Florida Knows How to Fuck Up Elections

Aha, I bet you thought that this diary was going to be about the FL-13 undervote fiasco or maybe the 2000 Presidential election, um, er selection of the Chimp in Chief. Well, you might be right.

This time, Florida is aiming to fuck up the 2008 Presidential election. How can they aim to do that so soon, you ask? Well, actually Florida is aiming to fuck up the 2008 Presidential Primary elections, which really aren't that far away.

So, how is Florida going to do this, you ask? Is it going to be the electronic equivalent of the infamous butterfly ballots as is going on in FL-13 now (maybe)? The electronic version of the hanging chad, which is going on now in FL-13 (maybe)?

Well, if you really want to know...


Florida's Goper dominated state legislature is making serious noises about moving up Florida's Presidential Primary from early March to well, we don't exactly know. But that is not stopping our state legislative leaders from making loud clucking sounds about it.

The Times political editor Adam Smith (shouldn't he be the economics editor or something?) also reports today

That (the) move has bipartisan support in Tallahassee, though the national parties bar most states from holding primaries before the first week of February. Florida could lose some delegates at their national convention if they buck the national parties, but the state still could be the first huge primary prize on the calendar - delivering more delegates than Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina combined.

So, now they are not only screwing up the Presidential Primary calendar, they are potentially screwing up the state's major parties delegate counts at the National Conventions.

More from the St. Petersburg Times

"Sen. Pruitt (incoming President of the Florida Senate) understands this is a priority of (incoming) Speaker (Mario) Rubio," spokeswoman Kathy Mears said of an early primary. "He is very receptive to the idea and wants to be of assistance, and he believes this would be a good change for Florida."

The Times also reports today

Not only are state legislative leaders working on moving Florida's primary to be one of the earliest in the country, but the state GOP is planning a straw vote convention for October 2007.

Yup, a straw poll in October of 2007. Now it's really geting closer.
Now straw polls can be a lot of fun for the state convention delegates. The Florida Democratic Party wanted to have one at their convention in December 2003, but were bribed / scared off the idea by the DNC. Why would the DNC do that, you ask?
Well, the Presidential pretenders, um, er contenders didn't want to have to expend the resources, both in money and staffers to organize the convention delegates for what is really a meaningless beauty contest. Particulary so close to Iowa and New Hampshire.

But the straw poll idea also has support from some other notables

Democrats held one ,,,before the 1992 race. Bill Clinton, ... credited the Florida contest with playing a crucial role in his winning the nomination.

So, maybe, just maybe, Florida is not going to fuck up the 2008 Presidential election after all. Stay tuned.

Tom The Terrible Tancredo Disses Miami

I hate to ever be in the position of agreeing with Jeb Bush, but I can't help myself this time. The Miami Herald has a story today subtitled

Trash-talking about Miami has earned a Colorado congressman a rebuke from Florida's governor.

Jeb is blasting Colorado Congressman Tom "The Terrible" Tancredo for remarks he made about Miami while in Florida recently. Tancredo earned the governor's ire with this quote:

He said of Miami in an interview with a conservative online news site, ``You
would never know you're in the United States of America. You would certainly say you're in a Third World country.''

Now Jeb just happens to be getting ready to move back to his adopted hometown of Miami after eight years as Governor. The Herald reports further on what the Governor had to say:

Bush said the remarks were ''naive'' and that Miami's high schools ``are home to the best advanced placement programs in the country.

'These achievements are a far cry from the `ethnic enclaves devoid of any English' you mentioned in your statement,'' Bush wrote in the letter.

But Tom the Terrible was unrepentant. From the Herald again:

But Tancredo suggested he had ``simply said something most people (even in Florida if our calls and e-mails are a measurement of sentiment) believe is true.

''We, as elected officials, should encourage the discussion of this issue rather than castigate those who attempt to bring it to light,'' Tancredo wrote.

This is the kind of demagoguery that these insane Gopers have been reduced to. No matter that poll after poll shows a vast majority of Americans want to see comprehensive immigration reform. Oh no, if a Goper finds any slice of the populace that he can pander to, they never fail to take a swing at it.

And they are trying to figure out why they lost in the past election? Shows they haven't got it quite figured out yet. Way to go Tom. You have just alienated the last Hispanic group in the country still voting for Gopers - Florida's Cubans. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Important Re-Vote Rally in Sarasota on Sunday

Sarasota Lib has put up this Diary on DailyKos with all the details about the big Re-Vote Rally in Sarasota this Sunday at 2 P.M. You gotta love her opening:

We're madder than hell and we won't
take it any more!! On Sunday, December 3,
citizens of Sarasota County will be joined by
voters of all political parties from all over
Florida and the country to take a stand to
defend democracy by attending a Rally calling
for a RE-VOTE for the FL-13 Congressional
District.

Really folks, this is a direct assault on your democracy. 18,000 of your fellow citizens were denied their right to vote for their next Member of Congress. It doesn't get any more basic than that. We need to stand up and demand the re-vote that our fellow citizens deserve.

I know it is likely that this thing is going to be resolved either in the courts or in the House itself. But we need to take a stand here. We need to let the world know that "we are mad as hell".

Bush says we are in Iraq fighting to spread Democracy. We need to stand up and fight for Democracy right here in Sarasota County, Florida.

Please try to attend this important rally if at all possible. Tell all your friends. Check out Sarasota Lib 's Diary and give her some love. (It's her first diary. didn't she do a great job?)

So, see you in Sarasota on Sunday!

Florida Kossacks Unite

I have been trying to put together a list of Florida Kossacks (DailyKos users from Florida for the uninitiated.) We can blame this whole thing on Susan S. She thought a Tampa Bay Kossack email list would be a good thing to put together after the election. I thought that was such a good idea that I have been trying to expand it across Florida.

Well, it's been pretty much hit or miss here so far. So, I put on my thinking cap and said to myself, "Self, how are we going to go about getting more Florida Kossacks onto this list?" Can you see the light bulb coming on now? So Self answers back, "Well you dummy, why don't you set up a blog for Florida kossacks and other interested folk?"

So, here we are at Florida Kossacks. I thought maybe if we had a central place to post our diaries maybe more Floridians would see them. I know that we have a lot to say about things of particular interest to Floridians. I don't see why you couldn't post them on DKos and cross post them here. Or maybe there are some things you would just want to post here - or whatever.

Anyway, my hope is to start something here that would be useful to Florida Progressives in coping with the problems and opportunities that we face here in the Sunshine State.

I want to invite all Florida Kossacks and anyone else who has an interest in all things Florida to drop by the blog and see what's going on. If you are interested enough to want to publish, drop me a note at:

gatordem at verizon dot net

and we'll set you up for that.

I am certainly open to any suggestions about how to do this better and / or make it more useful or more interesting or just plain different than it is. So hurt me, but not too bad.

I hope to see you all around the FL-Kossack blog soon.