Polls Finally Open in Florida. Will the Republican Blood Letting End?

After what seems like decades, but is only a matter of hundreds and hundreds of days, the polls were finally opened in Florida, where early voting for the Aug. 24 primary began. I pity my Republican neighbors, who must choose between the guy with no lip and the guy with no eyebrows (or hair) as their candidate for governor. This video, produced by Democrat Alex Sink’s team, shows the state of the GOP primary.

Meanwhile my gal, Sink, has rightfully profited in polling and fundraising from the rancor on the GOP side. Recent polls show her up over her Republican opponents, by how much varying upon which candidate she is paired with. Her lead seems wider over McCollum than Scott. And she has about $5.8 million in the bank, which she’ll need if she finds herself running against multimillionaire Scott. Bud Chiles, son of Democratic governor Lawton Chiles, is trailing in polls with about 15 percent. Chiles is in the race as an independent, so if he stays in, it will be a three-way contest.

Crist: Republicans Only Concerned with “Regrettable Glory” of Party Ideology

matthudson
Today's poster child for Republican hypocrisy, Florida Rep. Matt Hudson
You would think a state with 1,200 miles of coastline, most of it on the Gulf of Mexico, would be prudent to convene its legislature to address the impact of the worst toxic environmental disaster in the country’s history. At least, you would unless you were a Republican.

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist has called a special session of the legislature to consider a constitutional ban on offshore oil drilling. Republicans are crying “foul,” citing the fact that there are already statutes that determine how close drilling can be to Florida’s shores.

“I think it’s completely unnecessary,” said Rep. Matt Hudson, R-Naples, in a view expressed by others. “There’s absolutely no reason we have to go and create a law for something that’s already unlawful.”

Crist: Republicans have “completely lost their way.”

What Hudson is saying is that there is no need to add something to the state constitution that’s already been dealt with by statute. Kind of like adding an amendment to the Florida constitution banning same-sex marriage when there’s already a law against it. Obviously there’s no need for that, right?

Hudson didn’t think so in 2008, when he and almost every other Republican politician in Florida, including then GOP-er Gov. Crist, publicly endorsed Amendment 2, a Republican initiative to make same-sex marriage double-triple-really-really-quadriple illegal in Florida.

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Florida’s Dropping Unemployment Rate Should Benefit Democrats But It Won’t

CharlieBikersAn announcement that Florida’s jobless rate, among the highest in the nation, fell for the third straight month should be good news for Florida’s elected officials. But for those running for the next office, what’s good for the state can be bad for campaigns.

Speculation is whether the news benefits Democrats, who share party affiliation with Pres. Obama, or Republicans, who have done less than nothing to facilitate a recovery, unless you consider holding your breath and stomping your feet, “facilitating.” But Florida’s Gov. Charlie Crist is neither fish nor fowl thanks to a recent move to “No Party Affiliation,” making him the true beneficiary of the drop from the March high of 12.3 percent to June’s still high but better 11.4.

The awkwardness of their positions was evident in the reactions from Crist’s rivals for the Florida Senate seat. If things are going badly, it must be the governor’s fault. If they’re going well…hmmm.

The winner is… Gov. Charlie Crist, NPA

“There are clear signs that we’re moving from recession to recovery, but growth is fragile and much more work needs to be done,” Meek said on Friday.

Republican candidate Marco Rubio has harped on the loss of jobs in Florida while lambasting efforts by President Obama and Governor Charlie Crist, an independent candidate for the Senate, to stimulate the economy.

If the rate continues to drop, Crist looks better and better. All the heat he took from Republicans for accepting federal stimulus funding will seem more like what it was — blustering and posturing at the expense of residents who need work. If the rate even holds steady, Crist can still take credit for moving the needle. Rubio has less to criticize (although a lack of facts hasn’t stopped a Republican from being critical yet), and Meek will be stuck with his, “good but could be better” line.

Worst Political Ad, or So Bad It’s Viral?

Move over Dale Peterson, Florida is offering what could be the worst political ad ever. In fact, some on Twitter are calling it Florida’s Demon Sheep video. My state representative, who appears to be running unopposed for all intents and purposes, has posted this truly awful video to his YouTube channel. The spot appears to be done by his son, Scott. And if you somehow missed it in the course of the video, it’s about Mike Weinstein, Florida Dist. 19 Representative, a moderate Republican who bucked the GOP herd and voted against the impossibly bad education reform bill which Gov. Charlie Crist vetoed just before going rogue, i.e., No Party Affiliation. I don’t dislike Weinstein, but if I did, suffice it to say this video would not help me change my view.

Breaking News: Ex Florida GOP Chair Arrested on Fraud Charges

Seminole County Jail Inmate Jim Greer
Seminole County Jail Inmate Jim Greer
Jim Greer, ex head of the Republican Party of Florida (RPOF) and huge Gov. Charlie Crist supporter (and vice versa) was arrested today on six counts of fraud for funneling money from GOP donors for his personal use.

The indictment is likely to shake up the Florida Senate race. Gov Crist, running without party affiliation, is a personal friend of Greer’s, instrumental in his chairmanship, and continued to support him after calls began for his resignation. Former House Speaker Marco Rubio, along with other Florida Republican politicians, has been paying back money he received from the party under Greer.

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Conservatives Show They are Anything But

ultrasoundBeing a conservative is more challenging since mass hysteria, aka, the Tea Party, entered the picture in the wake of the election of America’s first African-American president. If limited government whose purpose is not to foster social agendas was ever really what conservatism was about, it isn’t now.

Take a new law, currently on the governor’s desk to be signed (or hopefully, vetoed) in Florida. Demonstrating what happens when you get too many Republican men in a room together, the so-called conservative bill requires that women considering abortions must first schedule an ultrasound test in which the doctor describes to her the contents of her uterus, whether she wants to know about that yolk sac or not. Touting ultrasounds as non-invasive and therefore harmless led the National Institutes of Health to release this statement: “Ultrasound examination in pregnancy should be performed for a specific medical indication.”

Election after election, the “hard-working white people”* vote for the guy or gal spouting the most extreme platitudes, and then wonder why nothing gets done in Washington, why our elected officials don’t work together better

If the faux-conservative legislature gets its way, not only must the woman wait, with the clock ticking, for an appointment for a test she doesn’t want, she must also foot the bill for all this herself. Is it possible for government to be more intrusive in people’s private lives than this?

Marco Rubio, the so-called tea bagger candidate in the Florida Senate race, demonstrated a further failure of rhetoric with the recent announcement of his “policy committee.” Rubio, running on the outsider platform but squarely on the Republican ticket, is tapping entrenched Washington insiders Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) as honorary committee chairs. No doubt they will bring fresh ideas on how to take our country back from…themselves. What’s wrong with this picture?

People who are against progressive initiatives like choice and a positive role for government are being played, again. Candidates pandering to tea bagger fears know what to say and do to appear to offer the answers, which are always both simple and vague. And election after election, the “hard-working white people”* vote for the guy or gal spouting the most extreme platitudes, and then wonder why nothing gets done in Washington, why our elected officials don’t work together better.

We as progressives have to figure out how to wake up our neighbors in this country that we all share, and get them to question the slogans and lies directed at them. If anyone out there knows a good way to do that, I’d love to hear it.

* Hillary Clinton, campaigning for president in 2008 in Pennsylvania

Polls Show Effect of Passing Reform: Obama Up 5 Point, Dems Close Enthusiasm Gap with GOP

A new CNN poll finds Pres. Obama’s approval up 5 points, from 46 percent to 51 percent. The surge comes from a rise of 12 points among Democrats, to 86 percent, and six points, to 47 percent, among independents. Approval among Republicans remained unchanged at around 12 percent.

At the same time, a Washington Post/ABC News poll
shows the president with a 53-43 percent approval rating. The poll also appears to indicate that passage of the health-care reform bill has closed the enthusiasm gap between Democrats and Republicans, with 74 percent now saying their enthusiastic about voting for a Democrat in November, compared with 76 percent who are enthusiastic about voting for the GOP.

To Repeal Health Care Law, GOP Must Elect 26 New Senators, 112 House Members

Health-care reform is now law. The Republicans’ strategy of mortally wounding the Obama presidency by killing the bill — making defeat of the legislation the president’s Waterloo — has failed, and yet they just can’t stop lying.

Republicans’ claim now that they’ll “repeal and replace” the reforms if they win control of Congress may be their most ridiculous lie yet.

In the long list of agitprop prevarications — that reforms would create death panels, lead to rationing, constitute a government takeover, put government bureaucrats between patients and doctors, cover illegal aliens, use taxpayer funds to pay for abortions and the rest — their claim now that they’ll “repeal and replace” the reforms if they win control of Congress may be the most ridiculous yet.

A more likely scenario is that independent voters will realize that the Armageddon Republicans promised is not coming, and never was. Worse, these voters may even find there’s much to like about the tax breaks, regulations on insurance companies and other goodies coming online and so be more likely to vote for Democrats in November than they say they are now, eight months out.

If public opinion turns around, Republicans will have an even harder time getting the two-thirds majorities in the House and Senate required to override the president’s veto of their repeal legislation. But even if it doesn’t, the odds that Republicans can get to two-thirds majorities, especially in the House, lie somewhere between slim and none — and they know it.

Kevin Osborne at Citybeat Cincinnati runs the numbers:

In the House of Representatives, there currently are 253 Democrats and 178 Republicans, with four vacant seats.

In the Senate, there currently are 57 Democrats, 41 Republicans and two independents.

Because it’s highly doubtful that the GOP will convince any Democrats who supported the bill to change their votes, that means Republicans would need to win 40 House seats and 10 Senate seats in this fall’s election to gain simple majorities to pass the bill. But to repeal some of the reforms — like the individual insurance mandate — they would need 60 votes in the Senate, meaning the GOP would have to gain 19 seats.

Even then, it wouldn’t be signed into law because there’s no doubt President Obama would veto it. To override a veto, Republicans would need two-thirds of each house.

That means 67 senators and 290 House members. To achieve that goal, Republicans would need to gain 26 seats in the Senate and 112 in the House.

Pres. Obama is says he hopes Republicans pursue repeal:

“This is the reform that some folks in Washington are still hollering about, still shouting about. Now that we passed it, they’re already promising to repeal it. They’re actually going to run on a platform of repeal in November,” Obama told a loud and friendly crowd of 3,000 in the University of Iowa Field House.

“And my attitude is: Go for it.”

Current projections by Nate Silver at FiveThirtyEight.com show Democrats holding a 54 to 46 seat margin after the elections in November. Silver gives the Republicans a 10 percent chance of taking a majority in the Senate.

However, in February, Silver said the “general consensus” is that Dems will lose as many as 40 seats, which would put them in range of a slim — but nowhere near veto-proof — majority.