Dem Party in Florida

[jiacinto]

What happened to it? How did they let the GOP take control of the state?

[madfloridian]

1. Trying to be just like them to get the votes. Didn't work, won't work.

:hi:

[Malikshah]

2. Amen!

Truer words have not been spoken on this forum in quite a while.

[candy331]

3. I lived

in Florida some many years ago and think it is a sorry state of affairs down there. Graham was a well liked gov and I don't know what happened when he left.

[greatauntoftriplets]

11. Amen!

Amen!

[carpetbagger]

4. Old people died, the rural south changed, Cuba.

1. My grandparents and all of their friends retired to Florida. They all remembered the depression, and became lifelong democrats. Most of them are dead. The 60+ vote is now narrowly republican.

2. Florida used to have democratic strongholds in the center and panhandle. Like other parts of Alabama, these are now solidly republican.

3. The Cuban-American community probably provides the few percentage points needed to tip the balance.

Don't worry too much, though. Next to California, Florida will soon be the poster child for the emerging democratic majority.

[_Wayne_]

5. No leadership No leadership No leadership No leadership

The top two Dem candidates for governor in 2002- Janet Reno and Bill McBride- were terribly uninspiring. Dem Senator Bill Nelson is a failure. People forget Florida is in the South-the churches here are the most conservative in the country, some real whackos. We need leaders with charisma. Al Gore won-and didn't campaign that hard here. We have more registered Dems than Repubs, but our leaders aren't giving Dems a reason to vote.

[jiacinto]

7. Yeah

but a lot of those "Democrats" are really Republicans who never changed their registration.

[madfloridian]

8. Nelson is worse than a failure, he is with them.

Do a search on Harper's Magazine, "Jesus Plus Nothing". I will try not to make further comments on him.

I love Graham, and I think it is time he ran to get keep his senate seat.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

24. Whatever Nelson

is .... He's lite years better than the man he beat-Bill McCollum......

I had the misfortune of living in his congressional district for damn near twenty years....

[Malikshah]

12. Speak for yourself on Reno...

There were disagree-- Reno was inspiring to me and quite a few others. Alas, she didn't want to play the Democratic Machinery's game and they did everything in their power to marginalize her.

Then of course there were the voting debacles in the primary, the reverse psychology ads by Jebbie against McBride which the Dem leadership down here swallowed hook line and sinker...

Yeah, yeah, I know. "Bitter..party of one!";-)

I'm bucking for Reno for AG in the next admin. *steps back to watch the flamewars hit...*

[jiacinto]

15. Reno couldn't have beaten Bush

nt

[Malikshah]

18. You'd be surprised

Guess we'll never know, though.

[jiacinto]

19. I base that on these reasons

1) Elian Gonazles--the Cubans would have come out in droves against her.

2) The Waco Raid--It would have hurt her in the Panhandle.

[Malikshah]

22. Good reasons--but

She had the X factor that McBride did not.

Her supporters were passionate about her--McBride's were not.

She would have held Jeb's feet to the fire. McBride did not.

When she was asked about Waco, about Elian-- her answers were measured, reasoned and only those who were irrational could not agree with the outcome.

She's a lightning rod yes--but when folks wake up and stop running in fear of the Cuban vote in the south florida they will realize that Cuban do not vote en masse.

This is coming from someone who is "married" to a Cuban.

[jiacinto]

25. Yeah

But Reno wasn't the candidate. I also forgot to mention that her health wasn't the best it could be and that would have hurt her too.

Had the Elian/Waco/Health problems not been issues she would have been a good candidate.

[GBD4]

26. Nelson

BILL Nelson is a fine Democrat

BEN Nelson of Nebraska is a DINO Senator

[dolstein]

6. Lose at the grass roots level, and then get crushed by redistricting

Florida, like the rest of the South, trended Republican throughout the 70s and 80s. Republicans elected a governor (Bob Martinez) and a few senators (Gurney, Hawkins and Mack).

No doubt the Republicans showed similar gains at the local level. And these gains have been augmented and cemented by partisan gerrymandering. There's no way the Republicans should completely dominate the legislature in a state that was almost evenly divided in 2000, but that's how it is.

[jiacinto]

9. Ok

But weren't Gurney and Hawkins one term senators? And wasn't Mack replaced by Bill Nelson? Also what got Gurney and Hawkins elected?

[GBD4]

20. Connie Mack

retired. So I'd be cautious in saying Nelson "replaced" him.

But be prepared for his son to rise to power! He's planning on running in FL-14, to succeed the retiring Porter Goss! Yes, this is despite the fact that Mack Jr's current State Legislature seat is in FL on the opposite coast.

[jiacinto]

21. Where is his seat?

nt

[GBD4]

23. Connie Jr

currently represents Fort Lauderdale, I wouldn't exactly call it parallel to FL-22/Clay Shaw's Congressional District, but it's basically an East Side district in Broward. FL-14, the Congressional District Jr wants, is based in Fort Myers in SW FL, and would be an easy Republican hold.

[jiacinto]

28. How did he get elected there?

Isn't Ft. Lauderdale heavily Democratic? Also would Mack have a hard time winning the primary? He is not from those cities. Wouldn't the voters in Ft Myers, Cape Coral, and Naples have problems with that?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

27. Republicans Own Florida At The State Level

NT

[quaker bill]

10. I concur

Being republican lite doesn't cut it.

Then there is the whole punch card ballot fiasco that has thrown out 10's of thousands (perhaps as much as 100K) of Democrat votes in the last several elections...

Note these machines were concentrated in democrat leaning counties. Ever wonder why? Think this was unique to 2000? Think again.

Then there is the absentee vote ballot box stuffing bit in the panhandle. Think that was unique to 2000? Think again.

What's all this then with the voter role purge, just a bit of topping off for insurance?

How about Supervisors of Election's active role in procuring republican votes (filling out improper absentee ballots)?

How about the said same Supervisors not having time to get the new voters registered by NAACP on the precinct roles?

What about the reported state trooper checkpoints near polling places in low income neighborhoods. Unique to 2000? Don't think so.

Democrats have been weak on principle, republicans have been electioneering.

[trumad]

13. Hey..don't blame the crackers..

only 1/3 of the states population was born here...me included!

[madfloridian]

14. One thing is that the churches became tied to politics and patriotism.

The Southern Baptists started this, when, about 10 or years ago. We had to quit our membership because of the extreme views. It was starting to be tied to the patriotic bit even before 9/11.

This tie-in to religion is done quite well by the GOP here. Democrats are just plain not good at this. There are a huge number of fundamentalist churches in our area, I know.

This is not a slam on religion, so no comments. This is a disapproval of the way it has been used here tying religion/politics/patriotism and flag waving together.

I am glad Democrats don't play that game well, and I don't want them to try to do so.

[janekat]

16. Massive gerrymandering AND crooked elections

The Republicans in this state make the old Chicago politicans look like choirboys. In additon, Miami is extremely crooked. I think it has partly something to do with a lot of the Cuban politicans there (they are mostly Republican - and if anyone knows much about politics in Cuba - they have historically been very crooked).

In the 2000 election, the Elian Gonzalez situation really screwed us over with the Cubans. They went nuts. That's part of the reason the Florida recount was ended - thanks to the "Cuban/Republican" riot in Miami.

Then - we have a bunch of wealthy Midwesterners who tend to be Republican who moved to Southwest Florida. They've overtaken the East Coasters and New Yorkers who live on the East Coast of Florida.

[jiacinto]

17. Ok

But Broward and Palm Beach still cast more votes than Collier and Lee Counties.