Your DCCC-- Working Furiously To Elect More Republicans In Florida

Young woman flanked by 2 wealthy Republicans with political ambitions

In 2006 Blue America was supporting school teacher and Florida union and Democratic activist Dave Lutrin in the 16th CD against Republican incumbent Mark Foley. The district takes in St Lucie, Palm Beach, Martin, Charlotte, Highlands and some smaller counties. When Lutrin started running, no one thought he had a chance to beat Foley, a guy who was a fairly well-known closet case and hypocrite but who had managed to pull the wool over the eyes of his local Republican supporters year after year. Then DCCC chairman Rahm Emanuel became privy to the fact that Foley was molesting underage congressional pages and was even caught, drunk, trying to break into the boy pages dormitory. The inept congressman who was supposed to be in charge of protecting the pages, pious baloney salesman John Shimkus (R-IL) told Foley not to do it again. Emanuel, instead of alerting the police, as was his legal responsibility, decided to use the information strategically. He sat on it and waited for the right time in the election cycle to leak it. Meanwhile, he recruited a rich Republican, Tim Mahoney, got him to switch his voter registration to Team Blue and set about-- with the help of Steny Hoyer-- to drive Lutrin out of the race. They dried up his sources of contributions and endorsements, wrecking his faith in his own party-- tools the DCCC commonly uses against progressives and grassroots followers.

Long story short: Foley resigned in disgrace but too late (thanks to Emanuel's impeccable timing) to get his name off the ballot, Mahoney won-- by less than 4,000 votes (49-48%)-- went on to serve in Congress as a Blue Dog who voted with the GOP on almost all the important issues and was then caught up in his own sex scandal, losing the seat in a landslide to plutocratic nitwit Tom Rooney after one miserable term (and in an otherwise banner year for House Democrats).

Fast-forward to 2011 and Dave Lutrin decides to get into the race for the seat in his district again. The DCCC-- now chaired by another corrupt conservative in the Emanuel mold, Steve Israel-- ignores him. Like Rahm (and Romney), Israel doesn't think middle class union members should be running for Congress, just self-funders and people with rolodexes filled with the names of wealthy friends and associates. Ignoring is one thing but then something very strange happened, a chain of events that is weird even for Florida GOP politics.

Republican Rep. Allen West will endorse former state lawmaker Adam Hasner, who is announcing that he'll drop his U.S. Senate bid and run for the seat West is leaving. West plans to run in a friendlier Palm Beach County-based congressional seat. 

The endorsement from the Tea Party-backed West comes in the midst a political scramble for Florida's congressional seats. Thanks to redistricting, sitting lawmakers are trying to find friendly home districts-- and so are potential challengers. 

A chain reaction of announcements culminated Tuesday when Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, who currently represents Martin, St. Lucie and Palm Beach Counties, announced he’d run in a new proposed congressional district that stretches from Martin to Charlotte County.

West then said he’d run in Rooney’s old seat, opening up a slot for a Republican in West’s District 22 seat, which straddles Palm Beach and Broward counties.

That allows Adam Hasner to exit the U.S. Senate race and run for West’s old seat. Hasner, who was struggling in a five-way Republican Senate race, would be running in a congressional seat that mirrors his old Delray-Beach-based state legislative district.

The Miami Herald doesn't have the sequence of events exactly right but the effect is the same. And they left off one other Republican move. The DCCC has another Mahoney-type Republican, rich kid Patrick Murphy, who was trying to run in the 22nd, but getting no traction whatsoever against the real Democrat in that race, Lois Frankel. So the DCCC wants Murphy, who was as recently as last year not just voting for Republicans but donating money to them (including to Mitt Romney), as well as to Steve Israel, to run against West in the 16th. It's an exact replay of what happened in 2006: the DCCC is looking to muscle out a real Democrat-- Dave Lutrin-- to shoehorn in a rich GOP self-funder willing to don a blue tee-shirt for the campaign. It makes my stomach turn, but that's your DCCC. Dave Lutrin can use some help to fight off the GOP interloper. Please consider giving him what you can here.

How could the Democrats not defeat Allen West in November? Just leave it to Steve Israel.

David Lutrin Is Running For Congress In Florida

David Lutrin is a school teacher and progressive union activist in South Florida. You may remember him as one of Blue America's favorite candidates back in 2006 when he was taking on sex-obsessed Republican Mark Foley. But Rahm Emanuel had other ideas. He and the DCCC sabotaged Lutrin's campaign in order to guarantee a slot for... another sex-obsessed Republican, Tim Mahoney, who Emanuel had persuaded to switch his voter registration so he could run as a Democrat. Of course, as soon as he was elected he joined the Blue Dogs, voted with the Republicans and spent all his time pursuing his sex obsessions. He was defeated after one miserable term and the district is now saddled with vapid plutocrat Tom Rooney.

Yesterday Dave Lutrin filed with the FEC to run for Congress. I hope he runs against Rooney but, because Rick Scott and his allies have delayed the state's redistricting, no one knows where the boundaries of any districts will lie. The video above, with Dave talking about the issues that have motivated the OccupyWallStreet movement, was in front of Allen West's district office. "I don't think I'll be running against Allen West," he told me earlier, "but the message is the same and I'm taking it all over South Florida.

It's good the Dave is willing to express a progressive vision for South Florida. Thanks to a completely dysfunctional state party addicted to abject failure, many people haven't heard one since they moved down there from up North. Last year, for example, voters had to pick between Rooney and a teabagger in a blue T-shirt. As I mentioned at the time, a raving teabagger, Republican Jim Horn-- who was a greed-crazed selfish Republican when he was in the same college as me in the '60s--looked like he would run against Rooney as a third party candidate, splitting the Republican vote. But it didn't work out that way.

I wonder how long it will take Debbie Wasserman Schultz to embrace Horn, despite this public record of political contributions:



Jim Horn, a Palm City businessman, on Monday changed his voter registration from Republican to Democrat at the Martin County Supervisor of Elections Office, and also amended his ballot designation for the Congressional District 16 race from no party affiliation to Democrat... Horn, calling himself a “Traditional Values Democrat,” noted that he comes from a family of Democrats from New York.

“I was talking to my uncle the other day about my candidacy, he’s still in Manhattan, he said, “Bring your values to the Democratic Party like we did when we were younger,” Horn said. “You don’t have to accept what everyone is saying.”

“Unfortunately, I believe he will be an embarrassment to the Democrats,” Smilan stated. “In my opinion his presence on the ballot will be very divisive. He will reflect very poorly on the Democratic Party and drag down the ticket.”

In the end Horn only took half the number of votes Rooney got-- 162,285- 80,327-- one third of the vote. He lost all 8 counties in FL-16 as Democratic participation plummeted from 2008 (when the disgraced Mahoney managed to get 139,373 votes) and 2006 (the previous midterm- 115,506, which saw the Democrat win in 4 of the 8 counties, including 2 out of the of the 3 big ones, Palm Beach and St Lucie).

Florida Democrats are more often than not excruciatingly bad-- but when they're good... OMG! You get people like Nick Ruiz, Dave Lutrin and Alan Grayson. Oh yeah... Alan Grayson. See him last night with Rachel talking about OccupyWallStreet? You don't want to miss this:



Republicans in Congress don't get it-- don't want to get it. But even the Business Insider had to admit the OccupyWallStreet Movement that Grayson and Lutrin were talking about has legitimate gripes-- really serious legitimate gripes.

The "Occupy Wall Street" protests are gaining momentum, having spread from a small park in New York to marches to other cities across the country.

So far, the protests seem fueled by a collective sense that things in our economy are not fair or right.  But the protesters have not done a good job of focusing their complaints-- and thus have been skewered as malcontents who don't know what they stand for or want.

(An early list of "grievances" included some legitimate beefs, but was otherwise just a vague attack on "corporations." Given that these are the same corporations that employ more than 100 million Americans and make the products we all use every day, this broadside did not resonate with most Americans).

So, what are the protesters so upset about, really?

Do they have legitimate gripes?

To answer the latter question first, yes, they have very legitimate gripes.

And if America cannot figure out a way to address these gripes, the country will likely become increasingly "de-stabilized," as sociologists might say. And in that scenario, the current protests will likely be only the beginning.

The problem in a nutshell is this: Inequality in this country has hit a level that has been seen only once in the nation's history, and unemployment has reached a level that has been seen only once since the Great Depression. And, at the same time, corporate profits are at a record high.

In other words, in the never-ending tug-of-war between "labor" and "capital," there has rarely-- if ever--been a time when "capital" was so clearly winning.

How could that happen with a Democrat in the White House? Yeah... aren't we all wondering, although all you have to do is look who financed his election campaign-- as well as McCain's-- and who he picked for his economic team, to realize the deck is totally stacked against working families. Give up? NEVER! That's why it's so important to elect people like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren and progressives running for the House, like Grayson, Ruiz and Lutrin. And why you should consider participating in OccupyTheBoardroom this weekend.

Sunshine State Or Cesspool State, Florida Has 25 Congressional Races Set

Florida has 25 congressional districts, all gerrymandered, mostly by state legislators drawing the boundaries to suit their own strengths and weaknesses for congressional runs the following year. For all the pristine white beaches and clear blue skies, Florida politics is one of the most corrupt cesspools in America. Friday was qualifying day for the next round of elections. There are only five simple, straightforward races pitting one Democrat against one Republican-- in the 7th (a northern district that covers the coast between St Augustine and Daytona Beach and swings inland to Altamonte Springs east of Orlando) where lunatic fringe wing-nut John Mica is being challenged by Democrat Heather Beaven; the 10th in Pinellas County (minus St
Petersburg) where Charlie Justice is taking on doddering Bill Young, long one of Congress' most egregiously corrupt members; the Miami-Dade district (18) where Ileana Ros-Lehtinen is being challenged by Rolando Banciella; the 19th where newly elected Ted Deutch (he replaced Wexler in a special 2 weeks ago); and the 23rd, where Democrat Alcee Hastings is being challenged by Bernard Sansaricq.

Only one congressman, inexplicably, has no challenger-- no primary, no Democrat, no teabagger, no nothing-- and that's an open seat, no less. Lincoln Diaz-Balart has decided to spend all his time plotting to become the president of post-Castro Cuba, so he isn't running in the 21st CD, a fairly-- but not overwhelmingly-- safe Republican seat. Instead his stupider and younger brother Mario fled from the increasingly blue 25th CD (we'll get to that shortly) and is running for his brother's seat. It's another mark of the pathetic nature of the Florida GOP that they couldn't even manage to get someone to challenge Mario, who, after all, is not and incumbent (but will be from here on out). So Mario is the only Republican in the Florida congressional delegation home free with no challenge.

But he certainly isn't the only Republican with no Democrat running against him. Karen Thurman's less than vibrant party may look good relative to the staggeringly hideous freak show known as the Republican Party of Florida, but... by any other standard, it's struggling to appear like a modern political party. CD-1 in the Panhandle is the home of right-wing ideologue Jeff Miller, a laughing stock in Washington, but facing only 2 independents, Joe Cantrell and John Krause, in November. Many insist Ander Crenshaw in demonstrably stupider and more fanatic than Miller. His district, the 4th CD, crawls along the Georgia border starting just east of Tallahassee and ending just north of Jacksonville, carefully avoiding any urban areas that might not appreciate Crenshaw's peculiar brand of bigotry mixed with an IQ so minimal that it might not be measurable in any meaningful way. His only opponent in November will be an independent, Troy Dwayne Stanley. Most political observers would probably vote Cliff Stearns the least effective Republican in the Florida congressional delegation. He almost makes Miller and Crenshaw look brainy and serious. The Democrats couldn't find anyone to run against him in his landlocked, city-less district south of Crenshaw's and carefully skirting any areas touched by the 21st Century. He has a Republican primary challenger, Don Browning, and will then face Steve Schonberg, an Independent, in November.

Before I get to the races where there's some chance for a party flip-- or at least some kind of activity-- let's just go down the list where the races are just pro-forma. Corrine Brown has a primary opponent, Scott Fortune, for her safe Jacksonville/Gainesville seat and will then face the winner of a GOP primary between Mike Yost and Chris Nwasike, plus an independent, Terry Martin-Black.

I'd rate Kathy Castor, who represents Tampa (11th CD) as safe, although she's drawn 5 Republicans fighting it out amongst each other to see who she will defeat in November.

The Republicans, wisely, decided not to waste money running someone for Kendrick Meek's open seat (CD-17), which boasts a PVI of D+35. The primary features 9 Democrats and is likely to be won by state Senator Frederica Wilson, who will then face an independent, Roderick Vereen. The 8 Democrats Wilson faces in the primary for America's most Haitian district, are Marleine Bastien, Phillip Brutus, James Bush III, Scott Galvin, Shirley Gibson, Rudolph “Rudy” Moise, Yolly Roberson and Andre Williams. I guess anything can happen when there are that many candidates in a low turn-out primary.

Unfortunately sleazy sugar cane shill and DCCC power-monger Debbie Wasserman Schultz has no primary. Three Republicans will battle it out between themselves and she'll slaughter whichever one wins, along with two independents, Stanley Blumenthal and Bob Kunst.

In the 15th CD Bill Posey faces Democrat Shannon Robert. And now for the more complicated races.

Let's start with the 25th CD way down south where Mario Diaz-Balart is giving up the seat for safer ground. Joe Garcia almost beat him-- despite assistance for Diaz-Balart from the nefarious Wasserman Schultz-- in 2008. This year Wasserman Schultz is on Garcia's side but even more helpful for him will be an official Tea Party candidate who qualified, Roly Arrojo. That should kill whatever chances David Rivera had to take the seat. (Rivera has 2 Republican opponents in the primary, Paul Crespo and Mariana “Marli” Cancio.) Garcia will have no trouble beating his own primary opponent, Luis Meurice. And then, besides the official teabagger, there's also a FWP running, Craig Porter.

Way back up the peninsula to the Panhandle, we're at CD-02 when Blue Dog Allen Boyd is fighting it out with another conservative, terming-out state Senator Al Lawson in a tough primary. Boyd would have to be evaluated as an "F"-- and he was after all, the only Democrat Bush could get to sign on to conservative's never-dying #1 priority: a bill to destroy Social Security. Lawson is unlikely to be even a little better. There are 5 Republicans who smell blood in the water-- Eddie Henry, Ronald McNeil, Barbara Olschner, David Scholl and Steve Southerland. Whoever wins the two primaries will battle it out, along
with two independents, Paul McKain and Dianne Berryhill.

One of Boyd's most recent sins has been trying to foist another worthless reactionary Blue Dog on voters, in the form of Lori Edwards. Edwards is challenging progressive, grassroots Democrat Doug Tudor in the 12th CD (Polk and Hillsborough counties east of St. Petersburg), the seat being abandoned by right-wing imbecile Adam Putnam for a run at statewide office. Aside from Edwards, Doug will have to contend with 2 other conservatives-- whichever Republican wins the primary between shady attorney Dennis Ross and extremist John Lindsey, Jr.-- plus Randy Wilkinson, the official Tea Party
candidate. Wilkinson should probably guarantee a victory for Tudor in the general election. (Please consider helping Tudor here at Blue America.)

The 5th CD just opened up, when Ginny Brown-Waite faced up to the fact that her mental illness would no longer allow her to pretend to be able to work for her constituents. She endorsed Sheriff Rich Nugent on the last day of filing to prevent any more reasonable candidates to jump into the race beyond the already-qualified Jason Patrick Sager. The winner of the GOP primary will face ex-Republican/Obama supporter Jim Piccillo in November.

One of the most watched races will be in Orlando's 8th CD where the GOP will attempt to take out the most important new player the Democrats have playing for them nationally, Alan Grayson. There is a concerted effort to denigrate him-- with the local right-wing corporate media leading the charge-- but Grayson is immensely popular with the regular folks who live in the increasingly blue district and has been lucky enough to draw a GOP primary that resembles a 7 ring circus of third and fourth tier rejects-- Ross Bieling, mediocre state legislators Kurt Kelly and Daniel Webster, Hate Talk Radio host Todd Long, racist maniac Daniel Roy Fanelli, William O'Donoughue and Patricia Sullivan. It's a real clown show and free-for-all and whoever wins the GOP endorsement will then have to face not just Grayson (who polls better than any of them among Republicans) but also an official Tea Party candidate, Peg Dunmire, and an independent, George Metcalfe. (It's worth mentioning that as crazy and ignorant as Dunmire has already shown herself, Fanelli seems determined to prove he's even more ignorant and more bigoted and less qualified. It should be a wonderfully amusing race.) Please consider helping Grayson build his war-chest through Blue America.

There are two Democrats, Anita de Palma and Phil Hindahl, fighting it out to see who takes on Gus Bilirakis in the 9th CD. The 13th CD will feature a primary between incumbent Vern Buchanan and Don Baldauf and one between Democrats Rick Eaton and James Golden and whomever wins the two primaries will also face progressive independent Jan Schneider.

The 14th CD is the worst hit in Florida-- and the U.S.-- by the Republican foreclosure crisis but Connie Mack IV is probably safe, though he faces Democrat Jim Roach and independent William Maverick St. Claire.

The ill-starred 16th CD is probably safe for wealthy moron Tom Rooney, the teabagger candidate, Jim Horn, having declared himself a Democrat at the last second. He'll face Ed Tautiva in a Democratic primary.

The 22nd District is called a swing district and moderate Democrat Ron Klein seems to be having a tough time with Ron Paul Republican Allen West (who still has to beat a more mainstream Republican, David Brady). Klein also has a primary challenge, from Paul Renneisen.

And that brings us to one of the least deserving of re-election of the freshmen, corporate shill Suzanne Kosmas, a putative Democrat representing the 24th CD in central Florida. She has a primary from party activist Paul Partyka and then will face the winner of a 5 candidate GOP primary. Everyone senses she is extremely weak and generally disliked by constituents on both sides of the partisan divide. The party is unlikely to fight too hard for her since her seat is likely to be redistricted out of existence anyway.

File Under: You Can't Make This Stuff Up (FL-16 Again)

Florida's 16th congressional district is famous for roughly the same reason I started treating the DCCC as the bad player it has proven itself to be. Start with a longtime incumbent, whose alcoholism and closeted homosexuality-- both widely known Inside-the-Beltway-- had combined to create a very sick yen for being caught molesting underage boys. And he was. But congressional leadership, primarily Republican congressional leadership, covered up for him. Rahm Emanuel, then head of the DCCC saw Mark Foley's crumbling world as an opportunity to pick up a House seat in a relatively red district. So he kept his mouth shut too-- complicit in allowing Foley to have his way with young congressional pages (primarily the sons of big GOP donors). Long story, short: Emanuel with Steny Hoyer, froze the legitimate Democratic candidate running against Foley-- Dave Lutrin-- out of the race and enticed a wealthy lifelong Republican, Tim Mahoney, into the race (delivering on their promise of an uncontested primary and a "special circumstance" for the general). The special circumstance was how the media exploded into an orgy of Mark Foley Caught With His Pants Down (in a boys dorm).

Although Foley resigned and checked into a posh clinic for naughty Republicans, it was conveniently too late to get his toxic name off the ballot and Mahoney was elected-- though just barely (49-48%). Mahoney went on to revert to voting with his fellow-Republicans and to chase women all over town. His one term ended in scandal, amid sexual escapades, payoffs, hush money and all sorts of things normally associated with Republicans (which, of course, he was, despite the deceptive blue jersey) and now extremely entitled son of Pittsburgh Steelers owner Dan Rooney has taken possession of the seat. Old news, right? Certainly... but whatever is old...

A few weeks ago David Lutrin called and asked if Doug Kahn and I would help him run against Rooney. We agreed and were especially excited because there was already a raving teabagger, Republican Jim Horn, in the race which would surely split the Republican base allowing a Democrat to win. (Obama only took 47% of the district, about the same as Gore and Kerry.) Horn is a kook who went to the same college-- SUNY, Stony Brook-- as I did and he was a typical Republican climber, devoted in all ways to the whole Greed and Selfishness ethos that so afflicts right-wingers.

Anyway, a week later Lutrin decided his family wasn't prepared for him to run and he withdrew, leaving a retired airline pilot, Stan Smilan, as the Democrat in the race. Problem was Smilan didn't want a primary so when the teabagger decided to pull off his red jersey and don a blue one, declaring himself a candidate for the Democratic nomination, Smilan withdrew, leaving FL-16 voters with a choice between two Republicans... again!

I wonder how long it will take Debbie Wasserman Schultz to embrace Horn, despite this public record of political contributions:

Jim Horn, a Palm City businessman, on Monday changed his voter registration from Republican to Democrat at the Martin County Supervisor of Elections Office, and also amended his ballot designation for the Congressional District 16 race from no party affiliation to Democrat... Horn, calling himself a “Traditional Values Democrat,” noted that he comes from a family of Democrats from New York.

“I was talking to my uncle the other day about my candidacy, he’s still in Manhatattan, he said, “Bring your values to the Democratic Party like we did when we were younger,” Horn said. “You don’t have to accept what everyone is saying.”

“Unfortunately, I believe he will be an embarrassment to the Democrats,” Smilan stated. “In my opinion his presence on the ballot will be very divisive. He will reflect very poorly on the Democratic Party and drag down the ticket.”

Friday's the last day for filing... and, believe it or not, Mahoney wants to give it another shot.

Dave Lutrin Isn't Running This Year After All... A Guest Post

-by Dave Lutrin

Though I consider it a great opportunity to contest the 16th Congressional District seat of Florida, I have decided to forego the endeavor at this time. During the past two weeks, I have received tremendous support from Howie Klein, the local organizers of DFA and PDA, local DECs, as well as family, friends and colleagues. We had a professional team in place and ready to begin a competitive campaign, but the one element missing was timing. Although my wife and daughter supported my mission, they were not prepared for this sense of urgency. What should have been a time for excitement and joy became a sense of dread and sadness.

All that I do, I do for my family. The decision to jump into this race so that no “seat goes unchallenged” was made with thoughts of obligation, rather than what would be best for my family and me. Thus, with no time to prepare my wife for life without her husband and my 12 year-old daughter for life without daddy, I have decided that this is not the correct time or reason to throw my hat into the ring. After all, it is my love, devotion, and obligation to my wife and daughter that trumps obligation to all else. When the time is right for my family and me, perhaps in 2012, hopefully the faith and support will again be there for me, if not, I understand and can live with it.

There's Only One Good Guy In This List Of Characters: Dave Lutrin, Mark Foley, Rahm Emanuel, Tim Mahoney, Tom Rooney

In our one brief phone conversation, Democrat Chris Craft didn't impress me much. The popular St. Lucie County Commissioner seemed like a nice enough guy but wet behind the ears, not terribly savvy on the national issues and likely to follow a conservative Blue Dog line in national politics. I talk to cookie cutter DCCC candidates like that all the time. I didn't think he'd be able to make much of a dent in any incumbent's armor with his me-too brand of Republican-lite messaging, not even against a dim bulb like Tom Rooney (R-FL). When, predictably, he dropped out of the race a couple weeks ago I think I may have tweeted it. He wasn't only unimpressive; he was uninspiring.

The district, on the other hand (FL-16), is one I follow closely. Adam, the old DWT art director, lives there and Doug, the guy who's running Blue America's anti-Blue Dog efforts, lives a few blocks out of the district. And the district has an interesting recent history. Mark Foley was elected congressman in 1994, got caught molesting congressional pages, and resigned in 2006. Before it became known outside of political circles that he was gay-- let alone imposing on young boys-- Foley was seen as unbeatable by Democrats; the district has a PVI of R+2 and the incumbent was well-liked. He had been re-elected in 2004 with 68% of the vote (while Bush only won the district with 54%). But an idealistic, progressive school teacher, Dave Lutrin, decided to run anyway; brave soul. And Blue America decided to back him. And along came... Rahm Emanuel (with Steny Hoyer, Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Republican hack Tim Mahoney in tow). Emanuel knew what few others at the time did: the Foley case was going to explode in the national media. He scrambled to recruit a conservative who he felt-- for whatever reason-- could win the race. That would exclude a progressive person without the capacity to self-fund: Dave Lutrin. Instead he persuaded a registered, putatively wealthy shady Republican business man-- Mahoney-- to switch registration and "become" a Democrat. Hoyer, Emanuel and Wasserman Schultz clamped down on endorsements, campaign funds and everything else for Lutrin and forced him out of the race, giving the Republican a clear path to the Democratic nomination.

Mahoney ran, as a Democrat, against Foley's name (with some other poor schnook explaining that if voters voted for the child molester he-- the schnook-- would get the seat. It actually almost worked! Mahoney won with 49% while "Foley" got 48%, 3% going to an independent. In Congress Mahoney promptly set about compiled a corporately-funded campaign chest, a quasi-Republican voting record-- and a sex scandal to rival Foley's. He lost his re-election bid and a pathetic Republican zombie, Tom Rooney, is holding the seat, getting the idea that rote obstructionism is what being in Congress is about.

It was widely reported last week that Mahoney thinks it may be time for him to run for the seat again, presumably as a Democrat. Apparently, someone has told him that... scandal is back in again? Yesterday Dave Lutrin called me and told me he's running. This will be a classic example of the media and the DC insiders looking down their noses at a regular middle class American who dares to think he can run for what is increasingly an all millionaires club. We'll schedule a live session with him at C&L asap.

THERE IS ONLY ONE DEMOCRATIC ALTERNATIVE TO MARK FOLEY AND THAT'S DAVE LUTRIN

You may know Adam as the head of the DWT Art Department. He's based in the West Palm Beach area and is a student at PBCC; he and Sadie and Sophie have a Zohar study-group and occasionally stop long enough to do an art piece or two. Because S & S are much older than Adam-- older even than his grandmother-- they fell into Katherine Harris' trap and wound up voting for Pat Buchanan instead of what they once called "that nice Jewish boy Joe Lieberman." (An aside: they have come to loathe Lieberman and recognize him for the right-wing loon he's turned into and it was Sophie who came up with the wonderful Ned Lamont artwork we use on this blog.) Anyway, a couple days ago Adam and Sophie took their lives in their hands by piling into Sadie's 1981 Buick and driving over to what they thought would be a debate between David Lutrin, a progressive Democrat and Tim Mahoney, a countryclub Republican with a newly minted Democratic registration. Adam, who is extremely late on 5 pieces of art, somehow found the time to write up his first-hand impressions of Lutrin and Mahoney, the winner of whose primary battle will face off against the extremely dishonest, and extremely entrenched, Republican hack Mark Foley. Adam, take it away...

Last Thursday in Florida’s District 16 race, there was supposed to be a Candidate’s Forum between David Lutrin and Tim Mahoney. The agreed upon format was that each candidate would address the audience for an unspecified amount of time and then both candidates would take any and all questions together. It didn’t happen that way. Several hours before the forum, a member of Mahoney’s campaign called the host of the forum and said that Mahoney had to absolutely be out of the forum by 7:45 pm, due to another commitment and wanted to change the format. The new format was for Baloney Mahoney to speak first, then take a few questions and disappear, leaving the remainder of the forum for Lutrin.

At 8:05 pm (20 minutes after Full-of-Baloney Mahoney had to absolutely be out of the Forum) a member of the audience told Mahoney “you haven’t told us where you stand on any of the issues (after speaking for 50 minutes) , where do you stand on abortion, gun control, and capital punishment?"

Mahoney’s response was that he stood where the district stood on the issues. Specifically, on abortion he said “in this room, I am pro-choice, here."

Being pro-choice in one room is not good enough, because hearsay is that he already told the rural community in the district that he is anti-choice. Sadie was getting wrestless and I was hoping she wouldn't say anything embarrassing. She's old but she's very passionate and outspoken and holds public officials to a high standard. She baked a pie to throw at Katherine Harris once but we ate it.

Anyway, obviously full of baloney, Mahoney finally did leave at 8:10 and Lutrin took control of the room. With confidence and conviction he was crystal clear on the issues.

He said that we need to get out of Iraq, now. He pointed out that Bush created a terrorist haven where one never existed. The longer that we stay there, the more instability we create in the region and, contrary to what is being reported now, the civil war started a long time ago.

He supports single-payer universal healthcare in the U.S. Sadie started cheering and Sophie said she was going to give Lutrin a dollar for his campaign but we explained that the (Democratic) candidates don't take cash and that she'd have to do it through the DWT ACT BLUE Page.

Lutrin also wants to repeal the “No Child Left Behind Act” because it is a system of punishment for underprivileged schools rather than a remedy for what ails them. He wants to de-emphasize high-stakes testing because of the emotional strain on both students and teachers, as well as the correlation between high-stakes testing and high drop-out rates. Sophie's grandson is a teacher and she started yelling that that's what's she's been saying for 2 years.

He also spoke passionately and knowledgeably about the problems Bush has created for veterans, and how Bush and Foley are screwing up Medicare and the budget. He also stated unequivocably that he would sponsor or join the movement to start impeachment hearings against Bush and Cheney.

By the way, it was the opinion of many in the room, and not just me and Sadie and Sophie, that Mahoney leaving early was nothing more than a staged political ploy to avoid being placed into a possible debate situation with Lutrin as evidenced by the fact that Baloney Mahoney left 25 minutes after he "absolutely" had to and one of his stooges turned his cell phone on and held it up in the air the entire time that Lutrin was speaking. (Sadie caught that and she told everyone around us and created quite a stir.)

In retrospect, it was a good move for Mahoney to wimp-out as he did and just get a serious beating, rather than a face-to-face total annihilation.

And now a follow-up from Sadie and Sophie together (transcribed by Adam):

More On-the-spot News From the Soon to Be Blue 16th CD in Florida

On Sunday, February 26, 2006 in Ft. Myers, Florida at a Democratic precinct captain training, Mr. Timothy Mahoney’s campaign manager spoke on Mahoney’s behalf during the lunch break. A member of the audience stood-up and asked why the campaign manager was trying to pass Mahoney off as a life-long Democrat to the audience, when he had only been a Dem for 6 months. No response.

The campaign manager also began spewing about Mahoney creating thousands of jobs. The same audience member asked why so many of those jobs are being created in Red China as Mahoney’s company, Vfinace, financed a major deal recently in China (China Biopharmaceuticals Holdings, Inc.). The campaign manager didn’t take any more questions and quickly left the building.

DWT has already endorsed Dave Lutrin and we urge everyone in Florida's 16th CD to check out this crucial race. People who can't vote in this district can still lend a hand by chipping in at the ACT BLUE Page. Lutrin is a real Democratic alternative to Mark Foley. His primary opponent is just Foley with a different title. In a phone intreview Lutrin told DWT that "Foley is nothing more than a rubber stamp of the Bush administration. He has never represented the people of the 16th District. Foley said there was no way he would vote for CAFTA, but when he got the call from the White House, he sided with his party and voted for it, costing jobs to the sugar workers in his district. I personally called his office to find out what his stance was on Social Security when the President was touting privitization, and a staffer called back from D.C. to tell me that when he has a stance, he'll go public with it...that was last year.  Foley supports the President's so-called plan for victory in Iraq which is ridiculous because there is no plan and there will be no victory. America needs to withdraw her troops now.
Mark Foley is screaming locally about the UAE port deal as everyone should, but there is no way that a deal that big, which went through committee in the Treasury Dept., passed along with no one in Washington knowing anything about it. Either Foley was asleep and not doing his job or he not being forthright once again with his constituents."