HAD ENOUGH... IN CENTRAL FLORIDA? TIME TO THROW McINVALE OUT AND ELECT SCOTT RANDOLPH

All during this campaign you've seen the Blue America videos for our great congressional candidates, like Victoria Wulsin, Robert Rodriguez, Coleen Rowley, Jerry McNerney, Ned Lamont, John Laesch, and 2 dozen other progressives running against reactionary rubber stamp Republicans (yes, if you haven't figured it out, Ned Lamont is running against a reactionary rubber stamp Republican). We've also authorized other Democrats, in races we didn't get around to, to make their own videos with our songs, the way Stacee Tallitsch, Carol Voisin (OR), Chris Murphy (CT) and Mike McGraw (GA) did.

Today another great use of the song Tom Maxwell, Ken Mosher and Rickie Lee Jones did, wound up in my e-mail box-- and on YouTube, courtesy of bloggers supporting Scott Randolph in a state house race in Orlando (district 36). It's a gerrymandered central Florida district which seeks to dilute the electoral clout of the historic African American community of Eatonville with the tony bedroom community of College Park. This year it is not inconceivable that areas like Tangelo Park and Pine Hills, which have been seduced by Republican siren songs in the past, will not be fooled again.

Our candidate is Scott Randolph, an environmental attorney and a former public advocate for Florida Clean Water Action, which assists legislators and public interest groups on developing environmentally friendly policies benefiting Central Florida. Scott is campaigning to raise teacher salaries and to really improve the quality of the public education system. He also wants to push legislation in the upcoming special session to limit negative ads and prohibit any that are outright falsehoods. What a concept!! But one the justification of which is abundantly clear to Orlando voters right now.

The turncoat incumbent, Sheri McInvale-- she switched parties in January after realizing her reactionary tendencies and inherent corruptness fit in with the GOP far better than with Democrats-- is spending $1.2 million in this race (that's $80 a vote), flooding everyone's mailbox with viciously negative mailers attacking Scott in pure Rovian terms, questioning his maturity, his background as a public advocate, and even his sexuality. (That's funny for someone from the party that has Charlie Crist at the top of the ticket and is still urging people to vote for Mark Foley.)

McInvale made it into the local news for using a picture of Scott and a local female impersonator at a Halloween fundraiser in a mailer. It employs familiar right wing anti-gay catch phrases, such as "Wrong for our Families" and "can't talk straight." Meanwhile McInvale is being financed by huge corporate interests eager to keep a corrupt pawn in office. She has proven herself always ready to sponsor legislation favorable to her corporate donors. In the face of all of her unprecedented corruption, the following people and organizations have declared that they've had enough of Sheri McInvale:

- Orlando City Commissioner Patty Sheehan (one of two openly gay officials in Florida)
- Florida's AFL-CIO
- Alliance for Retired Americans
- Clean Water Action
- Florida Consumer Action Network (FCAN)
- ACORN PAC (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now)
- National Organization for Women PAC (NOW)
- Service Employees International Union (SEIU)
- DfA

Blue America is proud Scott and his supporters have made us of our song for their campaign:





WEDNESDAY UPDATE: A WINNER IN FLORIDA

Scott won his seat yesterday-- hugely. And we just got a great letter of thanks for the little we did to help from Darren:

We won! Not only did we emerge victorious, we enjoyed a cushion of 22.1 percentage points. Things looked so bleak for our opponent, she called to concede shortly after 8:30 PM, with only 14% of precincts reporting.

Here's the official unofficial results, direct from the Orange County Supervisor of Elections:

STATE REPRESENTATIVE DISTRICT 36
This race is in 42 precincts
22,535 ballots cast out of 73,224 eligible voters
or a 30.78% turn out
100% of precincts reporting

Sheri McInvale (REP) 8,777 38.95 %
Scott Randolph (DEM) 13,758 61.05 %

This double digit victory shows that the voters here in Orlando cannot be bought with a 1.2 million dollar war chest. It also shows that we want a representative that looks after our interests, and not
the interests of the influences that write the checks.

Howie, Scott and Susannah told me to convey their thanks to you. "Have You Had Enough?" was a hit in our campaign, and energized us all in our final push for votes. I guess that's what happens when you get two of the Zippers on a project-- a catchy tune you can clean house to.

And of course, I want to thank you personally (or I guess electronically), for answering one e-mail out of what must be a voluminous inbox, and for that most gracious post on your blog. I will always remember the year 2006 as the breaking dawn of a brighter day.

Darren Vierday
htttp://vierblog.blogspot.com

People are celebrating November 7, 2006 all over the world, but nowhere more than at teh grassroots level here in our own country.