No Time For Diversions in Florida

This is the last time I am ever going to write on this subject. I sincerely wish I wasn't writing this at all. Perhaps it was delusional of me to think it wouldn't happen. After all Will Rogers famously said

I don't belong to any organized political party. I'm a
Democrat.

So what in the world is going on down here? Follow me below the fold...

It seems a flame war is breaking out in Florida. Early this morning, I took the bait and responded to the following about me in this diary:

I want to go on record here as saying that any electoral plan that relies on 70% turnout in a midterm election for victory is delusional at best. This is old fashioned, out-moded thinking that needs to be rejected.

This arguement boils down to "If we had got more votes we would have won!" Well, yes, of course. The issue is always HOW do you get those votes. GatorDem simply resorts to calling for "more GOTV" without explaining how to go about doing that.

I wasn't entirely kind in my response relating how:

the diarist is very new to politics

and calling the diarists' analysis "myopic". Those pieces of the comment were unnecessary, and I regret them. I also regret that there was the need on the diarists' part to make derogatory comments about a fellow Florida Kossack in his diary. In my mind, that is

out-moded thinking that needs to be rejected

and I do reject it. I reject it here and now. I regret rising to the bait. It will not happen again.

The reason it will not happen again is that there is not time in Florida for this kind of a diversion of our energies. There is much too much to be done to indulge ourselves in this sort of thing. There will be a Presidential election here in Florida in 2008. And before that, there is very likely to be a meaningful primary election. Florida might have a chance to have some real input into selecting the next nominee for President in the Democratic Party. There is a lot of work that will need to get done between now and then.

There will also be 27 Congressional seats up for grabs here in 2008. Dems currently only hold 9 of those seats, two newly won. We should be gearing up to ward off fierce challenges in those 2 seats specifically and to defend our other seats. We should also be making plans to unseat vulnerable Republican incumbents in some of the other seats. There is a lot of work that will need to get done between now and then.

There will be state legislative races as well in 2008. Dems made nice strides in 2006, picking up 7 seats in the State House. We need to expand on those gains. We need to focus on the longer term goal of regaining control of the legislature before redistricting after the next census in 2010. There is a lot of work that will need to get done between now and then.

As I wrote recently in this diary on Florida Kossacks:

I have one goal. Electing Dems to public office.

There is a lot of work that will need to get done between now and then. Let's get on with it.