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.

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

GOP split likely to turn FL-12 blue

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

Two Florida Democratic Challengers Standing With Their Constituents-- And Our Families-- On Health Care Reform

Elle Tudor

All of the Blue America-endorsed candidates this year support this first step towards real healthcare reform, even if they are all disappointed it isn't nearly as progressive or as close to perfect as we all hoped. I think every one of them is itching to get into Congress so they can sign up as co-sponsors on Alan Grayson's Medicare For All version of a useful and compelling public option. Over the past few days you've read quotes from most of them on their feelings about the bill's passage. Our most recently endorsed candidate, Doug Tudor, took the fight for healthcare reform very personally. You see that beautiful photograph on the top of the page? That's his daughter Elle.

"America took an awesome step forward," Doug wrote me yesterday, "with President Obama’s signature on the Affordable Health Care for America Act. There are many immediate and near immediate benefits of this legislation, which include:

• Prohibit pre-existing condition exclusions for children in all new plans;

• Provide immediate access to insurance for uninsured Americans who are uninsured because of a pre-existing condition through a temporary high-risk pool;

• Prohibit dropping people from coverage when they get sick in all individual plans;

• Lower seniors prescription drug prices by beginning to close the donut hole;

• Offer tax credits to small businesses to purchase coverage;

• Eliminate lifetime limits and restrictive annual limits on benefits in all plans;

• Require plans to cover an enrollee's dependent children until age 26;

• Require new plans to cover preventive services and immunizations without cost-sharing;

• Ensure consumers have access to an effective internal and external appeals process to appeal new insurance plan decisions;

• Require premium rebates to enrollees from insurers with high administrative expenditures and require public disclosure of the percent of premiums applied to overhead costs.

The first of the benefits he listed is of particular and personal importance to him. His daughter, Elle, was born with hypoplastic right heart syndrome. She had her first open-heart surgery when she was two days old. She has had two subsequent open-heart surgeries, a brain surgery, and tests and procedures too numerous to recount. Her pre-existing condition was first identified when she was just five months in the womb.

"Today," Doug wrote, "due to the courage of the Democratic majorities in the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate and the leadership of President Obama, my daughter will no longer be a second-class citizen due to her pre-existing condition. I thank the Democratic members of the Democratic Party who voted on behalf of my daughter and so many of our fellow citizens...

"With all of the positive aspects of today’s law, I know we can improve it. Given the opportunity, I would co-sponsor, tirelessly advocate for, and vote yea on Alan Grayson’s HR 4789 -- 'Medicare You Can Buy Into Act.' Alan is a courageous, forward-thinking lawmaker, and I look forward to serving with him in the U.S. House.”

He added, "By the way, you would never know that Elle has any health issues. She is an intelligent, engaging, active, and beautiful nine-year-old. Oh, and sometimes she is bratty-- just like every other nine-year-old."

Just north of Doug's district, even sharing a small piece of Polk County, is FL-05, home of anti-healthcare wingnut Ginny Brown-Waite. The Democrat running against her, Jim Piccillo, is another Democrat firmly in the pro-healthcare camp. Like Tudor he was moved by the moment and inspired by the step forward. He was also sickened by the narrowly partisan behavior of Brown-Waite.

Sunday night, after more than a year of debate about healthcare reform, the American people were about to witness a vote which would insure 32 million more people, end discrimination against those with pre-existing conditions, bring down health care costs and finally close the Medicare “donut hole.” The last year of debate has seen the far right radicals, and tea party activists screaming as loud and as disgustingly as they could against providing help to those hit by the worst economic collapse since the Great Depression. They worked hard to spread lies and fear but, Sunday night, the American people prevailed.

There were many highs and lows during the several hours of floor debate leading to the vote. But one of the lowest of the lows came from Tea-Party Republican, Virginia Brown-Waite, my opponent in November, once again showed publicly that her delusions know no bounds.

In just 45 seconds she managed to spew out several of the most outrageous lies in an effort to further panic the good people of the 5th District. She used her time on the House floor to punch out falsehoods saying everything from Social Security was being raided to warning seniors their doctors were going to drop them immediately.

Her remarks, while disturbing, were not surprising. You see, our district, FL 5th, has more people on Medicare than 11 states. In the last 8 years since Virginia won the seat nary a moment has gone by, whether on the floor of the House or ordering a turkey sandwich, when she doesn’t utter the phrase “for veterans and seniors.” The problem this time is that this bill will actually help seniors. It helps the 26% of our children who are on food stamps. It helps the 15% of our men and women who are unemployed.

What she did was a blatant attempt to scare the voters into thinking she was on their side. Her comments, the other night, were as disgraceful as when she wanted to dig up the servicemen and women from their graves in Normandy and as ridiculous as when she wanted the President to ask her permission before accepting the Nobel Peace Prize.

For the past 8 years this rubber-stamp Republican has proved to be on the wrong side of every important issue. As the Democratic nominee who will face her in November, I plan to hold her accountable for her lies and replace her with a new generation of common-sense leadership that values results over rhetoric and puts people above politics. No longer does the loudest yelled lie and most ignorant screams of hatred win. This is the New America and we are taking our country back.

This is what the bill she is railing against will do for her own constituents:

* Improve coverage for 429,000 residents with health insurance.

* Give tax credits and other assistance to up to 244,000 families and 15,100 small businesses to help them afford coverage.

* Improve Medicare for 228,000 beneficiaries, including closing the donut hole.

* Extend coverage to 117,000 uninsured residents.

* Guarantee that 21,400 residents with pre-existing conditions can obtain coverage.

* Protect 1,600 families from bankruptcy due to unaffordable health care costs.

* Allow 58,000 young adults to obtain coverage on their parents’ insurance plans.

* Provide millions of dollars in new funding for 19 community health centers.

* Reduce the cost of uncompensated care for hospitals and other health care providers by $25 million annually.

Not a single Florida Democrat-- even though conservatives Suzanne Kosmas and Allen Boyd (each facing primary challengers sick of their aisle-crossing Republican ways) surely wanted to-- voted against healthcare reform on Sunday. And not a single Republican voted for it. Ginny Brown-Waite is always a dependable rubber stamp for the Republican hierarchy. My guess, though, is that had Doug's Blue Dog opponent for the Democratic nomination in FL-12, Lori Edwards, been serving on Sunday, she would have voted exactly the way Republican Adam Putnam and the two dozen Blue Dogs supporting her campaign voted. That's why it's so important to help elect Doug to this open seat.

Maine's In The News Today-- Same Sex Marriage Bill Passes The State Senate

A GOP nightmare that would make their demise official

Maine's senior senator, Olympia Snowe is still trying to use Arlen Specter's defection to the other team as a way to hector Republicans into ending their evil ways... a little. After her big OpEd in the NY Times a couple days ago, she sat down with GOP minority leader Miss McConnell and whined that the party of hatred and bigotry should "be more inclusive and responsive and listen to all sides." She warned that if the purists continue to turn the party into a neo-Confederate lunatic asylum they would also turn the GOP's "philosophical tent into an umbrella under which only a select few are worthy to stand."

How many states with two Republican U.S. senators, after all, are headed towards decriminalizing same sex marriage? Oklahoma? Texas? South Carolina? Wymong? Utah? Mississippi? Alabama? None of them; they're all busy looking for more anti-gay constitutional amendments to pass. But yesterday Maine's state Senate voted 21-14 in favor of marriage equality, despite Carrie Prejean's appearance as the new spokesperson for Republican Party bigotry. (Only two Republicans voted with the Democrats in favor of equality.) And the once homophobic governor of Maine, John Baldacci, says he has evolved and changed with time and is now open to signing a same sex marriage bill if it also passes the Maine House (next week).

Opponents said they were surprised at the Senate outcome. They believed they had the votes to kill the bill in its first true legislative test after being voted out of the Legislature's Judiciary Committee with strong support earlier this week.

"A lot of people switched votes at the eleventh hour," said Marc Mutty, public affairs director for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland. "Until this morning, we really thought we had the votes."

Mutty chalked the switches up to politics and suggested that an "unprecedented" volume of phone calls, e-mails and other input persuaded senators to support the bill.

Mutty predicted the House also would pass the measure. He said opponents would now meet to discuss plans for a petition drive to ask voters to overturn it this fall.

"We had hoped to kill this right here and avoid prolonging this through referendum," he said.

...The Senate's vote Thursday fell largely along party lines, with most Democrats supporting the bill and most Republicans opposed. There were some exceptions, however: Sen. Troy Jackson, D-Allagash, voted against the bill, and Sens. Peter Mills, R-Cornville, and Christopher Rector, R-Thomaston, voted to approve.

This morning's Washington Post poses points out that across the country the social wedge issues which the GOP uses to win elections by taking voters' minds off their own economic interests are becoming less and less salient. There is rising support for gay marriage, legalized pot and real immigration reform that includes a pathway for citizenship-- all issues the GOP uses in its campaigns of divisiveness. The hazard for Republicans: "An inability to use those issues to rally their base and appeal to conservative Democrats and independents who previously would have been put off by Democrats' more liberal stances on social issues."

Most striking is the sharp shift in public opinion on same-sex marriage. Forty-nine percent said it should be legal for gay people to marry, and 46 percent said it should be illegal. About three years ago, a broad majority said such unions should be illegal (58 percent illegal to 36 percent legal).

The change is particularly notable given the context in which it is occurring, as several states-- Iowa, Connecticut, New Hampshire and Vermont-- have taken steps in recent weeks to legalize gay marriage. In 2004, a court ruling in Massachusetts legalizing same-sex marriage helped give rise to a slew of anti-gay marriage ballot initiatives around the country that were widely credited with drawing social conservatives to the polls that fall, when former president George W. Bush beat  Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.).

Steve Schmidt, the Republican strategist who managed  John McCain's campaign, recently came out strongly in favor of gay marriage and warned that his party risked being marginalized on the issue.

The poll results back up Schmidt's warnings, as they show shifts in opinion among the swing voters the GOP needs to woo-- independents, white Catholics and the young more broadly. Among independents, there has been a nine-point increase in support for legal gay marriages since 2006, to 52 percent, with strong opposition dropping 10 points over that period.

But among Republicans, about one in five support legal gay marriages, unchanged since 2006.

Schmidt's warnings are also borne out by the shift in opinion on the issue among white Catholic voters, a key swing bloc. In 2006, a third of white Catholics said gay marriage should be legal and 60 percent said it should be illegal. But that has evened out to a 46 percent legal to 47 percent illegal split in the new poll.

Perhaps most troubling for Republican strategists is that the most bigoted voters are the old ones who are closest to death, while those who are most likely to support equality are the youngest voters-- the ones who will be voting long into the future when the typical old line bigots are pushing up daisies. Although even the elderly now support gay marriage more than they used to (28% now support it, up from 15%), among people under 35 the percentage of supporters has jumped dramatically from 53% to 66%. And whereas 21% of Americans are willing to admit being Republicans, only 17% of people under 35 called themselves Republicans. That is one tarnished brand-- even for a party still singling out ethnic groups for discrimination and fighting a bitter civil war.

And Democrats seem far more willing and more able to cope with changing public perceptions on these issues. Recall a few weeks ago we met a former lifelong Republican, Jim Piccillo, who was inspired by Obama to switch parties and is now running against lackluster GOP hack Ginny Brown-Waite in a relatively conservative, rural west Florida district. Piccillo's campaign answered questions today about his stands on issues important to Blue America-- no, he will never join the reactionary Blue Dog Caucus and yes, he "absolutely" supports Employee Free Choice ("The new bill allows for employee empowerment with card check without taking away the secret ballot.  It also mandates that the employer come to contract, in a specific amount of time, or face real penalties, rather than the current ambiguous language and fluff penalties.  A CEO wouldn't want to work a day without a contract; an employee should have that same right."). But even more interesting was the answer to our question about marriage equality. From his campaign manager:

Jim supports equality for all people; regardless of race, sexual orientation or gender.  Yes, he fully supports marriage equality for same sex couples. It is not a cultural issue; it is an equality issue.  All citizens of this county have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  That right should not be judged by others who don't agree with it and aren't even affected by it.

 

Florida Democrats Ready To Run Another Republican For Congress

A knowledgeable and witty friend of mine is going to start blogging soon. He asked me what I thought of his idea of encouraging readers to write in with tales about the worst state Democratic Party and the worst state Republican Party. I suggested he find the right readers first but also told him he probably doesn't have to look too far for the worst state Democratic Party since Florida was sitting out there in the glaring sunlight. What a miserable state party that one is! Karen Thurman, the state party chair is, according to Howard Dean, an excellent leader. She was mayor of Dunnellon and then served in the state Senate for a decade before being elected to a newly created congressional district in 1992. When the GOP re-gerrymandered the district to get rid of her-- after 10 years in Congress-- she was replaced by Ginny Brown-Waite a pathetic backbencher and clueless rubber stamp best known for demanding that all American soldiers buried in France be disinterred and shipped home because France wouldn't hop on board the Bush Express to Nowhere in Iraq.

We've watched as the Florida Democratic Party has botched election after election while patting themselves on the back for being around when something positive happens-- like Obama winning the state or Alan Grayson winning the Orlando congressional seat-- that has little or nothing to do with their efforts. The state party is worthless, at best, perhaps even a hindrance to electing Democrats. They should change the name to the Florida Blue Dogs and let some real Democrats start an actual Democratic Party that fights for Democratic values and principles. A low point was when the state party got behind Republican Tim Mahoney as the candidate to run against Republican Mark Foley. Thurman helped Rahm Emanuel shove Democrat Dave Lutrin out of the race to make way for the wealthy Mahoney who was able to take advantage of Foley's sexual ethics and win the seat-- only to lose it 2 years later because of his own sexual ethics-- and a repulsively Republican voting record.

In 2006 we also watched Thurman and her organization sit on its hands and watch Brown Waite sail to another re-election in her old district. The 5th may seem too challenging for Thurman because she lost it herself but it's been ripe for a Democratic takeover for some time. Unfortunately, the state party is even more moribund between Levy and Pasco counties than in most of Florida. When Thurman first gave the seat up (in 2002) Brown-Waite won with 48% (as opposed to Thurman's 46%). Brown-Waite has never had a tough race since. In 2004 she was re-elected with 66% and two years later she faced a vanity candidate, John Russell, who managed to beat a real candidate, Rick Penberthy is a primary and then took 40% of the vote. In 2008 Russell was the candidate again and Brown Wait beat him by a slightly bigger margin. I'm sure she appreciates the softball pitches. And it looks like she's about to get another.

Yes, it worked out so well with Mahoney that the Florida Democrats look like they're about to get behind another "reformed" Republican. This morning CQPolitics reported that Jim Piccillo, a lifelong Republican, who stumbled into a NY Times story about Republicans-for-Obama, is going to run against Brown-Waite next year.

He doesn't have a website yet-- at least not one I could find, but he is tweeting away-- about an Easter egg hunt with Kendrick Meek? Ready for prime time?