Yesterday, the New York Times had an article on the political transformation underway in South Florida. The Democrats are making a move. It was interesting, but seemed to have a few facts wrong. For example, the reporter said Florida was "a state where [Obama] is not polling well against Senator McCain." I checked and that's not quite accurate according to the numbers at Pollster.com. McCain's "average" lead is 3.7 points, he's well under 50% and at least one of the recent credible independent polls shows Obama leading. I was also struck by the fawning tone towards Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Bush rubber stamp Republican, who represents Little Havana.
Over the weekend, we also learned from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel that Democrats are out-registering Repubs. by a 6 to 1 margin. Yes, 6 to 1:
An escalating number of voters registering as Democrats is providing evidence that the 2008 election could produce a wave of support for Barack Obama — and trigger a decades-long shift of party allegiance that could affect elections for a generation.
The numbers are ominous for Republicans: Through May, Democratic voter registration in Broward County was up 6.7 percent. Republican registrations grew just 3 percent while independents rose 2.8 percent.
Democrats have posted even greater gains statewide, up 106,508 voters from January through May, compared with 16,686 for the Republicans.
Something is happening in Florida for sure. It could be a big year for Democrats -- which brings me to Annette Taddeo.
Howie Klein deconstructed the internecine politics and the on-going shenanigans in Florida much better than I ever could. Read his post, which destroys the idea that Ros-Lehtinen is somehow safe in what is turning out to be a Democratic trending year in Florida. Howie met the woman who is going to beat Ros-Lehtinen: Annette Taddeo. And, as I learned first-hand, to meet Annette is to become a fan. Seriously. It's hard not to love once you meet her as Howie reports:
Today I attended an event put on by 11 Democratic congresswomen from Southern California. Each of the 11 donated a minimum of $1,000 to each of 8 women who are running for Congress from around the country. As soon as I walked in Blue America incumbent-- and one of the event's hostesses-- Hilda Solis, introduced me to Annette about who she was extremely enthusiastic. It didn't take long before I understood why.
A successful entrepreneur, Annette is a thoughtful progressive who backs women's rights, gay rights, a quick, responsible end to the occupation of Iraq (which she has opposed from the very beginning of Bush's misadventure) and she is eager to work to get corporate bribes out of the political system. She took a strong position against warrantless wiretaps and retroactive immunity. She is extremely charismatic and made a spectacular speech during the lunch, if not stealing the show, at least sharing the spotlight with Linda Sanchez and Darcy Burner, each of whom also was greeted with thunderous applause.
Don't forget our ActBlue page for Annette. She will be the kind of Democrat we really need more of in D.C. -- a better Democrat. Interesting, too, that as far as I can tell, Annette is the only Democratic Latina running as a challenger this year.
This is the year to turn South Florida blue. It's the first time in a presidential year when there have been credible challengers to the South Florida Republicans. Help Annette turn South Florida into a Democratic stronghold.
And, this is a special note for any of you who have ever vacationed in South Beach or Key West -- or anywhere along in between. You have a stake in this race because that's the district Annette will represent. Won't you feel better knowing one of your favorite place is finally represented by a Democrat?
Stupid facts. Don't the facts know that we're not supposed to question John MCain, no matter how wrong?
McCain's new radio ad, in Spanish, aims to show Florida would benefit from the Colombia Free Trade Agreement, which he supports. But every number in the ad is wrong, except one, a prediction of job gains taken from a group favoring the trade deal. And even that number is rounded upward so generously as to flunk third-grade arithmetic.
This is pure political theater by the Republicans. They already have 68 million acres of untapped land with oil reserves that are sitting unused and the costs related to an oil spill would outweigh any gains that wouldn't be realized for decades anyway. This is typical Republican politics that have no real benefit other than Big Oil and short term political gain. What else should we expect from the people who can't give enough away to Big Oil?
Florida Senator Bill Nelson gave an impassioned defense of Florida today. He invoked a couple of Floridians to support his position, including Megan Foster. Here's the that section of his remarks:
BILL NELSON: Now, I want to give you some examples. Megan Foster, a mother of five from Tampa, frustrated by the incompetence and failures of the Bush administration, organized her own campaign. She rallied friends and family to get out the vote for her candidate. Her energy and enthusiasm was infectious and helped inspire many others to become politically involved and help get out people to vote all over the state; and then Megan was elected a delegate.
However, Megan just wrote a post on DailyKos to make clear she doesn't share the view of Senator Nelson. In fact, she did not help get out the vote in Florida. She channeled her energies in other states where she knew the votes would count:
Senator Nelson just used my name to argue a position that I do not support. Anyone who knows me or has read my diaries, knows that as a Florida grassroots organizer, I understood that Florida broke the rules. I played by the rules. I organized Tampa Bay area Obama supporters to help elect Senator Obama as our next president by fundraising, online networking and rapid response as well as phonebanking to and canvassing in other states. In fact the week before the January 29th primary, I was otherwise occupied getting out the vote in South Carolina. I also traveled to North Carolina and phonebanked to Texas, Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina, etc.
I ran for pledged Obama delegatge in Florida CD 9 to make sure that IF Florida's delegation is seated, Senator Obama would be represented by a loyal supporter in my district.
Those who played by the rules are the ones who are actually being punished. That's disturbing.
Clinton delegate Allida Black was just on MSNBC. Brown was introduced as a Clinton supporter who is organizing protests at this weekend's DNC Rules committee meeeting. When asked what she'd do if she and her group aren't satisfied with the results of Saturday's DNC meeting, Brown said:
Well, I can't speak for the campaign. All I can speak for is myself as a Clinton delegate and as a founding member of Women PAC. We want every vote counted and we will continue to organize. We will continue to speak out and we will continue to pressure the party to stand up to its principles. And that's why we have a convention. It should go to the floor.
So, if they don't get their way, they're apparently willing to destroy the party. How principled. 48 states followed the rules, two didn't. As for principled, Ms. Black should meet Senator Geller, for whom she is fighting, yet who mocked following the party's rules.
And let's stop playing games. Florida and Michigan knew what they were getting into. And in Florida, at least, practically every single Democrat voted in favor of the decision that ultimately led to them losing their delegates. And they knew it, but they didn't care. So let's stop pretending like they're children, even though they clearly acted like children, knew the rules, broke the rules, and now are paying for it. In any case, how much you want to bet Hillary is now considering appealing this Saturday's upcoming decision so she can drag this out another 4 weeks, when the appeal would be heard. Bet ya. But I have a feeling that next week the entire party is going to come down on her head like a ton of bricks if she doesn't concede. (Though, watch her postpone her race, or some other cute term, rather than concede, just in case, well, you know.)
I am Floridian, and was told from the beginning that "my state would not count." For that reason, I stayed home ... to now "count" the Fl vote would disenfranchise me even more than if Fl were not to count at all. To the DNC & Howard Dean: I played by your rules, decided that you were telling me the truth when you said Fl votes would not count so I stayed home. Now, you're going to count it? Well, screw you.
Hillary Clinton is making herself the great savior of Florida with her usual overdose of drama. No surprise, this is just another calculated flip-flop from the Clinton campaign. They were against Florida's primary before they were for it. Watch the video here.
Read Al Giordano's post, Send in the Clown, about that State Senator, Steven Geller, you see in the video. He's the guy who filed the lawsuit against the DNC yesterday -- after meeting with Hillary Clinton. Then, Geller was all over cable news yesterday -- getting his 15 minutes of infamy.
And, I can't watch Debbie Wasserman Schultz on TV anymore. It's bad enough that she wouldn't support three Democrats running for Congress in South Florida against three of her GOP friends. Now, she's creating havoc for the inevitable nominee in a state we must win in the fall. Thanks again, Debbie. Almost seems as if you and Hillary don't want Obama to win this fall - interesting...
Watching some of these Florida Democrats in action really helps explain why it's so hard for Democrats to win down there.
What's been missing from this discussion of Florida's and Michigan's delegates is an acknowledgment that Florida and Michigan were told what would happen if they broke the rules - they'd lose their delegates - they told the DNC "screw you," and broke the rules anyway, so they lost their delegates. Now, with Hillary's help, they're acting like "gee, how did that happen?" Uh, it happened because your state officials (the Republican legislature, in the case of Florida) chose to break the rules knowing full well that the price would be losing your delegates. Got a gripe about having lost your voice at the Democratic convention? Have a little chat with your state officials. But please, let's stop this little charade of pretending like losing your delegates was a big surprise. Hillary's own top advisers helped put the delegate plan into place. Everyone knew what would happen, but they did it anyway.
Hillary has made such a big deal about Michigan and Florida (because it's the only way she can now steal the election), that you have to wonder why she'd keep as two of her top advisers men who were responsible for taking those states' delegates away. I mean, imagine two of your top advisers being responsible for what you claim is your number one grievance, and then keeping them as your top advisers? If Hillary really cared about Michigan and Florida, she'd fire Ickes and McCauliffe.
Harold Ickes, a top adviser to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign who voted for Democratic Party rules that stripped Michigan and Florida of their delegates, now is arguing against the very penalty he helped pass.
In a conference call Saturday, the longtime Democratic Party member contended the DNC should reconsider its tough sanctions on the two states, which held early contests in violation of party rules. He said millions of voters in Michigan and Florida would be otherwise disenfranchised - before acknowledging moments later that he had favored the sanctions.
"You won't deny us seats at the convention," he [Senator Levin] said.
"Carl, take it to the bank," I [McCauliffe] said. "They will not get a credential. The closest they'll get to Boston will be watching it on television. I will not let you break this entire nominating process for one state. The rules are the rules. If you want to call my bluff, Carl, you go ahead and do it."
It's hard to believe this is only happening now despite the "controversy" surrounding this burning hot issue that is not an issue in the modern world. I wonder if the Florida Baptist Convention has accepted that the earth is round, or perhaps that's just a little too controversial to address during these troubled times.
The teaching standards for Florida schools include the word "evolution" for the first time, under a decision Tuesday by the state school board.
The board approved the use of the term "scientific theory of evolution" in public schools science standards.
Previously, the term was couched by using phrases such as "change over time." The reaction in Tallahassee from those opposed and those for the change was fairly low key, Local 10 reported.
It looks like the tourism industry in Fort Lauderdale is so worried about taking a hit because of homo-obsessed Mayor Jim Naugle's outrageous anti-gay statements that members of the commission have signed a letter declaring that the area is gay-friendly. It's hard to hear that message when the mayor advocated for the installation of $250K robojohns to halt imaginary beach restroom sex (gay male sex, that is).
Commissioners called the outspoken Mayor bigoted and said his remarks were despicable, but even had they officially censured him it would have no effect. Although Fort Lauderdale is within the county, as a separate city with its own council the county can exercise no control over the resort town or its politicians.
But as concerns mount of a possible tourist boycott the commissioners said they want the worldwide LGBT community to know they disagree with Naugle. County Mayor Josephus Eggelletion and all 9 commissioners signed a letter voicing their support for gays.
...So concerned is the tourism industry over the potential fallout the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau is using paid media watchers in New York and Europe to see how far the story is spreading.
Naugle doesn't give a damn.
Naugle dismissed the county move, telling the Sun-Sentinel that the county has no influence on him. "I have only spoken the truth, and sometimes the truth hurts but it needs to be said," Naugle told the paper.
Here's a laff fest from activeChristianmedia.com -- videos of support for Jim Naugle. Have tissues ready as you weep with laughter.
What's so ridiculous is that the videos portray the LGBT activists as in favor of sex in public restrooms, when that's obviously not the case. The rally is about the embarrassment heaped by Naugle on their city; he continues his homobigoted bleating even though the police have said there have been no reports of this imagined orgy of men in public beach restrooms.
