desperate the handmaidens of America's criminal class are "scrambling to enact regulatory changes affecting millions of Americans in a blitz so rushed it may leave some changes vulnerable to court challenges... In the bid to lock in new rules before Jan. 20, Mr. Trump’s team is limiting or sidestepping requirements for public comment on some of the changes and swatting aside critics who say the administration has failed to carry out sufficiently rigorous analysis. Some cases, like a new rule to allow railroads to move highly flammable liquefied natural gas on freight trains, have led to warnings of public safety threats.

Every administration pushes to complete as much of its agenda as possible when a president’s term is coming to an end, seeking not just to secure its own legacy but also to tie the hands of any successor who tries to undo its work.

But as Mr. Trump completes four years marked by an extensive deregulatory push, the administration’s accelerated effort to put a further stamp on federal rules is drawing questions even from some former top officials who served under Republican presidents.

...If Democrats take control of Congress, they will have the power to reconsider some of these last-minute regulations, through a law last used at the start of Mr. Trump’s tenure by Republicans to repeal certain rules enacted at the end of the Obama administration.

But the Trump administration is also working to fill key vacancies on scientific advisory boards with members who will hold their seats far into the next presidential term, committees that play an important role in shaping federal rule making.

...The Environmental Protection Agency, which since the start of the Trump administration has been moving at a high speed to rewrite federal regulations, is expected to complete work in the weeks that remain in Mr. Trump’s term on two of the nation’s most important air pollution rules: standards that regulate particulates and ozone that is formed based on emissions from power plants, car exhaust and other sources.

These two pollutants are blamed for bronchitis, asthma, lung cancer and other ailments, causing an estimated 7,140 premature deaths a year in the United States, according to one recent study. The agency is proposing to keep these standards at their current levels, provoking protests from certain health experts and environmentalists who argue that the agency is obligated to lower the limits after new evidence emerged about the harm the pollutants cause.

Scott Pruitt, who served as the E.P.A. administrator in the first 17 months of Mr. Trump’s tenure, set as a goal before he left office to get these new standards adopted by December 2020, even though the agency had previously expected they would not be finished until 2022.

The agency also is rushing to complete a series of regulations that will almost certainly make it harder for future administrations to tighten air pollution and other environmental standards, including a limit on how science is used in rule making and a change to the way costs and benefits are evaluated to justify new rules.

Mr. Trump has played a direct role in pushing to accelerate some regulations. Among them is a provision finished this summer, nicknamed “bomb trains” by its critics, that allows railroads to move highly flammable loads of liquefied natural gas on freight trains. Mr. Trump signed an executive order last year directing the Transportation Department to enact the rule within 13 months-- even before it had been formally proposed.

The change was backed by the railroad and natural gas industry, which has donated millions of dollars to Mr. Trump, after construction of pipelines had been blocked or slowed after protests by environmentalists.

But the proposal provoked an intense backlash from a diverse array of prominent public safety officials. Among them were groups representing thousands of mayors, firefighters and fire marshals nationwide and even the federal government’s own National Transportation Safety Board, which investigates fatal transportation accidents.

The gas is stored in 30,000-gallon rail tanks at minus 260 degrees to keep it compressed. But if accidentally released during an accident, it would rapidly expand by nearly 600 times as the temperature rises and cause what is known as a “boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion” that if ignited could not be quickly extinguished, potentially resulting in widespread injury or death if it occurs in a populated area, the firefighters warned.

“It is nearly certain any accident involving a train consisting of multiple rail cars loaded with L.N.G. will place vast numbers of the public at risk while fully depleting all local emergency response forces,” Harold A. Schaitberger, the president of the International Association of Fire Fighters, wrote in a letter opposing the proposal.

The Transportation Department still adopted the rule and rejected proposed speed limits for the trains, generating a petition for a court review by 14 states and the District of Columbia.

“Studies on how to safely transport liquefied natural gas by rail are still ongoing, and this administration has rushed to implement a rule that will needlessly endanger people’s lives and threaten our environment,” Michigan’s attorney general, Dana Nessel, said.

Even while the challenge is underway, the Transportation Department has moved to enact another rule easing safety standards, in this case removing a requirement intended to limit the number of hours truck drivers are allowed behind the wheel and to mandate rest periods.

Certain drivers who carry agricultural products would now be exempt from this federal mandate in a standard that would again be adopted as an “interim final rule,” meaning it would be put in place before any public comment is accepted, under the plan announced by the agency.

“Fatigued truck drivers remain a stubbornly high cause of fatal highway accidents,” said James Goodwin, a lawyer at the Center for Progressive Reform, a nonprofit group that tracks regulatory actions. “The law permits agencies to take short cuts when there are extraordinary circumstances that call for them. That is not present here.”

Earlier today, progressive state Rep. Jon Hoadley, a congressional candidate who appears to be beating Trump lackey Fred Upton, told us that Upton "continues to tout his supposed victories for the Great Lakes while also enabling corporate polluters to contaminate them along with our groundwater. As Chairman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, he held one of the most powerful positions in Congress and due to his inaction or enacted obstacles, at one point he was deemed 'the worst threat to planet Earth on Earth.' Michiganders need a leader who will actually fight to protect our precious natural resources and hold polluters accountable."

Beth Doglio is in a hot D vs D contest in Washington. Beth is the environmentalist and workers' champion in the race and her opponent, Marilyn Strickland, is an establishment Dem who was president of the Chamber of Commerce and supported... well all the kinds of anti-environment and anti-worker policies conservative and the Chamber support. Not quite as bad as a Republican of course, but... close. Beth told me that "We have to draw a line in the sand when it comes to large new fossil fuel infrastructure that locks in emission for decades to come. I was standing firm leading the fight to stop the seven coal export terminals dead in their tracks, while my opponent openly supported a proposal to site the largest methanol plant in the world in urban Tacoma before it was vetted. Residents of Pierce County rejected it." Both of these women have track records. Beth's is golden; Stickland's is... a lump of coal.

Julie Oliver is rewriting the political history of Texas with her amazing run in a gerrymandered R+11 congressional seat. This morning she told me that her opponent, "Roger Williams consistently toes the party line that he favors limited governmental regulation, unless it benefits his own business, one of the most protected industries by regulation in the state of Texas-- automobile dealerships. But unless Williams or his donors are the beneficiaries of regulations, he fights hard to ensure laws and regulations lose their potency or are eliminated altogether. Williams filed what has to be the shortest bill introduced in Congress, 'This bill terminates the EPA effective 12/31/2018.' He doesn't care that his constituents in Johnson County are fighting for clean water or that his constituents in Burnet County are fighting for clean air; Williams is a loot-the-coffers kind of Republican who is using his position of public trust to enrich himself and his donors. Last week, the Houston Chronicle reported that Williams used his position on the Financial Services Committee to strongarm banks into meetings with his wealthy donors, while ignoring the pleas for help from constituents who have been laid off due to the pandemic."

Adam Christensen, a progressive running against a crumbling GOP power structure in north-central Florida, is aiming at replacing Trump lickspittle Ted Yoho. Earlier he told us that "The Trump administration has constantly attempted to deregulate guidelines that save people’s lives. They actively attempt to deregulate safety standards for railways, pollutants and more. Representative Ted Yoho and my opponent Kat Cammack want to continue these deregulations to help their wealthy donors even if they result in harm and even death to our people. Pollutants are causing Americans to develop dangerous diseases such as asthma and lung cancer. Americans are dying because Republicans like the current administration, Mr. Yoho and Ms. Cammack refuse to stand up for our planet and our people. They will only stand up for power, greed, their donors and their wealth. They are standing by and allowing phosphate mines to sue Union into oblivion. It’s time we stand up and fight people and greed like this. I know that when we win we will stand up and fight for our planet, our people and our future."

Why Is The Florida Democratic Party Working So Hard To Lose?

 

Remember when Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was bragging that his do-nothing response to the pandemic was just what the doctor ordered and how Florida would never be like New York or Italy. Today Florida has had 734,491 confirmed cases of COVID-19 (34,198 cases per million Floridians). New York has had 509,460 cases (26,189 cases per million New Yorkers) and Italy has had 354,950 cases (just 5,873 cases per million Italians). On Sunday Florida, still in the first wave, had 1,870 new cases. New York appears to be in the early phases of Wave II and reported 1,145 new cases. Like Trump, DeSantis has made every single wrong decision about the pandemic since it began, Because of DeSantis and Trump 15,365 Floridians are dead and the state currently has 284,231 active cases, more than any state other than California, which has nearly twice as many people.

DeSantis, the most hated governor in America, isn't on the ballot 3 weeks from today. He's lucky; but his party is on the ballot and voters know who the puppets in the state legislature are. The Florida state Senate consists of 23 Republicans and 17 Democrats. Four seats and the Democrats flip the Senate-- not an easy task... but not an impossible task either. Too bad the Florida Democratic Party doesn't seem interested in doing so.

"The party," former Orlando Congressman Alan Grayson told me yesterday, referring to the state Democratic Party, "should have come together and advocated a pro-survival, pro-health platform including free widespread testing, contact tracing, free state-provided PPE for everyone dealing with the public and all seniors, 'public nuisance' or 'disturbing the peace' enforcement against rule-breakers, free COVID treatment for everyone without insurance, frequent state inspection of nursing homes and senior communities for staff compliance, serious quarantining, selective restrictions tied to local outbreaks, virtual school open to all, and everything else that has been proven to work in places that have beaten the virus. Instead, crickets. Just crickets and funerals."

One of the least-covered scandals of this election cycle is how the head of the Florida Senate Dems, Gary Farmer, attempted to persuade-- rudely-- Rachel Brown into dropping out of an open state Senate race in Lee County to smooth the path for Farmer's Republican girlfriend, Heather Fitzenhagen. Luckily, Brown was not easily intimidated. Farmer's Republican girlfriend lost her primary to a neo-fascist Republican, Ray Rodrigues, and Brown is all that stands between him and another GOP extremist in the state legislature. Farmer is completely dismissive of Brown's campaign and has cut her off from state party funds.

Similarly, Farmer is protecting Trump Florida campaign Chair, Sen. Joe Gruters-- who is also chairman of the Florida Republican Party-- and has done everything he can do to sabotage the campaign of Democrat Katherine Norman, one of the best Democratic candidates fielded by the party this cycle.

Another case of Farmer working as hard as a Republican to make sure the Senate does not flip has been getting some national coverage. Joan Walsh's recent exposé in The Nation, Do Florida Democrats Want to Win the State Senate This Year? tells the story of Kathy Lewis, a distinguished African-American candidate who came close to beating the Republican incumbent last time she ran in a swing district that takes in parts of Hillsborough, Pasco and Polk counties. The Republican incumbent is retiring and the Democratic Party recognized a prime opportunity to flip a seat. They worked hard to recruit, not Kathy but failed gubernatorial candidate Alex Sink. When Sink declined, the party took the district off the map, despite Kathy's candidacy. Many observers say Farmer doesn't like black candidates running in white districts.

Last week, the Tampa Bay Times endorsed Kathy and demonstrated the short-sightedness of the state party. "Kathy Lewis," reads the editorial, "brings a compelling life story and a rich mix of professional and civic experience to this race. Her drive and clear view of the problems Floridians face would bring a fresh jolt of reality to the Senate." Gary Farmer should read the whole endorsement:

Lewis, 59, is an author, speaker and businesswoman who advocates on behalf of families with children with special needs. She was motivated to run for this Senate seat in 2018 after an ordeal with obtaining services for her daughter-- an experience that Lewis said shows the holes and indifference in the social safety net that punishes hard-hit families.

Lewis said her fight for disability rights grew beyond an interest in expanding Medicaid. And she says the coronavirus pandemic exposed the need to deal with social services across the board. She would invest more in education and public health, improve the unemployment benefits process and devise a strategy to address impacts to the budget. She also rightly wants Tallahassee to be more disciplined about preempting local control. Her agenda and infectious energy could bring average residents into the decision-making process and help restore public faith in government.

Republican Danny Burgess, 34, is an attorney and former state House member who served as executive director of the state Department of Veterans' Affairs from 2019 to 2020. Aside from supporting more reliable access to Florida’s jobless benefits system, Burgess doesn’t offer many exciting ideas or stray from the Republican playbook. He supports the costly plan for new transportation corridors, which is unfocused at best.


Lewis would bring a rich life experience to the upper chamber and a history of perseverance. She emerged from an inner-city household in Baltimore to become a financial analyst in both the public and private sectors and a civic leader in school and children’s groups. She has a command of what’s happening on the ground and what should happen at the 30,000-foot level. The Times Editorial Board recommends Kathy Lewis.

Over the weekend, Daily Kos diarist, SemDem, noted that "For the past two decades, there’s one thing the Florida Democrats have gotten really good at: losing." And, as he points out, there are far more registered Democrats in the state than registered Republicans. As of August, 2020:

• Democrats- 5,203,795
• Republicans- 5,020,199
• No Party Affiliation- 3,653,046

The Florida Democratic Party is fairly good at winning seats in overwhelmingly Democratic districts of Miami-Dade, Duval, Broward, Pinellas, Alachua, Orange, Osceola, Leon, Hillsborough, and Palm Beach counties, but would rather not contest races in districts were they need to work hard making a case to non-affiliated voters. They are lazy and incompetent as a party-- which is why it is so refreshing to have candidates up and down the ballot who are not affiliated with the party apparatus, whether state Senate candidates like Kathy Lewis, Rachel Brown and Katherine Norman, state House candidates like Joshua Hicks, Bob Lynch and Anselm Weber or U.S. congressional candidates like Adam Christensen and Cindy Banyai. (By the way, the 2020 ActBlue Florida thermometer on the right will allow you to contribute to any or all of these candidates. Please consider clicking on it.)

Yesterday Rachel Brown-- who isn't in one of those overwhelmingly blue districts-- told me that she only needs $7,000 to get her entire district's voters to click on her website from Facebook Ads. "A $100 donation," she said, "is the equivalent of a volunteer phone banker who calls for 4 hours a day for 7 days a week for 1 week. There are 132,809 registered Democrats in Lee County. I need 121,000 votes to win. This district is definitely flippable. We need help getting the word out. Please sign up for a phone bank or make a donation today. Even if I lose, the information that I put in my ads is necessary for the people to know. I give stats about livable wage, healthcare, climate, affordable housing, COVID-19 in all my ads. If people donate, the money goes to information/education based ads and conversational texting, and blast texts/robo calls reminding left leaning irregular voters to get out to vote."

One of the promising-- future of the Democratic Party-- state legislative candidates, Anselm Weber, is being actively ignored by the Florida party, despite an energetic and compelling campaign in Lee County that will be turning out votes in the presidential, congressional and state Senate races. Yesterday, Weber told me that "In the face of an openly fascist GOP administration, the gatekeepers in the Democratic Party still cede immense ground to the Republicans while actively helping them in key areas. Florida is a swing state with majority Democratic voters. It is deeply negligent in the face of a DeSantis administration that is openly trying to criminalize peaceful protests, refuses to expand Medicaid, and continues to destroy our environment, that the Democrats are not spending as much as they can to help flip the Florida State Legislature. Even if the Democrats win the Presidency and both chambers of Congress, the door is wide open for Republicans to continue their authoritarian and austerity driven agenda in Florida or any other state. The Democrats should take a page from the Republicans and fight for state and local elections as much as they fight for the Presidency."

Another candidate candidate didn't want to go on record but told me that "the party should and can do way more to help down ballot candidates and it's a shame they don't. Whoever is the chair in 2022 needs to commit to truly supporting down ballot candidates-- as many great candidates won't run again because they aren't treated well."

SemDem went on to point out that Farmer is only targeting 2 Senate seats (SD-9 and SD-39), guaranteeing that the state Senate will not flip. A vigorous grassroots movement has a bone to pick with Farmer and the state Party and has helped make sure a Democrat is running in every district. Like most people, SemDem has identified Kathy Lewis as the Democrat who has the best chance to bring the party the crucial 3rd seat that would force the GOP to share power with the Democrats. He points out that her swing district "transverses the I-4 corridor, which is critical for Biden’s Florida campaign... Supporting this race is a no-brainer. Unfortunately, not only has most of the Democratic senate caucus not endorsed her, she told me that two major donors who had pledged money were told not to donate to her campaign. What is going on?

Florida Senator Gary Farmer, who is set to be Democratic Minority Leader in 2021, oversees the Democratic Senate Victory funding. He has ensured that Senate Districts 9 and 39 are flush with money. District 9 challenger Patricia Sigman has been receiving funds from the Florida Democratic Legislative Campaign since March. More importantly, she and District 39 challenger Jose Fernandez received endorsements early on that helped big donors open their checkbooks. Sigman and Fernandez have raised half a million each.

Kathy Lewis never received such treatment. Mr. Farmer has tweeted against spending money on “long shots” that take away from races that he feels can be won. To be fair, he must spend a lot to win both Districts 9 and 39, and this year he must also spend money in District 3 (Tallahassee) and District 37 (South Florida) to ward off surprisingly strong challengers—even though they are in blue areas. The Democratic incumbents for SD-3 and SD-37 have over $300K each.

However, District 20 is far from a long shot. In fact, an internal poll, commissioned by a large donor in September, showed the race to be very competitive. The poll data showed that Lewis’ Republican opponent, Dan Burgess, had an edge until questions were posed from the GOP agenda, such as cutting Medicare, fracking and not fixing former governor, current Sen. Rick Scott and Gov. Ron DeSantis’ unemployment system-- which became an utter disaster in this state after COVID. The poll swung to Lewis by a 24-point margin! With appropriate funding, and Lewis’ plan to digitally micro-target constituents, the district could be in great shape for a flip.

Nonetheless, she not only received the cold shoulder on funding, she also has only managed to get the endorsements of five state senators as of this writing: Annette Taddeo, Lori Burman, Victor Torres, Audrey Gibson, and Bobby Powell. Endorsements are needed to bring in big donor funding. The other 12 Democratic state senators have not endorsed her, and in some cases, stated they wouldn’t. Fergie Reid, Jr. of 90for90.org revealed that Democratic state Sen. Darryl Rousen told him he had a friendly working relationship with Burgess, the Republican candidate, and thought Kathy Lewis wasn’t a strong enough candidate to beat him. I reached out to state Sen. Rousen and left messages, but they were not returned as of this writing.

If the Florida state Senate doesn't flip, it will be Gary Farmer's fault. If Florida fails to deliver its 29 electoral votes to Joe Biden this cycle it will be Gary Farmer's fault. If Florida remains a Republican hellhole it will be Gary Farmer's fault. Debbie Wasserman Schultz ran the Florida Democratic Party into a ditch; Gary Farmer is keeping it there. Whose payroll is Farmer on?

And it isn't just the venality for characters like Wasserman Schultz and Farmer that have turned Florida into such a challenge for Democrats. The party's incompetence is legendary. Adam Christensen, one of the state's rising stars, told me, regretfully that the state is far behind where it should be technologically-- at least in the rural parts of the state the party has been ignoring for years. Recently, his campaign spent $3,500 buying data from the party. "We decided to run tests on this  data to see just how effective it would be. We found that 80% of it was wrong. This included disconnected phone numbers, wrong cell numbers, incorrect addresses or emails ect… Data wins races, and right now Florida Democrats are running blind in the most critical areas-- that is if they are able to pay for this data at all. In my opinion if the Democratic Party of Florida gave out their software to everyone running and taught them how to do constant updates then they would have a phenomenal crowd-sourced operation and would win far more races than they do currently. It’s time to move into the 21st century, and we can’t afford to keep making the same mistakes."

Let's Get This Show On The Road And Off The Rails... And Bask In The Trumplessness

 

The two big national polls released early Sunday morning-- Ipsos' for Reuters and Hart Research's for NBC and the Wall Street Journal-- were conducted after the debate and after God struck Trump and his inner circle down with COVID-19. Overall, they don't differ much. Basically, Biden opened his widest lead in a month after Donald tested positive for COVID and "a majority of Americans think Trump could have avoided infection if he had taken the virus more seriously. The Oct. 2-3 national opinion poll gave little indication of an outpouring of support for the president beyond Trump’s core group of followers, some of whom [the Proud Boys and other neo-Nazi groups] have gathered outside Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where the president has been hospitalized."

The Reuters poll shows Trump losing by 10 points (landslide territory)-- 51-41%. The NBC/WSJ poll has Trump losing by an astounding 14 points-- 53-39%, a lot worse than their poll before the debate when Trump was just down by 8 points. That 14 point divergence is the poll's best-ever for Biden against Trump.

Why did the floor for Trump finally start collapsing? Simple: seniors and suburban women. Seniors have turned on Trump and now back Biden 62-35% and just 33% of suburban women say they're voting for Trump. Even the cohort of men over 50 have moved from a 13 point advantage for Trump to a virtual tie-- a one point advantage for Biden!

Reporting for the Washington Post Sunday morning, Karen Heller wrote that "Americans 65 and older vote the way some people wish the entire country voted: regularly, passionately and in huge percentages, the largest of any age group. They are no-excuse, this-is-what-democracy-is-all-about voters. Four years ago, 71 percent of them cast ballots. They vote like their legacies depend on it."

When I was growing up, the seniors still remembered FDR and it was a strong part of the Democratic Party coalition. As these voters started dying off and as the Democratic Party started drifting away from what FDR stood for and morphing into a Clintonesque Frankenstein monster "big tent" party catering to Wall Street and rich campaign donors, the solidarity of this crucial bloc of voters dissipated. The last time the Democrats won a majority of the over-65 crowd was in 2000, and not by a big enough margin to win the election.

Heller wrote that "The Biden campaign hopes to end that drought. Polls and voting patterns suggest it very well could. In a recent Washington Post-ABC poll, 52 percent of likely voters over 65 supported Biden, compared with 47 percent for President Trump. Four years ago, Trump won those voters over Hillary Clinton. Plenty of attention has centered on young activists’ and voters’ role in a Biden win. But, quite possibly, it may be older 'super-voters,' religiously participating in every election, who become the Democrats’ 2020 heroes-- even in a pandemic where they are the ones most at risk... They tend to like [Biden] more than they did Hillary Clinton."

These voters are a huge, engaged voting bloc in battlegrounds like Pennsylvania, where 26 percent of registered voters were older citizens in 2018, according to the Census. And did we mention they love to vote? Though they represent about 17 percent of America’s adults, they’re 25 percent of its registered voters.

They are emphatic, sometimes unprintable, in their scorn for Trump. They believe he takes them for granted, especially during the pandemic when their age group is most at risk.

“Trump is the biggest insult to aging. He thinks older people are low-hanging fruit,” says retired psychotherapist Andrea Shapiro Temko, 69, in an RBG T-shirt and skinny black jeans.

During July and August, 11 nursing home residents died every hour nationally because of the pandemic, according to a recent congressional report co-authored by Sen. Robert P. Casey Jr. (D-PA). Residents and staff account for 40 percent of all the nation’s covid-19 deaths.

“Trump just never talks about it. It’s just bizarre,” says Casey, 60, who grew up blocks from where Biden was raised in Scranton. “James Carville taught me a lot of things when I worked for him. People vote when they have a stake in the election.” Older voters “have the long view,” he says.

Adam Christensen, at 26 years old, is the youngest congressional candidate supported by Blue America this cycle-- another independent-minded progressive truth-teller like AOC (who will turn 31 a week from tomorrow). In north-central Florida, he and his team-- of mostly young people-- are working diligently to craft a coalition made up of voters of all ages, appealing on issues that appeal to millennials (like free college and racial justice) and to seniors (like rigorous protection of Social Security and expanded healthcare for all). I asked Christensen what he's doing to persuade older, independent voters in suburban and rural counties of his district to give up on the GOP and vote for someone the age of their grandchildren.

"The most important thing that we can do," he told me yesterday, "is just be real, be honest, and say exactly what we believe-- that if someone pays money their entire lives into a program that is an investment and they should get their money back; that Medicare should be expanded to cover dental and hearing and vision and SS should be expanded because many of the people relying on it are below the poverty line. The reason for this is that there are people scamming the system and not paying in as much as they are supposed to because there is a cap for the wealthy."

Adam told me that this line of thinking became "a very heated topic in the last forum with my opponent. She opened up by saying that 'we need to start having adult conservations about where the money is coming from for Medicare/Social Security and if we can continue to keep these programs.' Essentially what she did was try to talk to a group of senior citizens like they were children and act like they didn’t understand what money is or where it comes from. Anyone who is arrogant enough to lie to peoples' faces about the benefits they have earned is fighting a losing battle. Senior are fleeing the GOP because they are tired of being lied to and seeing their money taken. It is really that simple."

Florida, Florida, Florida!

 

Florida, the ultimate swing state, has played a decisive role in too many presidential elections. Every single vote counts in any statewide election there. In 2018, Republican Ron DeSantis beat Democrat Andrew Gillum 49.6% to 49.2% in the gubernatorial race and Rick Scott beat Bill Nelson (basically a walking corpse) 50.1% to 49.9% in the Senate election. Two years earlier, Trump had beaten Hillary 49.0% to 47.8%.

This cycle there's only one statewide election: U.S. president. Republicans in Florida feel lucky that Ron DeSantis isn't on the ballot. He's more hated by his constituents than any other governor in America. Recently, his job approval rating dropped from an already horrible 40% to an astounding 29%! Perhaps that's because no other big state governor has mishandled the pandemic as badly as DeSantis. Yesterday, Florida reported 2,787 new cases, bring the state's total to 714,591-- 33,271 cases per million Floridians. That's far worse than Texas or California, the only two states with numbers of cases anywhere near Florida's.

And luckily for the GOP, neither Marco Rubio nor Rick Scott is up for reelection either. Floridians rate them both badly. Yesterday, a NY Times/Siena poll of likely Florida voters showed the bottom falling out for Trump among independent voters, a cohort where Biden leads statewide 45-33%. And the debate accelerated his decline. The Times wrote that the revulsion against Trump’s performance "extended well into his reliable base. One-third of the president’s supporters said they disapproved of his performance, including 11 percent who did so strongly. A modest but potentially significant 8 percent of people who backed him in the survey said the debate made them less likely" to vote for him... In Miami-Dade County Biden leads, 61-30 and Biden even led among Cuban-American voters who were registered as Republicans by nearly a two-to-one margin! And 60% of Floridians say they find Trump neither honest nor trustworthy. Only 36% of likely voters say he is. And 69% of independents say he's dishonest and untrustworthy.

That's the state of the race in Florida, the most likely state to try to steal the election for Trump regardless of what the voters want... and the state opening up everything with no restrictions despite a horrific and raging pandemic. In fact, Fauci just singled out Florida (DeSantis) for making huge pandemic mistakes.

One of the more dangerous aspects of the coronavirus is that a downtrend in new infections can give off the impression that life can finally revert back to normal. And so, in a scenario that we’ve seen play out numerous times over the past few months, cities that are quick to open things back up after a decline in new coronavirus cases typically see a huge surge in new infections weeks down the line.

The most recent example of this dynamic playing out can be seen in Florida. While Florida was previously a huge hotspot for coronavirus cases, the state in recent weeks saw its coronavirus numbers go way down after people started taking social distancing and mask-wearing more seriously. As a result, some schools in Miami are planning to open back up two weeks earlier than initially planned. What’s more, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis recently announced a plan to lift COVID-19 restrictions on bars and restaurants. And while bars and restaurants in most states are currently operating at 25-50% capacity, bars and restaurants in Florida will be allowed to operate at 100% capacity.

Needless to say, Dr. Anthony Fauci is beyond frustrated with the direction Florida is headed.

During an appearance on Good Morning America this week, Fauci explained:

That is very concerning to me. We have always said this is something we really need to be careful about. Because when you’re dealing with community spread, and you have the kind of congregate setting where people get together, particularly without masks, you’re really asking for trouble.

Right now we're suddenly down to the final days of this election cycle. In Florida, the state candidate fundraising deadline is 5 days prior to election day, giving state candidates there about 3 weeks to raise the money they need to run successful campaigns. I asked Fergie Reid, the principal at 90 for 90, one of the organizations that went against Florida Democratic Party wishes and recruited Democratic candidates in the districts the Democrats had decided to cede to the GOP uncontested, how the campaign is looking a month out.

He reminded me that the Florida Democratic Environmental Caucus worked with 90 for 90 to recruit 36 candidates for legislative districts the Florida Democrats were, for one reason or another (including grotesque corruption) leaving unchallenged in the state Legislature. They successfully filled each and every ballot line without a Democratic contestant. "For the first time in anyone’s living memory," he told me, "Florida Democrats are contesting Republican incumbents throughout the state. The Biden/Harris campaign has not yet fully understood the awesome value of this important fact; but, they may be catching onto that value now. These 36 candidates are running in the most Republican districts and areas of the state: the western panhandle, 'the Villages', the 'First Coast', the Everglades, the Southwestern coastline-- from Sarasota to Naples, etc. These campaigns will help Joe Biden flip Florida's 29 electoral college votes."

Reid seems confident that if the Biden/Harris campaign and their strategists finally understand this fact-- and how these down-ballot candidates, whether they win or lose-- can turn out voters, Biden will take the state of Florida. And some of these candidates, who once looked like long shots, now look like winners, particularly Kathy Lewis, whose victory will, in all likelihood, flip the state Senate.

"Bloomberg," continued Reid, "has committed to a very substantial expenditure in Florida on Biden’s behalf. A pittance of this sum could-- and should-- be allocated to utilize the 36 candidates and their campaigns to benefit Joe Biden. Blanket endorsements, social media, robo-calls, text messaging, etc., are 'low cost-high yield' measures that should be financed immediately by the Biden support structure. Not to do so is political malpractice. Many of these 36 candidates are still waiting to hear from Florida’s Biden campaign ground operatives."

Blue America has been working with the Environmental Caucus and 90 For 90 to identify progressive candidates among the recruits and there are candidates running for Congress, the state House and the state Senate. The 2020 thermometer on the right is strictly for Florida candidates who could make a pivotal difference in re-jiggling the state power structure. The state Senate is on the verge of flipping-- and Kathy Lewis, Rachel Brown and Katherine Norman could do exactly that, giving the Democrats a seat at the table when it's time next year to redraw the district maps.

In terms of the presidential race, there has been talk that the decision could be made in the House. Each state gets one vote based on a canvas among the members of the state delegation. Right now Florida has 14 Republicans and 13 Democrats. A victory by either Adam Christensen or Cindy Banyai could literally make the difference between 4 more years of Trump or a Biden/Harris administration. In fact, let me leave you with the brand new first Adam Christensen ad... while you consider contributing to this slate of candidates.

How Toxic Will DeSantis Be-- Not To Mention Trump-- For Down-Ballot Republican Incumbents In Florida?

 

COVID Ron with COVID Don

Polling shows that Ron DeSantis (R-FL) is the second most hated governor in the U.S. Just 29% of Floridians say he's handled the pandemic well (and that includes the 4% who think he's handled it "very well"). Who's worse? Iowans say Kim Reynolds, who only had 26% willing to say she's done a good job on the pandemic. As of yesterday, there were 685,439 cases in Florida-- 31,914 cases per million residents, the worst in the country outside of Louisiana. Florida has active 453,331 cases (worst in America by far), which means there will be more deaths added to DeSantis' already dismal 13,324.

DeSantis is one lucky-ducky he's not up for reelection in November. Still, he's dragging other Republicans down the drain even while not on the ballot. So yesterday, he took a cue from his lord and master and decided to play the Law & Order card. Reporting for CNN, Gregory Lemos and Allen Kim wrote that DeSantis released a sweeping set of proposals on Monday, probably unconstitutional, that would dramatically crack down on people who attend protests that turn violent or disorderly by threatening them with a mix of felonies and increased jail time.

DeSantis said the proposal, which was introduced at a Monday press conference-- called the Combatting Violence, Disorder and Looting and Law Enforcement Protection Act-- would impose stiff criminal penalties for actions such as blocking roadways, disrupting restaurants or toppling monuments.

"You see videos of these innocent people eating dinner and you have these crazed lunatics just screaming at them and intimidating them on a public accommodation," DeSantis said. "You aren't going to do that in state of Florida."

Micah Kubic, executive director of the ACLU of Florida, responded to the proposal in a statement, calling it "undemocratic and hostile to Americans' shared values."

"This effort has one goal: silence, criminalize, and penalize Floridians who want to see justice for Black lives lost to racialized violence and brutality at the hands of law enforcement," Kubic said.

Among the proposals is a measure allowing motorists to be waived of liability should they happen to kill or injure a protester with their vehicles while "fleeing for safety from a mob."

The governor said the legislation also enables the state to use RICO liability against anyone who organizes or funds these kinds of "disorderly assemblies," and he cited the handling of Portland's protest as an example of what not to do.

...According to the governor's office, the next legislative session commences in March 2021 but committees will begin meeting later this year to begin the process of crafting the language of the bill and finding sponsors.

I asked some of the candidates running down-ballot how they think DeSantis' cooked up "law & order" scheme is likely to impact their own races. Janelle Christensen, president of the Florida Environmental Caucus, isn't a candidate but she sure was as disturbed by DeSantis' grandstanding as many across the state were. "As Floridians watch their homes flood in the aftermath of Hurricane Sally and are forced to evacuate in the middle of a pandemic," she said last night, "DeSantis ignores their plight. Instead, he moves to pass a law that potentailly violates our First Amendment rights and crushes home rule."

Adam Christensen (no relation-- other than their shared determination to protect the environment of the state they both love), is running for the congressional seat Ted Yoho has been pushed out of-- more on that anon. Adam got right to the point: "It’s like a 2 year old throwing a tantrum. The man wants to make murder legal as long as it’s done with a car.  We simply don’t have time for his foolishness."

Just north of Adam's congressional district, Joshua Hicks is favored to oust a Republican incumbent representing Nassau and part of Duval. Joshua told me that "This 'proposal' is just an election year stunt by the Governor because this team knows Donald Trump is in trouble in Florida. This attempt to silence the voices of Floridians across the state is a pathetic and unconstitutional attempt at a power-grab. Listen, protests should remain peaceful, as we demand justice and an end to systemic racism across the country. But this proposal simply has one goal: to silence and penalize anyone who wants to speak out. That's not okay. As a member of the state legislature, I will oppose this unconstitutional legislation from DAY ONE. My opponent would support it-- because he supports everything the Governor does. We need leaders; not followers. I believe the governor's attempt to silence our voices will actually do the opposite this November: it'll fire up more young voters to go to the polls, helping Democrats win up and down the ballot, and electing Joe Biden our next President."

And down at the southern tip of the state, Bob Lynch, is challenging Trumpist power-monger Daniel Perez in a swingy Miami-Dade district the Florida Democratic Party preferred to leave without a challenger. Today Lynch told me that "On one hand, it will be music to the ears of a sizable percentage of my district, which includes radically right-wing Cubans whose Spanish language propaganda and fear mongering about the socialist/communist,s rivals anything you will hear on Fox News, OANN, or evening QAnon. On the other, Latinos in Miami-Dade County are quickly starting to see through this bullshit. The state is falling apart, unemployment is a disaster, traffic is a mess, and DeSantis left older Floridians to die as a sacrifice to the economy. Castro and Chavez/Maduro were brutal dictators, they share far more in common with Trump, the Saudis, Erdogan, Netanyahu, and President Xi than anyone else.  The brutal scare tactics that Trump Mini-Me And Fisher Price Fascist, Ron DeSantis, is employing are a distraction from his disastrous time in the governor’s mansion. We need to focus on races like mine because taking out a sycophant like my opponent offers Floridians the opportunity to provide a crucial check on the incompetence and corruption of Ron DeSantis. All of the Florida Republicans fall in line with Trump/DeSantis and every less one of them in office means leas dead Floridians."

Professor Cindy Banyai is the progressive Democrat running for open congressional seat in southwest Florida-- and it didn't take much for her to see right through DeSantis' scam. "This is nothing more than an election year ploy from a floundering politician trying desperately to grease his way to favor with Trump. This clearly limits our Constitutional right to free speech and assembly and provides an unnerving amount of power to persecute critics. I'm also concerned about the encroachment on home rule with such state level budget mandates. Between this and Trump's DOJ declaring New York, Seattle, and Portland "anarchist jurisdictions" we should all be worried about the United States becoming a facist dictatorship under martial law. There has never been a more important time to elect countervailing voices to the Florida legislature and US national offices."