Tag: Florida

Murphy Defeats West Again as Board Misses Deadline

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Current but soon to be former Rep. Allen West

Despite a judge’s refusal to grant a recount to Rep. Allen West (GOP/Tea-Fla.), a partial recount of the early votes only is under way, as of Saturday morning, Nov. 17.

The colorful (read: “nut case“) tea party congressman lost to Democrat Patrick Murphy by about 0.6 percent. Florida law requires that a candidate lose by 0.5 percent or less to trigger a full ballot recount. But when the governor of the state is Rick Scott, himself a tea party champion, anything can happen.

Updates available after the jump

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You Almost Feel Sorry for the Tea Party. But Not Quite

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This is hard for me to process. With all the debt, all the unemployment and the bad economic indicators, how is it that Obama is only 2.5 percentage points down from where he was in 2008?

— Soon to be former state Rep. Scott Plakon (Longwood), who lost his seat in the Florida House on Tuesday. Plakon was author of the first of 12 tea party inspired state constitutional amendments — the one that would have exempted Florida from healthcare reform, aka Obamacare. Only the three most innocuous amendments were accepted by voters, who turned down Plakon’s along with restrictions on abortion and more tax cuts for industry. Plakon and other tea party members are struggling to understand why sentiment in the country isn’t as portrayed on FOX News. They might start by taking another look at those “bad economic indicators,” which have been steadily improving for about two years.

Sonny Bono’s Widow and Her Current Congressman Husband Were Both Defeated Yesterday – an Era Ends in Congress

Jon Ponder

Yesterday Rep. Connie Mack, the Republican congressman and husband of Sonny Bono’s widow, Rep. Mary Bono Mack, R-Calif., lost his race to unseat Florida’s Democratic senator, Sen. Bill Nelson. Today we learn that Mrs. Bono Mack has lost her race for reelection to the House:

Raul Ruiz, a Democratic emergency room doctor, eked out a victory over Rep. Mary Bono Mack (R-Palm Springs) in the race for the 36th Congressional District seat in the Coachella Valley.

The often-caustic political slugfest is the first defeat for Bono Mack in her 14-year political career, which began when she was elected to replace her husband, singer Sonny Bono, in Congress after his death in a skiing accident…

Ruiz assailed Bono Mack for supporting the budget plan of GOP vice presidential candidate Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin; Ruiz said the plan would decimate Medicare.

The political parties and outside groups spent more than $3.3 million in the race

Since Rep. Mack gave up his seat to run for the Senate, this means that next year, neither Mack nor Bono Mack will be returning to Congress.

Screwing Up Voting as Only Florida Can: Look for a Very Bad Election Day 2012

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This picture of the line for early voting on Saturday in Miami* should explain why a Florida judge ruled on Sunday that early voting must be allowed to continue today, despite Gov. Rick Scott’s order that it would end.

What’s happening at the polls in Florida feels a lot like “self voter suppression.”

The Republican super majority in the state legislature loaded the ballot with ONE DOZEN deceptively and circuitously worded amendments. These would, among other things, exempt Florida from healthcare reform; interfere with a woman’s right to choose; provide more tax breaks to big business that will cut funding from schools, fire, and police; and give the legislature the ability to meddle with the state Supreme Court, among other GOP wish list items that would be unconstitutional if not passed by voters.

The amendments take up a full three 8 1/2 x 14 pages, front and back, on the ballot and it is estimated that it would take the average voter at least 45 minutes to read them all, and that’s not counting the time it will take to consider all the other offices and local initiatives. Officials, of course, have been stressing the need to bring a filled-in sample ballot to the polls.

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New Mailer Shows How Untethered to Truth the Republicans Have Become

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SanduskyMailer

Republicans seem to be betting that the folks on the receiving end of this mailer are crack-stupid.

Will the next campaign feature Nancy Kerrigan style knee-capping? Soviet style poisoning?

Kathy Castor-Dentel, an elementary school teacher and a Democrat, is running for the Florida State House of Representatives, District 30. She is the daughter of Betty Castor, who was herself smeared as a terror sympathizer in her bid for the U.S. Senate in 2004 by Republican Mel Martinez, who subsequently lost interest in the office and quit early to spend more time with his family. She is also the sister of U.S. Rep. Karen Castor (D – Fla.), a rising star in U.S. House Minority.

Jerry Sandusky, who is depicted in the mailer, is a former Pennsylvania State assistant football coach recently convicted of serial child molestation and sex abuse. He has no relationship to Castor-Dentel, Florida teacher’s unions, or indeed, to the Florida District 30 race. But hey, why let that stop anyone from smearing Castor-Dentel by linking the two anyway?

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Election 2012 May End Congressional Careers of Sonny Bono’s Widow and Her Current Husband, Florida Rep. Connie Mack

Jon Ponder

From left: Rep. Mack, Rep. Bono Mack and Dr. Ruiz, Bono Mack"s Democratic challenger
From left: Rep. Mack, Rep. Bono Mack and Dr. Ruiz, Bono Mack"s Democratic challenger
The new NBC/Marist poll in Florida finds that incumbent Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson leads his Republican challenger, Rep. Connie Mack by double digits, 52 percent to 39 percent.

But that may not be the only political trouble facing Rep. Mack’s household. His wife, GOP Rep. Mary Bono Mack, the widow of entertainer Sonny Bono, is also facing the toughest reelection challenge since she assumed the seat representing Palm Springs that her late husband held until he was killed in a freak skiing accident in January 1998. Because Rep. Mack opted to give up his seat in Florida to run against Nelson, there’s a chance now that both Mack and Bono Mack will not be returning to Washington next year.

Rep. Bono Mack, who is considered to be one of the five most vulnerable Republican representatives in the House, appears to have really stepped in it when an “October surprise” lodged against her Democratic opponent, emergency-room physician Raul Ruiz, backfired, big time:

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Waiting Game: Longest Ballot Ever Presented to Florida Voters

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17

Number of minutes it will take to read a general election ballot in Florida, where the state legislature has added 11 constitutional amendments for voters to consider. All amendments are deceptively worded and written by the Republican-led body, and all received a thumbs-down from the League of Women Voters. Thanks to the 3,000 words on the ballot, the longest lines in history are expected at the polls. No doubt voters who can’t wait more than an hour or two will give up in frustration.