Tag: Elections

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Breaking: Florida Democrats Tell DNC “Screw You”

Trish

That cheer you hear is Florida Democrats receiving some good news. At long last, state party leaders are showing signs of intelligent life. They are announcing today that they will tell the DNC they are not coming up with work-arounds for the national leaders’ sanction of Florida’s Jan. 29 presidential preference primary.

Instead of spending millions of dollars to hold caucuses, straw votes, or whatever else it would take to please Howard Dean & Co., they are doing the right thing and encouraging Florida Democrats to vote in our state’s authentic election. From a party email and new web site:

You should care about Florida’s situation even if you aren’t in Florida

…your Party’s leaders have chosen overwhelmingly to reaffirm our strong commitment to fully participating in the state-run Democratic Presidential Primary on January 29, 2008, despite the penalties from the Democratic National Committee.

There will be no other primary. Florida Democrats absolutely must vote on January 29th. We make this election matter. Not the DNC, not the delegates, not the candidates, but Florida Democrats like you and me voting together. We make it count.

Stating which candidate they like best isn’t the only issue on the ballot for Florida voters. A new tax plan that would starve local governments into cutting social services, law enforcement, and public works is also in play. Democratic voters can’t sit this one out, although many would if they thought they were not also helping select the party’s presidential candidate.

I’m planning a post on why you should care about Florida’s situation even if you aren’t in Florida. For now, trust me. This all matters.

I’ve been critical of FDC leader Karen Thurman for a number of reasons and I don’t expect that to change. But I have to give the devil her due on this one. Thanks, Karen, for getting it right!

Maybe Democrats Should Take Spanish Lessons — from the Republicans

Buck Banks

In a breathless e-mail I received Tuesday, Florida Democratic Party Chair Karen Thurman wrote of the previous Sunday night’s Univision Democratic presidential debate (emphasis added):

On Sunday night, Democrats made history at the University of Miami when, for the first time, our presidential candidates directly addressed the issues of the Hispanic community in Spanish.

Sitting in the arena, I was surrounded by hundreds of prominent Democrats from across the country and more than a thousand students. An almost euphoric excitement filled the room. The momentous event reached a record 4.6 million viewers via the Univision television network — more than any other debate or forum this year.

Besides her overblown prose, Thurman also overstated the viewership, which was more like 2.2 million — less than the Fox Network’s Republican prez debate a week earlier.

Amusing malaprops and glaring grammatical mistakes mar the Spanish language websites of the Democratic presidential candidates.

It seems typical of the Democratic Party’s approach to what seemingly every pundit and their consultant was referring to as “Latino Power” after the debate (which ignores the fact that most Cubans and Latin Americans in my part of the country hate being called “Latino”), which is to exaggerate its efforts to woo Hispanic voters away from what appears to be a vacuum on the Republican side. But more on that later.

La Politica is a new publication that is set to debut Nov. 5 and provide analysis of the Hispanic-wooing efforts of the candidates for the ensuing year before the elections. The publisher is sending around a prototype PDF of the magazine to potential advertisers and subscribers. It looks both promising — and uncompromising. I particularly enjoyed its analysis of the Democratic presidential candidates’ efforts to cage a little of that “Latino Power” thing:

Amusing malaprops and glaring grammatical mistakes mar the Spanish language websites of the Democratic presidential candidates.

Hector Orcí, chairman of Hispanic marketing agency La Agencia de Orcí & Asociados, derides the websites as “not particularly interesting, nor effective, nor well-written … If they were doing as bad a job in English as they are doing in Spanish, none of the candidates would get elected with the exception of Bill Richardson.”

Although the article goes on to point out that Richardson’s Web site is rife with errors, too:

Spanish is obviously the second language of the campaign´s Spanish-language blogger whose very first post includes the phrase “Bill Richardson está corriendo porque quiere ser el próximo presidente.” In Spanish, unlike English, you cannot write a candidate is ”running” for office. Yet, the writer opted for the literal translation of “running” as “corriendo.” The second sentence of the second post manages to misspell five words. The third post includes a videotaped testimonial by Rep. Ben Luján, speaker of the New Mexico House of Representatives, who praises the Governor for “dando relief en los tax issues.”

[…]

Selective Enforcement: Dean Seems O.K. with Rich, White New Hampshire Changing Primary Date

Trish

Another state is vowing to move its primary forward so it can be at the head of the line in determining the next presidential candidates. You know what that means: lots of blustering from DNC Chair Howard Dean about taking away their delegates and refusing to count their votes at the national nominating convention.

New Englander Howard Dean has no righteous indignation over New Hampshire moving up its primary date in violation of DNC rules

Except the state in question is New Hampshire and New Englander Howard Dean is strangely silent on the matter. The lack of righteous indignation has drawn its own attention from Democratic Senators Bill Nelson (Fla.), Carl Levin (Mich.) and Debbie Stabenow (Mich.), who have lodged a protest.

New Hampshire is talking about moving its Jan. 22 primary to stay ahead of Michigan’s Jan. 15 primary and South Carolina Republicans’ January 19 primary and the DNC is saying nothing, the letter said…

Democratic Party rules say states cannot hold their 2008 primary contests before Feb. 5, except for Iowa on Jan. 14, Nevada on Jan. 19, New Hampshire on Jan. 22 and South Carolina on Jan. 29.

Why is New Hampshire, the 41st most populous of the 50 states, so important to the primary process? It’s certainly not because of the diversity of its residents, nor their reflection of the country as a whole, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

New Hampshire Florida America
Population 1,314,895 18,089,888 299,398,484
Whites 96.1% 80.4% 80.2%
Blacks 1.0% 15.7% 12.8%
Hispanic/Latino* 2.2% 19.5% 14.4%
Asians 1.7% 2.1% 4.3%
Median HH Income $53,377 $40,900 $44,334

* Hispanics/Latinos may be of any race, so also are included in applicable race categories.

It makes me wonder if all that sputtering about respecting the process is really about protecting somebody’s idea about rich white folks needing to go first. How very undemocratic of the DNC.

New Site Helps Brides Figure Out How to Vote

Trish

You know how most young women who are planning a wedding are totally consumed by candidates’ positions on Iraq, health care, and global warming? And how their fondest wish is to be able to compare and contrast platforms and then examine their findings in online discussion groups?

According to a new web site the last thing on today’s bride’s mind is seating charts or engraved matchbooks. She’s not looking for the perfect photographer, just the perfect presidential candidate.

BridesDecide.com is helping brides “get engaged in the 2008 election.” The site is surprisingly good, though the bizarreness is hard to ignore.

Where else could you find out that Bill and Hillary met in the library, and only had 15 guests at their 1975 wedding? And also that Hillary supports a guest worker program allowing illegal immigrants to participate in Social Security while tightening borders, cracking down on employers who hire undocumented workers, and allowing illegal immigrants a chance to pay fines and back taxes, learn English, and wait in line for legal status?

Oddly, only one wedding date is cited for Rudy Giuliani — May 24, 2003 — although listed are children Andrew, 21 and Caroline, 18.

This site makes me want to propose a toast to the new couple of voters: May they have many years of nonpartisan happiness!

Should Florida Democrats Change Parties?

Trish

If the Democrats don’t want my Florida votes, they can’t have my Florida money.

That’s what I’m telling everyone who calls or emails me for support — and I’m on a lot of calling and email lists — until the party makes up its mind whether to count Florida’s votes in the coming primary.

Maxwell: I figure if your party won’t count your vote, join one that will

The presidential preference election was moved by the Florida legislature to Jan. 29,* putting it ahead of four other states and causing the DNC to turn all red in the face like your dad did when you came home late and woke him up. They threatened to ground us until the general election by denying us delegates at the national convention. They also forced Democratic candidates to agree not to campaign in Florida, although that hasn’t stopped them from coming here for fundraisers.

Orlando Sentinel columnist Scott Maxwell is putting forth an even bolder solution than my purse strings strategy: change parties. Maxwell points out that the RNC, while also upset about the primary move, is only threatening to take away half of Florida’s GOP delegates.

I figure: If your party won’t count your vote, join one that will.

Seriously, Democrats. March down to your elections office and become a Republican.

That way, come January, you can vote — for the Republican you like best, the one you dislike the least or, if you wanna be sneaky about it, you can even vote for the Republican that you think would be the easiest for a Democrat to beat in November.

Whatever way you do it, your vote will count — at least more than it would as a Democrat if the national folks follow through with their threat.

What’s more, after you vote Republican, you can switch back — and vote in the regular Democratic primaries in September…

Admittedly, the Florida Democratic Party wasn’t too keen on my idea.

Said party spokesman Mark Bubriski: “I don’t know how any Democrat, no matter how understandably angry they may be, could justify switching to the party of Katherine Harris, Larry Craig, David Vitter, Bob Allen, Jack Abramoff, Scooter Libby, Tom Feeney, et cetera based on an internal party dispute over a primary election.”

That’s not a bad sound bite. Too bad hardly anyone’s going to hear it.

That’s because the Democrats seem too busy doing what they often do so well: becoming their own worst enemy.

I have news for Mark. This is more than an internal party dispute since it affects whether my vote will count. And in many ways, the primary is more important than the general election. That’s the very reason it was moved up. But that attitude by our party leaders is why most of us rank and file Democrats are as fired up as my dad used to get when he caught me coming in after midnight.

Update: Thanks to my new BFF, Anonymous, for noting the correct date of the presidential preference primary. The post has been edited accordingly.

Fred Thompson: The New Katherine Harris

Trish
Fred reaches for his campaign manager’s um, arm.

We’re only one day in, but it already looks like having Fred Thompson in the 2008 campaign is going to be fun!

In fact, Fred’s candidacy could be almost as entertaining as Katherine Harris’ 2006 run for the Florida senate. Katherine, you might recall, buzzed through staffers like so much termite-infested cord wood. In one historic day alone, four senior staff members walked out. By the end of her campaign, scores had either quit or been fired.

But Fred is already looking good for meeting or beating Katherine’s record.

Mark Corallo, a veteran of the Bush administration who had served as Thompson’s primary spokesman when the Tennessee Republican began exploring a bid earlier this year, has left the campaign, Corallo and several Thompson aides told CNN…

He is the fourth communications staffer to leave the Thompson campaign. The former Tennessee senator also replaced his campaign manager weeks before officially announcing Wednesday that he would run for the White House.

In Harris’ case, extreme bugginess was the likely cause of the turnover. Between claiming live footage from the 2000 presidential theft was doctored to make her appear more heavily made-up, or that only born-again Christians are fit to hold public office, or raiding her campaign funds for home renovations, it’s no wonder her first ex-campaign manager programmed his cell phone to play the theme from the Exorcist when Katherine called.

With Thompson, the rumored source of the turmoil is just as hard-wired into the campaign.

…Republicans are still trying to determine who is really calling the shots and how much power is held by Mrs. Thompson.

“It’s now become an open joke among people in the consultant community and political movers and shakers that the senator’s wife is really running the campaign,” said Tony Fabrizio, a Republican pollster and strategist. “The spouse needs to be an integral part of the campaign but it is never a good thing when the spouse runs the campaign because the spouse is never objective.”

Thompson himself jokes about Jeri being in charge.

Speaking at his $1,000-a-ticket fund-raiser at the J.W. Marriott hotel in downtown Washington Monday night, Fred Thompson began by introducing “my campaign manager — oh, I mean my wife.”

If Thompson starts claiming Democratic office-holders secretly support him over their party’s eventual candidate, it’ll feel just like Harris is back. Fun!

Richardson: God Picked the Primary Dates

Trish

God reveals the primary dates to Moses

The primary situation is getting downright comical, even as Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (R) pledges to veto any bill that would un-do the recent move to a Feb. 5 election.

That declaration comes after my previous pick, John Edwards, insulted my home state.

Comment from God: “I’ve decided to call Bill Richardson home. And maybe that short ugly guy from Ohio too.”

“This election, more than any other, is about real change and choosing the candidate who is going to fight for that change,” Edwards said in a statement released by his campaign Saturday. “Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina need to be first because in these states ideas count, not just money.”

All righty then. I’ve already written the Edwards campaign to ask for my tainted Florida money back.

But the topper has got to be Gov. Bill Richardson (D-N.M.) Richardson’s claim that God Himself chose the primary dates is explored in a hilarious post on the Tampa Tribune’s blog, the Buzz.

God Likes Democratic Boycott of Florida

Well, He didn’t tell us that directly. But Bill Richardson says there’s divine support for Iowa’s status in the nominating process:

“Iowa, for good reason, for constitutional reasons, for reasons related to the Lord, should be the first caucus and primary,” Richardson, New Mexico’s governor, said at the Northwest Iowa Labor Council Picnic. “And I want you to know who was the first candidate to sign a pledge not to campaign anywhere if they got ahead of Iowa. It was Bill Richardson.”

Readers are having a field day making comments about Bill’s obviously caught up and overwrought oration.

[…]

Florida Democratic Party Update: Sit Tight, Trust Us

Buck Banks

I received this inane message from Florida Democratic Party Chair Karen Thurman this morning:

I hope everyone had a wonderful Labor Day Weekend. As you may have heard, on Friday and Saturday, the Democratic Presidential candidates signed a pledge to not campaign in any state, other than the four pre-authorized states (IA, NV, NH, SC), that holds its primary prior to Feb. 5, 2008. Of course, Florida’s state-run Presidential Preference Primary is scheduled for one week prior to that date. This came on the heels of a DNC Rules & Bylaws Committee meeting to penalize Florida Democrats with a 100 percent delegate reduction if our delegates are not selected on Feb. 5 or later.

This is obviously a difficult situation, but I want to assure you that your Party, Democratic Congressional Delegation, DNC members and other Democratic leaders are working hard to find a solution that is amenable to the DNC, the Chairs of the four pre-authorized states, the candidates and, most of all, Florida Democrats. We hope to be making an announcement in the coming weeks.

Until then, we strongly encourage you to keep your eyes on the prize and continue moving forward with laying the groundwork for victory in November 2008. Use that voter file, talk to your friends and neighbors, sign up to be a delegate to the state convention, and get involved. These intra-party discussions shouldn’t distract us from the real goal or let the Republicans get the upper hand. No matter which cards we’re dealt, we must deliver our state’s 27 electoral votes — and the Presidency — to the Democratic nominee. The country needs us.

Stay tuned for more information. Thank you for your hard work.

-KLT

Hear that sucking sound? It’s the Florida Democratic Party’s leadership vacuum.

Let the train wreck begin!

Big Daddy DNC Doles Out Discipline

Buck Banks

In a rare demonstration of forthrightness, the Democratic National Committee’s spokeswoman let slip how the DNC actually perceives its state counterparts while she explained why the committee was whupping up on Florida for moving its primary to Jan. 29:

‘If you don’t enact the punishment, it also sends a signal to other children that they can get away with it, too.’

Stacie Paxton, press secretary for the DNC, said Florida’s penalty is meant in part as a lesson to other states weighing earlier primary dates, and she likened the measure to schoolyard discipline. “You can say to a child, ‘You’re going to receive a punishment,’ ” she says. “But if you don’t enact the punishment, it also sends a signal to other children that they can get away with it, too.”

Of course, one could argue that the “leadership” of the Florida Democratic Party is indeed a pretty bratty bunch and about as effective as a group of third-graders. Here they are responding to the punishment news:

Florida Democrats have gone on the offensive, with top leaders denouncing the national party and threatening legal action. “We cannot go along with anything but the state-run primary set for next January,” Florida’s 10 congressional Democrats, led by Sen. Bill Nelson, said in a statement last week. “We strongly encourage all Democrats to vote for their preferred nominee in that primary, regardless of whatever penalties the DNC might enact.”

That doesn’t sound much like offense, does it? Instead, it sounds like the Fla Dems just punted.

State, National Democratic Party Doing Their Best to Swing Florida Republican

Trish

FCD home page, showing the “news” from as recently as Aug. 29

The news for Florida Democrats gets worse by the minute — in addition to taking away our delegates, the DNC forced most candidates to sign a pledge that they will not campaign in Florida.

Anyone who says we have effective leadership at the top of the Florida Democratic party is just plain wrong

The DNC, in short, is doing everything it can think of to ensure that Florida’s electoral votes go to the Republican candidate for president in 2008.

And what is our state party doing about it?

I don’t know. The FDP’s* web site hasn’t been updated since Aug. 29 — the day before party chair Karen Thurman and her crew unsuccessfully pleaded our case in Washington. An escalating tactical war, intended to bring Florida Democrats to our knees, has been waged since with daily headlines detailing more bad news.

But instead of helping us stay on top of the situation, offering lights at ends of tunnels, and suggesting tactics Florida Democrats like me can take to help, we get stale silence.

Anyone who says we have effective leadership at the top of the Florida Democratic party is just plain wrong.

* Thanks, Anonymous, for pointing out my original acronym was wrong. If only you’d contribute something more meaningful than minutiae and uninformed jabs about me being a novice, we’d really be in business.

Update: Almost as if they read Pensito Review, the Florida Democratic Party has at last updated its web site, so we can find out almost anything we ever wanted to know about how Florida Democrats enjoyed their Labor Day picnics. Now if only they’d address our dire situation in regard to the 2008 elections…