Barack Obama waged two extraordinarily successful campaigns in Florida, but that hasn't translated into gains for Florida Democrats who are so outgunned and outmanned that their best foot forward always fits the Republican footprint ahead.
The disconnect deserves close attention because it leads straight to North Florida Democrats like Alex Sink, Bill McBride and Rod Smith. To be blunt, all three lost their respective campaigns to be governor for good reasons.
All three are exploring whether to run against the most unpopular governor in modern Florida history, Rick Scott.
Florida Democrats should focus on bringing forward a candidate who can appeal to the changing demographics of the state. Democrats should focus on raising funds to campaign effectively and thoroughly as President Obama. That's a tall order.
Rather than stepping backwards to formulaic campaigners from North Florida, Democrats should seek and support a candidate from South Florida. I will always be mystified why the Dems failed to stand behind Dan Gelber when he chose to run state-wide. Anyhow, that's water under the seawall. Or is it?
Gelber is the most eloquent Democrat in the state. Would Democratic money stand behind him? Would he embrace the sacrifices of a run for state-wide office? Or is there some other candidate who hasn't emerged, perhaps a successful Hispanic from the private sector willing to take on Rick Scott's millions?
The time is now, because North Florida Democrats keep beating the same path to the back barn door. Tiresome, isn't it?
The disconnect deserves close attention because it leads straight to North Florida Democrats like Alex Sink, Bill McBride and Rod Smith. To be blunt, all three lost their respective campaigns to be governor for good reasons.
All three are exploring whether to run against the most unpopular governor in modern Florida history, Rick Scott.
Florida Democrats should focus on bringing forward a candidate who can appeal to the changing demographics of the state. Democrats should focus on raising funds to campaign effectively and thoroughly as President Obama. That's a tall order.
Rather than stepping backwards to formulaic campaigners from North Florida, Democrats should seek and support a candidate from South Florida. I will always be mystified why the Dems failed to stand behind Dan Gelber when he chose to run state-wide. Anyhow, that's water under the seawall. Or is it?
Gelber is the most eloquent Democrat in the state. Would Democratic money stand behind him? Would he embrace the sacrifices of a run for state-wide office? Or is there some other candidate who hasn't emerged, perhaps a successful Hispanic from the private sector willing to take on Rick Scott's millions?
The time is now, because North Florida Democrats keep beating the same path to the back barn door. Tiresome, isn't it?
13 comments:
One word: Crist.
A race against Rick Scott should be an easy win for Democrats.
Charlie Crist was just destroyed by Rubio in the Senate race.
Crist is damaged goods and is probably the only chance Rick Scott has of winning.
Charlie Crist was not destroyed by Rubio. If you add up Meek's and Crist's votes, Rubio would have lost.
Gelber can't win statewide. Didn't he lose statewide to Aronberg. He doesn't have the charisma to pull it off.
Gelber beat Aronberg by 20 points and won 66 of 67 counties despite running against a very good candidate. He lost in the general as did every dem
Just a casual observer of your blog - I would vote for Charlie Christ. He is overtly ambitious, but he listened to the people when we screamed on many issues. We know Charlie is reasonable and has a good relationship with the President. He's OK in my book. Although I'd vote for anyone but Rick Scott.
Dan Gelber would be an excellent governor. If we could get our collective minds together and populate the State Legislature with intelligent people they could fix most, if not all, the problems that the Florida Legislature has created since it became the clubhouse for the nutwings of the GOP. However, I understand that his long time dream is to be AG.
Crist? Is Florida really ready for an openly gay governor?
We already had him. And don't we have a closeted gay Senator?
Sorry, but the Dems in office and populating the North Florida woods are not going to support or vote for a Cuban,Jew or anyone from South Florida
Unfortunately we got Rubio as a Senator so I would venture to guess another GOPer would have to run against Scott if no Dem can or will. We certainly don't need another Sink candidate or campaign. I like Crist but he is damaged and I agree with the commenter that him running would guarantee Scott or another GOPer a win, easily.
I don't know about that. Bob Graham was the last governor we gave to the state and he served for 8 years. Everyone here is so self-centered, it is difficult to weed through people and find real leadership talent. But I believe if we can find a good candidate, and nurture them, and if we all work together, we can get them elected. We need to begin talking with the Reagan Democrats in northern Florida and find out what is negotiable. If we can't find someone, we need to begin looking in central Florida. Floridians are hungry for visionary stable leadership who are concerned about people and our future. And with Rick Scott at bat, even Republicans will help us get him out.
We may not need northern FL to take the governorship. Someone needs to begin looking at and playing with the numbers to see what is possible, whether we need them or not, and if we do, by how much. They are conservative but few in number. We may just have to carry them into the future. Early agreement on a candidate is important as we need democrats and independents to come together. We don't want a split ticket. All of our votes need to go to one candidate.
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