If you’re still mad at Florida for denying Vice Pres. Al Gore the presidency in 2000, you’re probably not any happier with us for denying the Senate another Democrat, in the form of Bill Nelson.
There’s a tragically simple explanation for why the Senate vote went off the rails in the county where Fort Lauderdale is:
Bad ballot design. Like, spectacularly bad design.
In civilized counties like mine, here’s how the ballot looked:
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:
We’re not the only ones to notice that Connie Mack IV, nee Cornelius Harvey McGillicuddy IV, is one of the lightest weight lightweights ever to run on the Republican ticket for the Senate from Florida, and that’s saying something.
After all, this is the state that sent George LeMieux, whose claim to fame might be only that his last name contains more vowels than consonants, to fill the spot vacated by Mel Martinez, who quit partway through his term to pursue closer family relations.
That tendency seems to be largely Republican in nature, but at least Martinez wasn’t trying to spend more time with Sarah Palin’s family.
I digress.
The point is, someone else is taking a look at Mack IV (R), now running for the seat held by Sen. Bill Nelson (D), and coming up underwhelmed.
Palm Beach Post columnist Frank Cerabino sent a memo to Mack from his fictitious image consulting firm. In it, he presented Mack with answers he might use to address issues uncovered by opposition research.
Trump’s renaming of Lake Ontario has created a litmus test —
Yield, and rename it Lake America, at Donald Trump’s behest,
Like Google and Apple, which already capitulated,
Changing the name just like Dear Leader stipulated,
But there’s one defiant holdout — the original mapping site, Mapquest.
