AP--Florida Democrats downhill since Jeb Bush election

[Zuni]

That wasn't the real title, but that was what the article in the Sun-Sentinel said. I wonder why FL Dems have lost so big since Jeb took office....Democrats unable to reverse losing trend

By Brendan Farrington
The Associated Press
Posted November 7 2004

MIAMI · It was hard for Florida's Democratic leaders to think the party could sink any lower than it was two years ago -- but it has.

The state's dominant party until the early 1990s, the Democrats are now all but irrelevant in the Legislature, have lost one of two U.S. Senate seats and didn't meet expectations in the presidential election.











"The Democratic Party in Florida has just done a horrific job," said Aubrey Jewett, a University of Central Florida political science professor.

"There's no way to soften this. There is no silver lining anywhere in this election for Democrats.

"I just can't be negative enough."

From the state House to the White House, Florida is lining up Republican despite an advantage Democrats have among registered voters.

President Bush carried Florida by 5 percentage points over Democrat John Kerry four years after he needed five weeks of recounts and a U.S. Supreme Court decision to beat Al Gore.

A Senate seat that was firmly Democrat for the 18 years Bob Graham held it was lost to Republican Mel Martinez, who had never run for statewide office. He edged former education secretary Betty Castor.

Democrats lost at least two and probably three seats in the state House, meaning they will be outnumbered 84-36 when the legislative session opens in March. The state Senate remained firmly in Republican hands, 26-14.

It's like déj vu.

Two years ago Gov. Jeb Bush soundly beat Democrat Bill McBride, Republicans had a clean sweep of the Cabinet, Democrats lost state House and Senate seats and the GOP gained three seats in Congress.

Jewett thinks this year's loss of the state House seats is as telling about the condition of the Florida Democratic Party as the loss of Graham's seat, saying that two years ago he thought the party hit its low point.

"At 81-39, I think to myself that this could not possibly get any worse, just as a statement of fact. Basically every district the Democrats have lean Democratic. How could they possibly lose?" he said.

"That's equally as devastating as the Betty Castor loss. I will once again say, `How could it possibly get worse? How could they go below 36?'"

The overwhelming majority in the House is even more impressive considering Democrats controlled it until 1996, when Republicans earned a majority by one.

Like Jewett, State Rep. Bob Henriquez was among those saying it couldn't get worse.

"I guess I was wrong," said Henriquez, D-Tampa. "I thought we hit rock bottom, but apparently we have a ways to go."

After the 2002 election, Democratic Party Chairman Bob Poe was chased from his leadership position and replaced by Scott Maddox, an energetic, charismatic Tallahassee mayor who vowed to bring respect back to the party.

Despite Tuesday's results, he maintains the party is better off than now than when he took over, saying it has built an infrastructure, has more money in the bank and is doing well in local races.

"We are in a world of better shape than we were in 2002," Maddox said. "It's back to building a bench, but we've always known that. That's not a two-year plan, that's not a four-year plan, that's a 10-year plan."