This is just a very quick post to welcome Florida Speaks to the Florida blogosphere. This is Kenneth Quinell's new blog on national, international and other issues of interest to Florida Progressives.
Kenneth is the President of the Florida Democratic Party Netroots Coalition and the blogfather of the the Florida Progressive Coalition.
Welcome, Florida Speaks.
Showing posts with label Florida Democratic Party. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Florida Democratic Party. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Let's Get Ready to Rumble - Er, Caucus
One week after nearly 1.75 million Florida Democrats went to the polls to voice their Presidential preference, the question of whether Florida Democrats will have an actual voice in the selection of our Party's nominee remains unsettled. Don't get me wrong here. I have said, and I firmly believe that Florida Dems' voices were heard loud and clear on January 29th. The Florida results are in and they are also into the psyche of the Tsunami Tuesday voters today. Florida's voice was heard by all those voters.
What really didn't get heard in Florida was the candidates voices. Due to that idiotic no campaign pledge foisted upon the candidates by the Democratic Party chars in the four early states, no candidate actually got to have their voices heard by Florida's Democratic voters.
But maybe there is a way to have our cake and eat it too, Florida. Follow along and I'll explain...
I don't want to spend too much time rehashing how we got into this mess, but laying a little of the groundwork here is instructive. The Republican dominated Florida Legislature has the sole power to set election dates in Florida. The Legislature chose January 29th, knowing it was in clear violation of the delegate selection rules laid out by both parties. The parties, in turn, are in charge of their actual delegate selection process. The Florida Democratic Party looked at their options and decided to stay with the plan to select their delegates according to the early primary results. The main reason for this decision was that a primary is the method that garners the most participation from voters. Very Democratic of us, no?
This plan was the one that was rejected by the Democratic National Committee, which stripped Florida of all of its delegates to the Democratic National Convention. That's what began the mess that we currently find ourselves in. OK, that was bad enough. But, even with no delegates at stake, the candidates could not possibly ignore the largest swing state in the country, could they?
This is where it really got ugly for Florida Democrats. The Democratic Party chairs of the four early states (Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire and South Carolina) blackmailed the candidates into signing a pledge not to campaign in any state that violated Party rules by beginning its delegate selection process before the appointed date of February 5th. The candidates, fearing a backlash in these early states which they needed to garner momentum, all complied.
Thus Florida got to hold the strangest election I have ever seen. Florida gave an election party and nobody came - no candidates that is. The Democratic Party chairs in those four early states, jealous of their non god given prerogatives to be heard before anybody else, deprived Florida's voters of the opportunity to have the candidates come to them and make their case. That was fundamentally unfair to Florida's 3 million Democrats. But here is where it starts to get really interesting.
Senator Hillary Clinton, who won the largely name recognition contest that Florida's primary became, is now calling for the Florida delegates to be seated at the convention. Smart on her part. She would get the lions share of the delegates. Senator Barack Obama, not surprisingly, takes the opposite view. Smart on his part.
In today's St. Petersburg Times, Adam Smith is reporting:
Let's amend our delegate selection plan to allocate our delegates based on a caucus to be held in early April. There are no Democratic delegate selection contests scheduled between Mississippi on March 11th and Pennsylvania on April 22nd. This would allow the candidates to come here and campaign for Florida's votes and delegates. It would give Florida's voters a chance to hear the candidates for themselves and to make up their mind after getting a real chance to fully evaluate the candidates in a fair and open contest.
And as it is looking more and more likely that this campaign is going down to the wire, it would make Florida the center of the political universe - again.
Who says you can't have your cake and eat it too. Florida, let's get ready to rumble - er, caucus!
What really didn't get heard in Florida was the candidates voices. Due to that idiotic no campaign pledge foisted upon the candidates by the Democratic Party chars in the four early states, no candidate actually got to have their voices heard by Florida's Democratic voters.
But maybe there is a way to have our cake and eat it too, Florida. Follow along and I'll explain...
I don't want to spend too much time rehashing how we got into this mess, but laying a little of the groundwork here is instructive. The Republican dominated Florida Legislature has the sole power to set election dates in Florida. The Legislature chose January 29th, knowing it was in clear violation of the delegate selection rules laid out by both parties. The parties, in turn, are in charge of their actual delegate selection process. The Florida Democratic Party looked at their options and decided to stay with the plan to select their delegates according to the early primary results. The main reason for this decision was that a primary is the method that garners the most participation from voters. Very Democratic of us, no?
This plan was the one that was rejected by the Democratic National Committee, which stripped Florida of all of its delegates to the Democratic National Convention. That's what began the mess that we currently find ourselves in. OK, that was bad enough. But, even with no delegates at stake, the candidates could not possibly ignore the largest swing state in the country, could they?
This is where it really got ugly for Florida Democrats. The Democratic Party chairs of the four early states (Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire and South Carolina) blackmailed the candidates into signing a pledge not to campaign in any state that violated Party rules by beginning its delegate selection process before the appointed date of February 5th. The candidates, fearing a backlash in these early states which they needed to garner momentum, all complied.
Thus Florida got to hold the strangest election I have ever seen. Florida gave an election party and nobody came - no candidates that is. The Democratic Party chairs in those four early states, jealous of their non god given prerogatives to be heard before anybody else, deprived Florida's voters of the opportunity to have the candidates come to them and make their case. That was fundamentally unfair to Florida's 3 million Democrats. But here is where it starts to get really interesting.
Senator Hillary Clinton, who won the largely name recognition contest that Florida's primary became, is now calling for the Florida delegates to be seated at the convention. Smart on her part. She would get the lions share of the delegates. Senator Barack Obama, not surprisingly, takes the opposite view. Smart on his part.
In today's St. Petersburg Times, Adam Smith is reporting:
Two prominent civil rights figures, former U.S. Civil Rights Commission chairwoman Mary Frances Berry and former Justice Department official Roger Wilkins, are calling on the DNC to straighten out the matter."We are suggesting that the decision be made before the convention in an effort to avoid a floor fight," they wrote in a letter released Monday. "Public floor fights have served the party badly in the past. They left deep-seated ill will and preceded Democratic Party defeats in 1968 and 1972, for example. Resolution of this issue is a matter of fairness, justice and practicality."
So let's be fair to everybody - both the voters and the candidates. Let's figure out a way to allow the candidates to come here and make their pitch to Florida's voters for the right to claim Florida's convention delegates.
Let's amend our delegate selection plan to allocate our delegates based on a caucus to be held in early April. There are no Democratic delegate selection contests scheduled between Mississippi on March 11th and Pennsylvania on April 22nd. This would allow the candidates to come here and campaign for Florida's votes and delegates. It would give Florida's voters a chance to hear the candidates for themselves and to make up their mind after getting a real chance to fully evaluate the candidates in a fair and open contest.
And as it is looking more and more likely that this campaign is going down to the wire, it would make Florida the center of the political universe - again.
Who says you can't have your cake and eat it too. Florida, let's get ready to rumble - er, caucus!
Friday, November 2, 2007
Blog Focus on Florida
Praxis has a post up now titled We need more attention on state politics. Here is how the Praxis post describes "state politics":
First of all, I was a little taken aback that Praxis notes that Florida Kossacks had only 5 posts in October. Wow. For a guy who just stood up and told people that to build readership, one should post early and often, that's more than a little embarrassing. However, in my defense, I have noted that I have been consulting on City Council elections in my hometown of St. Petersburg. But only 5 posts? Oh my, I'll have to start doing better than that.
But Praxis says that by its definition, none of the 5 posts were about state politics. That's where I differ a little bit. I'd say that 2 of the 5 posts are on state politics. Just not by the definition in the Praxis post. In We're Official!: Florida Democratic Party Netroots Coalition, I am blogging about the Florida Democratic Party's decision to include the Netroots coalition in the official structure of the state party. That's pretty much state level, no?
And in From the White House to the Court House , I blogged about a possible rallying cry for campaigns all over the state in 2008. Neither of these meet the definition of state level politics as outlined by Praxis. I would argue that the Praxis definition is too narrow. State party level politics are state politics. So is talking about tactics and strategy in the state. There really is more to state politics than just the government.
I would also argue that people ought to blog about what people are moved to blog about. I don't want to get into a long discourse about why people might not be blogging about the state legislature as much as we would all like. I might suggest that a lot of us are commenting on the St. Pete Times Buzz blog, which covers state politics quite extensively, for one thing. But as it says on our masthead here, Florida Kossacks is:
Others of us may be moved to blog about issues at all levels of government.
State politics involves the state legislature, cabinet, governor, and state bureaucracy.While I don't quarrel with the sentiment, I do have a little to say about the definition and the complaint itself.
First of all, I was a little taken aback that Praxis notes that Florida Kossacks had only 5 posts in October. Wow. For a guy who just stood up and told people that to build readership, one should post early and often, that's more than a little embarrassing. However, in my defense, I have noted that I have been consulting on City Council elections in my hometown of St. Petersburg. But only 5 posts? Oh my, I'll have to start doing better than that.
But Praxis says that by its definition, none of the 5 posts were about state politics. That's where I differ a little bit. I'd say that 2 of the 5 posts are on state politics. Just not by the definition in the Praxis post. In We're Official!: Florida Democratic Party Netroots Coalition, I am blogging about the Florida Democratic Party's decision to include the Netroots coalition in the official structure of the state party. That's pretty much state level, no?
And in From the White House to the Court House , I blogged about a possible rallying cry for campaigns all over the state in 2008. Neither of these meet the definition of state level politics as outlined by Praxis. I would argue that the Praxis definition is too narrow. State party level politics are state politics. So is talking about tactics and strategy in the state. There really is more to state politics than just the government.
I would also argue that people ought to blog about what people are moved to blog about. I don't want to get into a long discourse about why people might not be blogging about the state legislature as much as we would all like. I might suggest that a lot of us are commenting on the St. Pete Times Buzz blog, which covers state politics quite extensively, for one thing. But as it says on our masthead here, Florida Kossacks is:
A gathering spot for Florida Kossacks to keep in touch with issues of primary concerns to Floridians, or whatever else Florida Kossacks might think worthwhile.I am looking forward to having a little more time to be blogging about state issues after our elections on Tuesday, but I really think it might be on Praxis and others to go out and maybe recruit some people into the blogosphere whose main interests are state politics.
Others of us may be moved to blog about issues at all levels of government.
Thursday, November 1, 2007
What a Week in the Florida Blogosphere
Wow!
What a week it has been in the Florida Blogosphere! Well, if you want to start a week on Friday and end it on Thursday, that is.
This week in the Florida Blogoshpere started off in Orlando and ended up in the Wall Street Journal!
Follow me for a recap of the week that was...WOW!
On Friday, Florida Democratic Netroots activists began gathering in Orlando for the Florida Democratic Party 2007 Convention. Normally the convention in the year prior to a presidential election is all about the Democratic presidential candidates. But because of the flap over Florida's January 29th primary date, only Mike Gravel came to see us. However, the convention was far from a bust.
Included as a part of the convention was an afternoon long Netroots Conference on Saturday. This conference had a standing room audience all afternoon long. As we moved from panel to panel and as people came and went, hundreds of Florida Democrats took in some or all of the Netroots Conference.
The Conference began with a Florida Progressive Coalition blog talk radio interview with none other than one Markos Moulitsas, the founder of DailyKos. There followed the panel discussions on blogging and netroots activism. The conference proper ended up with a rousing talk from our keynote speaker, Matt Stoller of Open Left and BlogPac.
Matt was moved to say some very nice things about the Florida Blogosphere and netroots activists:
Thanks again to Phillip Perry and Mark Bubriski at the FDP and to FDP Chair Karen Thurman for reaching out to embrace the Democratic netroots activists in Florida.
On Monday, it was back to the real world of working to get Democrats elected to office. But the Florida Blogosphere was a Buzz with every one's take on the FDP Convention and the Netroots conference. Florida Netroots blog has a good roundup of the MSM press coverage of the convention.
And then today (Thursday), an amazing thing happened. The Wall Street Journal linked to this Florida Kossacks blog in a Page One story online about the influence of the blogosphere on the presidential campaign. Of course, being MSM, they got it wrong. They confused our Blog Florida Blue branding effort with the FDP Netroots Coalition. But, hey, they didn't spell my name wrong! Actually, they didn't spell my name at all. The story was mainly about the Blue Hampshire blog, an influential Democratic blog in New Hampshire.
But the Florida Blogosphere is getting noticed and we are making a difference. So let's get out there and
What a week it has been in the Florida Blogosphere! Well, if you want to start a week on Friday and end it on Thursday, that is.
This week in the Florida Blogoshpere started off in Orlando and ended up in the Wall Street Journal!
Follow me for a recap of the week that was...WOW!
On Friday, Florida Democratic Netroots activists began gathering in Orlando for the Florida Democratic Party 2007 Convention. Normally the convention in the year prior to a presidential election is all about the Democratic presidential candidates. But because of the flap over Florida's January 29th primary date, only Mike Gravel came to see us. However, the convention was far from a bust.
Included as a part of the convention was an afternoon long Netroots Conference on Saturday. This conference had a standing room audience all afternoon long. As we moved from panel to panel and as people came and went, hundreds of Florida Democrats took in some or all of the Netroots Conference.
The Conference began with a Florida Progressive Coalition blog talk radio interview with none other than one Markos Moulitsas, the founder of DailyKos. There followed the panel discussions on blogging and netroots activism. The conference proper ended up with a rousing talk from our keynote speaker, Matt Stoller of Open Left and BlogPac.
Matt was moved to say some very nice things about the Florida Blogosphere and netroots activists:
I met the most wonderful people in Florida yesterday, and though I've become immensely cynical of late, the people-powered revolution quietly sweeping through the party was clearly in evidence. ...
The whole Democratic Party is actually in transition, and I was impressed with the talent I met. The Florida netroots, who are simply amazing, raved about Florida Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink as a star and a future Governor. I spent some time chatting with state Senator Dave Aronberg and candidate Michael Calderin. Both are eminently comfortable with blogs, with Facebook,and with the open form of politics that is on the ascent.
The feeling I got was one of renewal. ...The Florida netroots is growing, and you can find a list of blogs off of the Florida Progressive Coalition blogroll. I was so impressed I joined the Florida netroots caucus with a $35 contribution.
The Netroots conference was followed by the Netroots / DFA / Progressives soiree which ended up being addressed by none other than the aforesaid Mike Gravel. But the highlight for me came when the winners of the 1st Annual Florida Netroots Awards were announced.
On Sunday, The Florida Democratic Party made the FDP Netroots Coalition an officially recognized organization within the Party. The FDP Netroots Coalition is organized like an interest group caucus within the Party. Among it's purposes:
Section 1 - It shall be the policy of this coalition, in the execution of all endeavors, to contribute to the growth and influence of the Democratic Party, to establish and maintain a Democratic online community, and to promote the party and all party candidates for Democratic leadership throughout the state and nation.
Section 2 - We further resolve to assist and encourage Florida Democrats, including clubs, county, and grassroots organizations to get online and establish a communication network and promote online participation among Democrats.
Thanks again to Phillip Perry and Mark Bubriski at the FDP and to FDP Chair Karen Thurman for reaching out to embrace the Democratic netroots activists in Florida.
On Monday, it was back to the real world of working to get Democrats elected to office. But the Florida Blogosphere was a Buzz with every one's take on the FDP Convention and the Netroots conference. Florida Netroots blog has a good roundup of the MSM press coverage of the convention.
And then today (Thursday), an amazing thing happened. The Wall Street Journal linked to this Florida Kossacks blog in a Page One story online about the influence of the blogosphere on the presidential campaign. Of course, being MSM, they got it wrong. They confused our Blog Florida Blue branding effort with the FDP Netroots Coalition. But, hey, they didn't spell my name wrong! Actually, they didn't spell my name at all. The story was mainly about the Blue Hampshire blog, an influential Democratic blog in New Hampshire.
But the Florida Blogosphere is getting noticed and we are making a difference. So let's get out there and
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
We're Official!: Florida Democratic Party Netroots Coalition
On Sunday, October 28, 2007, the Florida Democratic Party Central Committee approved the recommendation of the Committee on Clubs, Caucuses and Organizations to grant approval to the charter application of the Florida Democratic Party Netroots Coalition.
We are now an officially recognized organization within the Florida Democratic Party!!!!!
Congratulations to all those who had a hand in this achievement, especially meowmissy, Ken Quinnell, our Presidente, and everyone who worked so hard to get us to this point. I also want to extend a special thanks to Phillip Perry, Internet Technology Director, and Mark Bubriski, Communications Director of the FDP. Thanks also to FDP Chair Karen Thurman who went along with this crazy idea to embrace netroots activists within the party!
Now the real work of the FDP Netroots Coalition begins. We will soon be unveiling our website and will be meeting (online, of course) to map out our goals and objectives for 2008. So for all of you who wish to be an official part of the FDP Netroots Coalition, I have a request of you:
We are now an officially recognized organization within the Florida Democratic Party!!!!!
Congratulations to all those who had a hand in this achievement, especially meowmissy, Ken Quinnell, our Presidente, and everyone who worked so hard to get us to this point. I also want to extend a special thanks to Phillip Perry, Internet Technology Director, and Mark Bubriski, Communications Director of the FDP. Thanks also to FDP Chair Karen Thurman who went along with this crazy idea to embrace netroots activists within the party!
Now the real work of the FDP Netroots Coalition begins. We will soon be unveiling our website and will be meeting (online, of course) to map out our goals and objectives for 2008. So for all of you who wish to be an official part of the FDP Netroots Coalition, I have a request of you:
PLEASE PAY YOUR DUES!
We will soon have a PayPal account available, but for now, the $35 annual dues can be paid by snail mail to the FDP Netroots Coalition at the following address:
FDP Netroots Coalition
P.O. Box 1856St. Petersburg, FL 33731
Thanks to all of you who already paid at the convention, including Matt Stoller. And yes, Matt, you do owe me an email. That's because for campaign finance reporting purposes, I need your name, and address and just in case you want to contribute more than the $35 annual dues, I also need your occupation.
We have a lot of work to do if we are going to
so I hope to see those checks start rolling in!
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Presidential Primary - Adam: Our Votes WILL Count
Well, Adam Smith is at it again. In a front page article in today's St. Petersburg Times, Adam again makes the assertion:
On January 29th, 2008, Florida Democrats will go to the polls and express their preference for the Democratic Presidential Nominee. We will do this before most of the other states have done so. After our votes are counted, and they will be counted, the rest of the country will hear and will be influenced by the Florida results.
That is exactly the goal all Floridians have had in mind when the whole discussion of moving the primary date up began. Floridians were sick and tired of having our nominees selected by small, non diverse states. We were getting stuck with candidates whose plan to win in the South was to win New Hampshire. My apologies to my friends in Massachusetts, but Democrats lost two presidential elections we might have won because these small non diverse states picked nominees who could not win in Florida. Now Floridians are going to have a real voice in who our Party's nominee is going to be.
Here is something else to keep in mind. The Presidential candidates do not go to Iowa and New Hampshire for the massive number of delegates they win by competing there. They go there because these states are first and thus have major influence on the entire process. Florida will now share in that influence.
Our voices will be heard and our votes will count.
Florida Democrats stand to be the only voters in America whose votes won't count toward picking a presidential nominee.This is just not true. Let me be perfectly clear about this, because Adam remains fixated on this. Adam is wrong. Florida's votes will count.
On January 29th, 2008, Florida Democrats will go to the polls and express their preference for the Democratic Presidential Nominee. We will do this before most of the other states have done so. After our votes are counted, and they will be counted, the rest of the country will hear and will be influenced by the Florida results.
That is exactly the goal all Floridians have had in mind when the whole discussion of moving the primary date up began. Floridians were sick and tired of having our nominees selected by small, non diverse states. We were getting stuck with candidates whose plan to win in the South was to win New Hampshire. My apologies to my friends in Massachusetts, but Democrats lost two presidential elections we might have won because these small non diverse states picked nominees who could not win in Florida. Now Floridians are going to have a real voice in who our Party's nominee is going to be.
Here is something else to keep in mind. The Presidential candidates do not go to Iowa and New Hampshire for the massive number of delegates they win by competing there. They go there because these states are first and thus have major influence on the entire process. Florida will now share in that influence.
Our voices will be heard and our votes will count.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
The MSM Is Starting To Get It
The St. Petersburg Times has this story today on the Florida Primary and Hillary Clinton. And while it is harder to see in the web version, the Times is finally starting to get it about the January 29th Florida Primary.
Buried several paragraphs into the story about Clinton's visit to Florida yesterday is this little gem:
So keep beating the drum, folks. You are having an impact!
This story is also on the Buzz here. Be sure to get over there and put in your 2 cents. :)
Buried several paragraphs into the story about Clinton's visit to Florida yesterday is this little gem:
Scoring well in Florida is important, even if the votes technically don't count, given the state's size.Finally! I have been saying exactly that for quite some time now. And in the print edition, the inside headline reads like this:
Even if the votes don't count, Winning Florida ImportantThey are still on the "votes don't count" meme, but at least they are starting to recognize the vast other benefits of winning in Florida.
So keep beating the drum, folks. You are having an impact!
This story is also on the Buzz here. Be sure to get over there and put in your 2 cents. :)
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Let's All Take a Deep Breath
The recent decision by the Democratic National Committee Rules and Bylaws Committee to possibly strip Florida of all its delegates to the Democratic National Convention has certainly created a stir. The newspapers and the blogs are just a Buzz with all sorts of sky is falling articles.
I propose we just all back away from the keyboard and take a deep breath. There, doesn't that feel better? Now let's talk about what's really important in this whole primary mess. Florida's Democratic voters are going to vote in a Presidential Preference Primary on January 29th. This is going to occur before the nomination is a done deal. Florida 's Democratic voices will be heard in a significant way.
The last time Florida Dems were in a position to make a significant impact on the presidential nominee selection process was in the 1992 cycle. At the Florida Democratic Party Convention, a little known hick Governor from Arkansas won a straw poll. Straw polls are otherwise known as "officially meaningless beauty contests" in the MSM. Bill Clinton took that straw poll victory and ran all the way to the White House with it. Anybody want to ask Bill if he thought it was a "meaningless beauty contest"?
So, the good news is that Florida's Democrats will have a significant voice in the selection of the Democratic nominee for President. Delegates have nothing to do with it. The candidates do not go to Iowa and New Hampshire for the delegates. They go for the momentum that can be captured from good showings. Delegates or no, the candidates this cycle will kill for the momentum going into February 5th that an impressive showing in Florida will create. The rest of this whole fight about delegates is officially meaningless.
Let's take a closer look at exactly what happened this weekend in Washington and what it all really means - or doesn't. From the New York Times:
Now for those of you who actually are worried about their delegate credentials , um , er, disfranchising the voters, there is this from the Florida Democratic Party:
I propose we just all back away from the keyboard and take a deep breath. There, doesn't that feel better? Now let's talk about what's really important in this whole primary mess. Florida's Democratic voters are going to vote in a Presidential Preference Primary on January 29th. This is going to occur before the nomination is a done deal. Florida 's Democratic voices will be heard in a significant way.
The last time Florida Dems were in a position to make a significant impact on the presidential nominee selection process was in the 1992 cycle. At the Florida Democratic Party Convention, a little known hick Governor from Arkansas won a straw poll. Straw polls are otherwise known as "officially meaningless beauty contests" in the MSM. Bill Clinton took that straw poll victory and ran all the way to the White House with it. Anybody want to ask Bill if he thought it was a "meaningless beauty contest"?
So, the good news is that Florida's Democrats will have a significant voice in the selection of the Democratic nominee for President. Delegates have nothing to do with it. The candidates do not go to Iowa and New Hampshire for the delegates. They go for the momentum that can be captured from good showings. Delegates or no, the candidates this cycle will kill for the momentum going into February 5th that an impressive showing in Florida will create. The rest of this whole fight about delegates is officially meaningless.
Let's take a closer look at exactly what happened this weekend in Washington and what it all really means - or doesn't. From the New York Times:
The Democratic National Committee ... voted Saturday to refuse to seat any Florida Democrat at the Democratic presidential convention in 2008 if the state party did not delay the date of its 2008 primary to conform to the party’s nominating calendar.So, from the newspaper of record, that's what happened. The DNC "gave Florida Democrats 30 days" to conform to the party's nominating calendar rules. That's what happened - we got yet another 30 day extension to submit a delegate selection plan which conforms to the Party's rules. Nothing more, nothing less. So, let's make this deep breath number two.
The committee gave Florida Democrats 30 days to propose a primary date that conformed with Democratic rules prohibiting all but four states from holding their primaries or caucuses before Feb. 5.
Why is the DNC taking such a seemingly hard line? How about because the presidential primary system is a friggin' mess. The DNC spent considerable time and energy attempting to retool the primary process for this cycle. In belated recognition that perhaps Iowa and New Hampshire do not really represent America and the Democratic Party well, the DNC added Nevada caucuses and a South Carolina primary to the early state selection process. They then told everybody else they could not go before February 5th.
So what happened to all these carefully laid plans? Two things. First, this election cycle is the first since Herbert Hoover was elected that does not feature a sitting President or Vice President from one party or the other. In other words, we have a truly wide open race in both parties.
Second, the frustration with the present primary system reached the boiling point all over the country. Despite the delegate increase incentives in the Democratic Party, almost every state has moved their primary up to February 5th. OK, it only seems like it, but it is not far from the truth.
Florida's Republican dominated Legislature, with it's new Vice President possibility touted Republican Governor decided to go one better. The Florida Legislature passed a bill, and the Republican Governor signed it into law, setting January 29th as the date for the Presidential Preference Primary here in Florida. Yep, setting election dates is the job of the state legislature here in Florida, not the political parties.
Now Adam Smith is going to say that a Democrat introduced the bill moving the primary up to January 29. Ding, ding, ding. Give Adam the boobie prize. Yes, the Republican leadership in the legislature did find a dumber than a box of rocks freshman Democratic Senator to introduce the bill. I hope he got what they promised him. Adam, how about having your crack research team check out how many Democratic sponsored bills that did not have the full support of the Republican Leadership even got a Committee hearing? Let's put that red herring to rest. This was a Republican bill all the way.
But, but, but all the Dem legislators voted for this bill. Well, yeah. Included in the final bill was a provision to give the voters of Florida a voter verifiable paper ballot. This had to be about the number one priority of Democrats, to know that their votes are going to count. No Dem was going to vote against that. What, you think all Republicans are stupid? Let's make this deep breath number three.
Why is the DNC taking such a seemingly hard line on this issue? Not all the states are done tinkering with their primary dates yet. From the New York Times:
Committee members made it clear that they wanted to send a message to any state that might be looking to change its primary; the vote came as Michigan leaders are looking to move that state’s primary to Jan. 15.The DNC action was as much about scaring Michigan off of these plans as it was about Florida. The DNC is hoping that come the end of September, Michigan will have decided it is too late to move their primary up into January.
Now for those of you who actually are worried about their delegate credentials , um , er, disfranchising the voters, there is this from the Florida Democratic Party:
(FDP Chair Karen)Thurman suggested the penalties may be meaningless because the winning presidential nominee "will make the final decision on whether there are delegates or not.''That's right. Under DNC rules, the presumptive nominee will take control of the Democratic National Convention, including the Credentials Committee. So Florida Dems will vote on January 29th in a binding Presidential Preference Primary. At the end of the day, the presumptive nominee will have the final say on the seating of delegates.
So, get your favorite credentials holding lanyard out of moth balls. Quit bitching at each other. Take a deep breath and help us
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Blog Florida Blue Logo Contest Winner
We have a winner in the Blog Florida Blue Logo Contest. And here it is:
Many thanks to Storm Bear for submitting the winning logo.
So, what are we going to do with this fantastic logo? Well, we have a lot of work to do to Blog Florida Blue , so let's talk about it below the fold...
First, I would once again like to thank all the very talented Kossacks out there who submitted designs for the Blog Florida Blue Logo. As one who can't draw a straight line with a ruler, I am in awe of all the creative talent in this community.
As I stated in the Blog Florida Blue diary back in May:
In the end though, the point of all this activity is to get more Democrats elected to public office. Since this is a Presidential election cycle, there is a huge amount of interest being paid to that particular process, and rightly so. However, if we are really going to be successful in Blogging Florida Blue, we are going to have to think longer term and more strategically. Sites like Build Florida's DEC's can help us do that, because we definitely need help building our party infrastructure. We just had a special election for an open Florida State Senate seat (SD-3). This election did not go the way we wanted for any number of reasons. There are a lot of good diaries that gave tactical reasons why we were not successful. In Reflections on SD-3 , I take a more strategic look at the loss.
We also need to pay a lot more attention to "building our bench" here in Florida. Local elected officials are like stocking your farm team with up and coming talent. Most of the best candidates for higher office have had prior public service experience, mostly as elected public officials on the local level. Congresswoman Kathy Castor was a Hillsborough County commissioner first. State Representative Rick Kriseman was a St. Petersburg City Council Member before getting elected to the Legislature. And if you think losing an election is the end of a political career, think again. The best political move our Governor Charlie Crist ever made was taking on a losing effort against US Senator Bob Graham.
We have a lot of work left to do to Blog Florida Blue. But we have a great launching pad coming up in October at the Florida Democratic Party Convention in Orlando. We are going to have the Bloggers Conference as an official part of the agenda. And we are looking for a special guest speaker to keynote the Bloggers Conference. We have already started putting out feelers to get a certain guy named Markos from DailyKos to give the keynote address. So I just want to end this little missive with a shout out:
Attend our effing Convention Kos!
Many thanks to Storm Bear for submitting the winning logo.
So, what are we going to do with this fantastic logo? Well, we have a lot of work to do to Blog Florida Blue , so let's talk about it below the fold...
First, I would once again like to thank all the very talented Kossacks out there who submitted designs for the Blog Florida Blue Logo. As one who can't draw a straight line with a ruler, I am in awe of all the creative talent in this community.
As I stated in the Blog Florida Blue diary back in May:
I'd like to invite all Florida bloggers to adopt this brand name (and now this logo) whenever they are blogging on the effort to elect Democrats and build the Democratic Party in Florida. Blog Florida Blue can be a powerful branding device linking otherwise disparate efforts from Key West to Pensacola.There are a lot of interesting things going on in the Florida blogosphere and the Florida Netroots these days. In June, we had the Bloggers Luncheon at the Florida Democratic Party (FDP) Jefferson Jackson Weekend. There are too many things going on at the Florida Progressive Coalition to mention in a single diary. One item of particular interest is Florida Progressive Radio. This is done through Blog Talk Radio. Their second show had FDP Internet Director Phillip Perry as their special guest. I particularly liked FPC guru Ken Quinell's Crashing the Gates in Florida Diary.
In the end though, the point of all this activity is to get more Democrats elected to public office. Since this is a Presidential election cycle, there is a huge amount of interest being paid to that particular process, and rightly so. However, if we are really going to be successful in Blogging Florida Blue, we are going to have to think longer term and more strategically. Sites like Build Florida's DEC's can help us do that, because we definitely need help building our party infrastructure. We just had a special election for an open Florida State Senate seat (SD-3). This election did not go the way we wanted for any number of reasons. There are a lot of good diaries that gave tactical reasons why we were not successful. In Reflections on SD-3 , I take a more strategic look at the loss.
We also need to pay a lot more attention to "building our bench" here in Florida. Local elected officials are like stocking your farm team with up and coming talent. Most of the best candidates for higher office have had prior public service experience, mostly as elected public officials on the local level. Congresswoman Kathy Castor was a Hillsborough County commissioner first. State Representative Rick Kriseman was a St. Petersburg City Council Member before getting elected to the Legislature. And if you think losing an election is the end of a political career, think again. The best political move our Governor Charlie Crist ever made was taking on a losing effort against US Senator Bob Graham.
We have a lot of work left to do to Blog Florida Blue. But we have a great launching pad coming up in October at the Florida Democratic Party Convention in Orlando. We are going to have the Bloggers Conference as an official part of the agenda. And we are looking for a special guest speaker to keynote the Bloggers Conference. We have already started putting out feelers to get a certain guy named Markos from DailyKos to give the keynote address. So I just want to end this little missive with a shout out:
Attend our effing Convention Kos!
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Reflections on SD-3
I have read all the excellent posts put up around the state about the results of the SD-3 race. Ken's piece on What Went Wrong on the Florida Progressive Coalition raised many excellent questions and provides some insightful thoughts. Ray's Postmortem for SD-3 pointed out a lot of hard lessons learned. There are always lessons to be learned from any election. They are just easier to take if you win. OK, small correction already. I've been trying to read Why Calling Supervoters is Dumb on Grassroots Brevard but something over there keeps crashing my browser. And I have read Tally's piece More Thoughts on SD3, which is a good segue to where I am going.
The first three pieces, including what I could read of the Grassroots Brevard post before my browser crashed, are what I would call tactical reviews, for the most part. Tally's piece comes closer to what I would call a strategic reflection. And that is the direction that I am going to try to go.
If we are going to attempt to play the Florida version of the 50 state strategy, we are going to have to be strategic about it. There are three legs to the successful campaign stool. The legs are the Candidate, the Issues, and the Money. We all know what happens to a stool with less than three legs, don't we. So let's review the SD-3 race with a strategic eye towards these three legs.
I don't know Suzan Franks. Never have had the opportunity to meet her. I do know some folks who worked very hard for her. I plan on knocking back more than a few beers with one of them very soon. So what I am about to say is not about Suzan Franks. I am sure there are a number of Senate Districts in this state where Suzan would have been able to put up better results. But SD-3?. What I am really trying to say here is that we need to match the candidate to the district. This particular district might have looked attractive because the previous incumbent was known as a "moderate". But this is really, with the exception of Leon, a pretty conservative district, and we needed a conservative Democratic candidate here. The best example I can give you of this is the SD-10 race last year. Steve Gorham was a candidate hand made for this very conservative Senate seat. Steve is a great guy and made a terrific showing against an incumbent county commissioner, Rhonda Storms. I think we'll be hearing more from Steve in the future. Another example is Alan Boyd in FL-02. Only a Blue dog could win as a Dem in that district. The R's tried very hard to unseat Boyd in 2004 and lost. The result? Boyd was unopposed in 2006.
Another problem that Suzan Franks had in SD-3 was her relative newcomer status in that district. Running against Charlie Dean, formerly the long time sheriff in Citrus County, put Suzan at a huge disadvantage in the County with the most voters in SD-3. So what do these two things tell us strategically? They both point to the need for Dems to build our bench from the ground up. If we had been able to field a candidate who was a long time office holder and resident of SD-3, whose political philosophy was more suited to the district, I am sure we would have had a much better showing. I believe this is particularly true in a seat like SD-3, but it is also more or less true in any other senate seat.
Democrats win when we can clearly articulate that are values put us on the side of the voters on the issues. The top 3 issues to voters in Florida are property taxes, insurance and education. The property tax issue was the issue in play during this special election. Instead of leading with a statement on how her values led her to support equitable and just tax reform, Franks spends the first half of her issue page on property taxes on attacks on Charlie Dean. That violates what I call the General Grant Rule. Grant wanted to know what his commanders were going to do to Robert E. lee, and not hear about what Robert E. Lee had done and was going to do to them.
On property insurance reform, Franks totally missed the boat. Again she leads with an attack on Dean. Her only substantive proposal is to support a national catastrophe fund, something as a Florida state senator, she would have absolutely no control over. Franks missed a great opportunity here to lay out a values based plan for true property insurance reform that could be implemented by state action alone.
Education is clearly the issue closes to Suzan Franks heart. Her issue page on education is considerably longer than either of the other two issues. and here she says this:
So what does this tell us about issue strategically? Believe it or not, we actually won in 2006 by being closer to the voters on our values. Voters need to believe that you share their values. If you make voters believe that you will always be guided by your clearly expressed values, even if they disagree with you on an issue, they will know that you are making a principled stand and will respect you for it. The alpha and omega of positions on issues are your values, values, values.
The third leg of our stool is all about the money. In 2006, the R's outspent us by better than 3 to 1 in the governors race. The final numbers are not in on this race, but it looks like that ratio is going to be hugely larger. Money has been rightly called the mothers milk of politics. In state races money is needed for mailers. Mailings are both the most effective and most efficient mass media tool in state an local races. Winning any election requires you to get more of your voters to the polls than the other guy. This is especially true in special elections. In this race, we missed our opportunity to put on a statewide full court fund raising push the moment that a special election was going to be called.
In general we should be raising money the day after an election and keep on raising money right up until the fund raising blackout before an election. This money should go to the state party for use in absentee ballot and other ongoing strategic outreach efforts. It should also be available as seed money for general elections so that our nominee is ready to roll on the first day after the primary. In 2004, Senator Bill Nelson led an effort to do exactly that for our eventual US Senate nominee. While she ultimately lost that very close election, Betty Castor was in much better shape to campaign after the primary than was Jim Davis. Davis was off the air for an entire month after the primary. This gave Charlie Crist an advantage that could not be made up.
In Florida, there are 164 state races. Four of those are statewide, including the Governor. the other 160 are legislative districts. We must think strategically about building our bench and matching our candidates to the districts. We must make values our strategic weapon of choice. Most Americans actually share the progressive values espoused by most Democratic candidates. Once we get individual voters to recognize that fact, getting voters to agree with you on an issue, or agreeing to disagree with respect becomes infinitely easier. And we must do a better job raising money strategically.
Once we get those three legs on our strategic stool shored up, we will be much more likely to write about our electoral victories instead of lamenting on our electoral defeats. Winning is much more fun than losing. I am ready for some big time fun!
The first three pieces, including what I could read of the Grassroots Brevard post before my browser crashed, are what I would call tactical reviews, for the most part. Tally's piece comes closer to what I would call a strategic reflection. And that is the direction that I am going to try to go.
If we are going to attempt to play the Florida version of the 50 state strategy, we are going to have to be strategic about it. There are three legs to the successful campaign stool. The legs are the Candidate, the Issues, and the Money. We all know what happens to a stool with less than three legs, don't we. So let's review the SD-3 race with a strategic eye towards these three legs.
I don't know Suzan Franks. Never have had the opportunity to meet her. I do know some folks who worked very hard for her. I plan on knocking back more than a few beers with one of them very soon. So what I am about to say is not about Suzan Franks. I am sure there are a number of Senate Districts in this state where Suzan would have been able to put up better results. But SD-3?. What I am really trying to say here is that we need to match the candidate to the district. This particular district might have looked attractive because the previous incumbent was known as a "moderate". But this is really, with the exception of Leon, a pretty conservative district, and we needed a conservative Democratic candidate here. The best example I can give you of this is the SD-10 race last year. Steve Gorham was a candidate hand made for this very conservative Senate seat. Steve is a great guy and made a terrific showing against an incumbent county commissioner, Rhonda Storms. I think we'll be hearing more from Steve in the future. Another example is Alan Boyd in FL-02. Only a Blue dog could win as a Dem in that district. The R's tried very hard to unseat Boyd in 2004 and lost. The result? Boyd was unopposed in 2006.
Another problem that Suzan Franks had in SD-3 was her relative newcomer status in that district. Running against Charlie Dean, formerly the long time sheriff in Citrus County, put Suzan at a huge disadvantage in the County with the most voters in SD-3. So what do these two things tell us strategically? They both point to the need for Dems to build our bench from the ground up. If we had been able to field a candidate who was a long time office holder and resident of SD-3, whose political philosophy was more suited to the district, I am sure we would have had a much better showing. I believe this is particularly true in a seat like SD-3, but it is also more or less true in any other senate seat.
Democrats win when we can clearly articulate that are values put us on the side of the voters on the issues. The top 3 issues to voters in Florida are property taxes, insurance and education. The property tax issue was the issue in play during this special election. Instead of leading with a statement on how her values led her to support equitable and just tax reform, Franks spends the first half of her issue page on property taxes on attacks on Charlie Dean. That violates what I call the General Grant Rule. Grant wanted to know what his commanders were going to do to Robert E. lee, and not hear about what Robert E. Lee had done and was going to do to them.
On property insurance reform, Franks totally missed the boat. Again she leads with an attack on Dean. Her only substantive proposal is to support a national catastrophe fund, something as a Florida state senator, she would have absolutely no control over. Franks missed a great opportunity here to lay out a values based plan for true property insurance reform that could be implemented by state action alone.
Education is clearly the issue closes to Suzan Franks heart. Her issue page on education is considerably longer than either of the other two issues. and here she says this:
I will continue to fight for the values embodied in a quality educationThe problem is, she says this in the last sentence of her lengthy statement on education. If you lead voters with your values they will see that you are on their side on the issues. The quote above is a good one in closing. it would have been a great one as an opening.
So what does this tell us about issue strategically? Believe it or not, we actually won in 2006 by being closer to the voters on our values. Voters need to believe that you share their values. If you make voters believe that you will always be guided by your clearly expressed values, even if they disagree with you on an issue, they will know that you are making a principled stand and will respect you for it. The alpha and omega of positions on issues are your values, values, values.
The third leg of our stool is all about the money. In 2006, the R's outspent us by better than 3 to 1 in the governors race. The final numbers are not in on this race, but it looks like that ratio is going to be hugely larger. Money has been rightly called the mothers milk of politics. In state races money is needed for mailers. Mailings are both the most effective and most efficient mass media tool in state an local races. Winning any election requires you to get more of your voters to the polls than the other guy. This is especially true in special elections. In this race, we missed our opportunity to put on a statewide full court fund raising push the moment that a special election was going to be called.
In general we should be raising money the day after an election and keep on raising money right up until the fund raising blackout before an election. This money should go to the state party for use in absentee ballot and other ongoing strategic outreach efforts. It should also be available as seed money for general elections so that our nominee is ready to roll on the first day after the primary. In 2004, Senator Bill Nelson led an effort to do exactly that for our eventual US Senate nominee. While she ultimately lost that very close election, Betty Castor was in much better shape to campaign after the primary than was Jim Davis. Davis was off the air for an entire month after the primary. This gave Charlie Crist an advantage that could not be made up.
In Florida, there are 164 state races. Four of those are statewide, including the Governor. the other 160 are legislative districts. We must think strategically about building our bench and matching our candidates to the districts. We must make values our strategic weapon of choice. Most Americans actually share the progressive values espoused by most Democratic candidates. Once we get individual voters to recognize that fact, getting voters to agree with you on an issue, or agreeing to disagree with respect becomes infinitely easier. And we must do a better job raising money strategically.
Once we get those three legs on our strategic stool shored up, we will be much more likely to write about our electoral victories instead of lamenting on our electoral defeats. Winning is much more fun than losing. I am ready for some big time fun!
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Florida Political Reporters Beware - Romney's in the State
The Florida Democratic Party just released an"Urgent Memo to Florida Political Reporters Covering Romney". It seems former Massachusetts Governor and Republican presidential wannabe Mitt Romney is making a fundraising trip in Florida today. And the Florida Democratic Party is rightfully concerned for the safety and welfare of the Florida Political Press Corps.
The memo warns the Florida Press Corps:
If the light shines on the real moral character of these Rethug politicians, I am pretty sure more people are going to be voting Democratic in 2008. So let's keep the lights turned up bright.
The memo warns the Florida Press Corps:
All Florida political reporters should be aware that a high-level traveling staffer for Romney is now under investigation in New Hampshire for impersonating a law enforcement agent when he allegedly pulled over a New York Times reporter, telling him his plates had been run and that he could not follow a Romney campaign caravan.It appears that the New Hampshire incident is not the only time this character, Jay "Trooper" Garrity may have pulled a stunt like this. Again from the FDP:
Today, as Romney raises money in Florida, you may want to ask his donors if they are comfortable funding this sort of activity. Please note that the staffer in question continues to be paid by the campaign while under investigation.
the aide, Jay Garrity, or "Trooper" Garrity, also allegedly pulled over a reporter from a different publication. "Marcia Vickers, a senior writer with Fortune magazine, said that while trailing Romney in New Hampshire on Memorial Day for a forthcoming magazine piece, Garrity instructed her at one point to stop tailing Romney's car." [The Boston Globe 6/25/07]What really concerns me is the Republican pattern of contempt for, or the feeling of being above the law. We are just now reading the Washington Post series about Vice President, (or is it the President of the Senate?), Dick Cheney, and his abuses of power. And now we have a Republican presidential wannabes' staff exhibiting the same kind of arrogant behavior.
If the light shines on the real moral character of these Rethug politicians, I am pretty sure more people are going to be voting Democratic in 2008. So let's keep the lights turned up bright.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
The Primary Question
There has been a tremendous amount of talk about what is going to happen with the Florida Presidential Primary now scheduled for January 29th. This was the subject of a meeting of the state's DNC members Friday night at the JJ and of both the state Executive Committee and Central Committee meetings on Sunday morning.
The meeting participants were faced with this question. They had received extensions from the DNC for submission of the FDP's Delegate Selection Plan. However, the DNC refused to grant an extension beyond June 15th. So the question was, what would the Delegate Selection Plan have to say about the January 29th primary?
The Florida DNC members ultimately came up with a set of principles to use to evaluate the question. The first was to encourage maximum participation of Democratic voters. That means a primary. Any type of caucus or other mechanism would likely draw only a small fraction of what a primary would draw. The second principle was that Florida Democrats votes should count. Period.
As reported in the St. Petersburg Times:
Here is the statement from the DNC upon hearing this news from Florida:
If that doesn't happen, here is another reality check. The Democratic nominee ultimately controls the Democratic National Convention. No Democratic nominee looking to win Florida in the general election could possibly fail to seat a Florida delegation at the convention. Here is the Times again, quoting DNC member Jon Ausman of Tallahassee :
The meeting participants were faced with this question. They had received extensions from the DNC for submission of the FDP's Delegate Selection Plan. However, the DNC refused to grant an extension beyond June 15th. So the question was, what would the Delegate Selection Plan have to say about the January 29th primary?
The Florida DNC members ultimately came up with a set of principles to use to evaluate the question. The first was to encourage maximum participation of Democratic voters. That means a primary. Any type of caucus or other mechanism would likely draw only a small fraction of what a primary would draw. The second principle was that Florida Democrats votes should count. Period.
As reported in the St. Petersburg Times:
"Florida Democrats definitely do not want to be the people that decide, your vote doesn't count," said Arlin Briley, vice chairman of the Pinellas Democratic Party, echoing Democrat after Democrat attending the event. "We're in a spot, and we have to let the chips fall where they will and honor the people's vote."Florida Senator Bill Nelson is also quoted by the Times:
Florida's top Democratic elected officials, Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink and U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson oppose making the Jan. 29 election nonbinding, but it's unclear whether DNC chairman Dean has any leeway to bend his party rules and avoid punishing Florida Democrats for the early primary.Under these circumstances the Florida Democratic Party decided to submit their Delegate Selection Plan to the DNC with the January 29th primary as binding on the allocation of delegates to candidates. The plan must be submitted to the DNC on June 15th. There will then be a 30 day comment period. After that, the DNC will decide what to do.
"He better," Nelson said Saturday. "I have talked to him and said, 'Don't forget the goal, and the goal is to do well in Florida in November. The last thing you want to do is have the perception that you're taking away people's right to vote and putting in a smoke-filled-room caucus.'"
Here is the statement from the DNC upon hearing this news from Florida:
The DNC will enforce the rules as passed by its 447 members in August 2006. Until the Florida State Democratic Party formally submits its plan and we've had the opportunity to review that submission, we will not speculate further.Howard Dean speaking in New Hampshire was quoted by the Times:
"Their primary essentially won't count,'' he said of Florida. "Anybody who campaigns in Florida is ineligible for delegates." By moving to Jan. 29, he said, Florida Democrats "essentially converted their primary to a straw poll."Now for a dose of reality. At this point the DNC is like the boy with his finger in the dike. Other states (Michigan, for example) looking to move up are watching what the DNC is going to do about Florida. If the DNC can hang on long enough, these other states will have passed their window of opportunity to move up. At that point, the DNC will be able to say to Florida: OK, you got screwed by the Republican legislature. We don't like it, but we are going to accept your plan. That way, the DNC doesn't have to tell Florida Dems their votes won't count.
If that doesn't happen, here is another reality check. The Democratic nominee ultimately controls the Democratic National Convention. No Democratic nominee looking to win Florida in the general election could possibly fail to seat a Florida delegation at the convention. Here is the Times again, quoting DNC member Jon Ausman of Tallahassee :
once a presidential candidate receives a majority of the delegates, I believe Florida is home free.I'd be hard pressed to argue with that assessment.
Don't Get Too Attached to Your Candidates
A couple of things happened yesterday that moved me to write this diary. I had just finished my Candidate Review Series Recap. I went through 6 weeks of research and analysis. I even did some navel gazing. I got a chance to see most of the campaigns in action. And I still couldn't come to a decision.
That puts me in the minority of Dems. It also makes me worry very much about something. So, what am I worried about? Follow me below the fold...
The first thing to occur happened away from the keyboard. At least my keyboard. We have a very active and very well organized volunteer Obama campaign presence here in the Tampa Bay Area of Florida. As someone who has some small experience in campaigning, I took the first opportunity I had to drop in on one of their meetings in my hometown, St. Petersburg.
Most of the meeting was taken up with the group members relating their experience on the campaign walk the Obama campaign conducted this week end. Some of us in the room did not participate. That's because the Obama campaign picked a date that was in direct conflict with the Florida Democratic Party Jefferson Jackson weekend. It was see Nancy Pelosi and 2,000 Democratic activists, or go knock on some doors. Well, I can and have knocked on doors plenty of other times. Nancy Pelosi won.
As the folks who walked told their war stories, it became quickly apparent that this was, indeed, an amateur, volunteer organization. But their enthusiasm was endemic. The conversation then moved on to the Obama campaign's participation in the St. Petersburg Pride Festival at the end of the month. This Festival is the largest GLBT Pride festival in Florida, and is a very big deal in St. Pete. Again, having some small experience in this sort of thing, I offered a few suggestions intended to make the Obama group's participation more effective and more fun.
It was then that the first really interesting thing happened. I was challenged by an acquaintance sitting next me as to whether I had gotten off the fence and picked a candidate. It was obvious she had not read my Candidate Review Recap, because I relayed in it that I had not. She then asked me what I was doing at their meeting, as if I wished their campaign ill.
Here is something I want to repeat from the first of my Candidate Review series:
The second event happened in cyberspace on DailyKos. I returned home to read this comment from my friend Boofdah on my Review Recap Diary:
We have recently been through this in Florida. In last year's governor's race, we had a fierce primary battle. Adherents to both sides were fervently attached to their chosen candidates. The blogosphere was filled with vituperative comments flying from both sides. At the end of the primary, all too many of the supporters of the loser could not bring themselves to work for their party's nominee.
Did any of this lead to the ultimate defeat of our party's nominee? Probably not. Did it contribute to the loss of our party's nominee. Absolutely.
So, what is the answer to this. One of the great things about Democrats is our passion. No one should wish for that passion to be diminished. I certainly do not.
I'd like to see a passionate discussion. I'd like to see what thoughts are out there about how best to be advocates for our candidates, while at the same time recognizing that any one of our candidates is infinitely preferable to any one from the other side.
After all, isn't the ultimate goal to get one of our candidates into the White House?
That puts me in the minority of Dems. It also makes me worry very much about something. So, what am I worried about? Follow me below the fold...
The first thing to occur happened away from the keyboard. At least my keyboard. We have a very active and very well organized volunteer Obama campaign presence here in the Tampa Bay Area of Florida. As someone who has some small experience in campaigning, I took the first opportunity I had to drop in on one of their meetings in my hometown, St. Petersburg.
Most of the meeting was taken up with the group members relating their experience on the campaign walk the Obama campaign conducted this week end. Some of us in the room did not participate. That's because the Obama campaign picked a date that was in direct conflict with the Florida Democratic Party Jefferson Jackson weekend. It was see Nancy Pelosi and 2,000 Democratic activists, or go knock on some doors. Well, I can and have knocked on doors plenty of other times. Nancy Pelosi won.
As the folks who walked told their war stories, it became quickly apparent that this was, indeed, an amateur, volunteer organization. But their enthusiasm was endemic. The conversation then moved on to the Obama campaign's participation in the St. Petersburg Pride Festival at the end of the month. This Festival is the largest GLBT Pride festival in Florida, and is a very big deal in St. Pete. Again, having some small experience in this sort of thing, I offered a few suggestions intended to make the Obama group's participation more effective and more fun.
It was then that the first really interesting thing happened. I was challenged by an acquaintance sitting next me as to whether I had gotten off the fence and picked a candidate. It was obvious she had not read my Candidate Review Recap, because I relayed in it that I had not. She then asked me what I was doing at their meeting, as if I wished their campaign ill.
Here is something I want to repeat from the first of my Candidate Review series:
I am going to support the Democratic nominee. Period.So before a nominee is chosen, I will do what I can, as I have in the past, to help any of the campaigns that I can. I will not work against any campaign, only for them. That was pretty much my answer to my acquaintance.
The second event happened in cyberspace on DailyKos. I returned home to read this comment from my friend Boofdah on my Review Recap Diary:
If she (Hillary) gets the nom I hate to say this, but we're in a world of hurt. :-/
It's a relief that at least (so far), we have a couple of really great local candidates, like this guy, to get behind and do grassroots work for, in case my preferred Presidential candidate (see my sig) doesn't get the nod. I hate to be a sullen poor sport; but I
honest-to-God can't get excited about volunteering for HRC. :(
Obama-rama!
We have recently been through this in Florida. In last year's governor's race, we had a fierce primary battle. Adherents to both sides were fervently attached to their chosen candidates. The blogosphere was filled with vituperative comments flying from both sides. At the end of the primary, all too many of the supporters of the loser could not bring themselves to work for their party's nominee.
Did any of this lead to the ultimate defeat of our party's nominee? Probably not. Did it contribute to the loss of our party's nominee. Absolutely.
So, what is the answer to this. One of the great things about Democrats is our passion. No one should wish for that passion to be diminished. I certainly do not.
I'd like to see a passionate discussion. I'd like to see what thoughts are out there about how best to be advocates for our candidates, while at the same time recognizing that any one of our candidates is infinitely preferable to any one from the other side.
After all, isn't the ultimate goal to get one of our candidates into the White House?
Sunday, June 10, 2007
JJ Bloggers Luncheon - Blue Plate Special
Saturday, June 8, 2007 was a blue letter day for the Florida Democratic Party and the Florida Progressive Blogosphere. On that day, the FDP hosted its first ever Jefferson-Jackson Day luncheon for Florida Bloggers and Netroots activists.
When Phillip Perry of the FDP called the meeting to order, over 50 people were in the room. This was a huge turnout for the first of its kind event in Florida. As noted previously, special thanks is due to meowmissy for bringing this event to reality. I am not going to attempt a comprehensive list of the attendees. However, I would like to make special note of Ken Quinell from the Florida Progressive Coalition and Ray Seaman. They joined with meowmissy and the FDP staff in working to bring this luncheon to life. Thank you.
Phillip Perry gave the welcome and laid out the general goals for the luncheon. The immediate goal was to plan for the Netroots / Bloggers conference at the FDP convention in October. The ultimate goal of all this activity is to turn netroots activism into real world activism and elect more Democrats in Florida. A show of hands was asked for all those who had actually backed away from the keyboards and worked on some campaign in real life. Every hand in the room went up. This group was clearly engaged both online and in real world activities.
Near the end of the luncheon, FDP Chair and former Congresswoman Karen Thurman paid us a visit. Karen thanked us for attending this first of its kind event in Florida and was wowed by the larger than expected attendance. The state Chair told us how she recognizes the importance of what we are doing. She also told us how the feeling of empowerment among state Dems is continuing to increase. This is happening as we continue to savor our gains in 2006. At the same time, Dems are aggressively planning to continue those gains in 2008.
The main business of the luncheon was organizing the Bloggers / Netroots conference at the FDP Convention in October. Consensus was reached that there was enough on the agenda for two distinct sessions. The first would focus on Bloggers and Netroots activists. This session would include a guest keynote speaker and discussions on technology and content. The second session would focus on exchanging thoughts between the online activists and candidates. This session would give the Bloggers and Netroots activists a chance to get to know the candidates. And it would give the candidates a chance to learn what the Bloggers and Netroots activists could do to help get them across the finish line to victory. And it would continue to build bridges that would help to effectively obtain the synergies of effort among the Blogosphere, the FDP and the candidates.
And I would be remiss if I didn't put in a shameless plug for the brand name for the effort to make all this happen. Broad acceptance of the brand name Blog Florida Blue was apparent. We are still seeking a logo for this effort. Any and all suggestions are welcome. Until then, I am going to keep mine simple and to the point:
When Phillip Perry of the FDP called the meeting to order, over 50 people were in the room. This was a huge turnout for the first of its kind event in Florida. As noted previously, special thanks is due to meowmissy for bringing this event to reality. I am not going to attempt a comprehensive list of the attendees. However, I would like to make special note of Ken Quinell from the Florida Progressive Coalition and Ray Seaman. They joined with meowmissy and the FDP staff in working to bring this luncheon to life. Thank you.
Phillip Perry gave the welcome and laid out the general goals for the luncheon. The immediate goal was to plan for the Netroots / Bloggers conference at the FDP convention in October. The ultimate goal of all this activity is to turn netroots activism into real world activism and elect more Democrats in Florida. A show of hands was asked for all those who had actually backed away from the keyboards and worked on some campaign in real life. Every hand in the room went up. This group was clearly engaged both online and in real world activities.
Near the end of the luncheon, FDP Chair and former Congresswoman Karen Thurman paid us a visit. Karen thanked us for attending this first of its kind event in Florida and was wowed by the larger than expected attendance. The state Chair told us how she recognizes the importance of what we are doing. She also told us how the feeling of empowerment among state Dems is continuing to increase. This is happening as we continue to savor our gains in 2006. At the same time, Dems are aggressively planning to continue those gains in 2008.
The main business of the luncheon was organizing the Bloggers / Netroots conference at the FDP Convention in October. Consensus was reached that there was enough on the agenda for two distinct sessions. The first would focus on Bloggers and Netroots activists. This session would include a guest keynote speaker and discussions on technology and content. The second session would focus on exchanging thoughts between the online activists and candidates. This session would give the Bloggers and Netroots activists a chance to get to know the candidates. And it would give the candidates a chance to learn what the Bloggers and Netroots activists could do to help get them across the finish line to victory. And it would continue to build bridges that would help to effectively obtain the synergies of effort among the Blogosphere, the FDP and the candidates.
And I would be remiss if I didn't put in a shameless plug for the brand name for the effort to make all this happen. Broad acceptance of the brand name Blog Florida Blue was apparent. We are still seeking a logo for this effort. Any and all suggestions are welcome. Until then, I am going to keep mine simple and to the point:
Just Back from JJ
I have just returned from the Florida Democratic Party's annual Jefferson - Jackson Day gala at Hallandale Beach. I want everyone to know that it was a great weekend event. I thought particularly that the Netroots / Bloggers luncheon was a huge success. I want to send special thanks to meowmissy for really getting the ball rolling for this event. And I want to thank Mark Bubriski and Phillip Perry from the FDP for making it all happen.
I am going to write extensively on the JJ weekend and the luncheon later. In the meantime, I want to point you towards the Florida Progressive Coalition, Tampa Bay Democrat and Blast Off! for the posts they have done on the festivities so far.
I am going to write extensively on the JJ weekend and the luncheon later. In the meantime, I want to point you towards the Florida Progressive Coalition, Tampa Bay Democrat and Blast Off! for the posts they have done on the festivities so far.
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
SD-3: Tired Old GOP Rhetoric
Is this really all they have left? Here are the salient parts of The Republican Party of Florida's Chair Jim Greer's statement about the SD-3 primary results tonight:
Here is what Greer had to say about GOP winner Charlie Dean:
Elections are about the future. The voters of Senate District Three are looking for a leader with new ideas, not a tired old codger like Charlie Dean. Oh and speaking of taxers, wasn't it Charlie Dean who voted for that huge sales tax increase the Rubio tried to push n this state? Didn't Charlie Dean vote for the $545 million school property tax increase? Sounds to me like the folks in District Three could use a fiscally conservative Democrat in that seat instead of the tax hiking Dean.
“We look forward to a spirited race with Democrat nominee Suzan Franks, whose tax-and-spend record would block economic growth in the district and whose liberal values clearly do not represent the people who live there.”I mean really. Are they so bereft of ideas that all they can come up with are "tax and spend" and "liberal values"?
Here is what Greer had to say about GOP winner Charlie Dean:
...time-tested... experience to lead and the same conservative values that families and communities in District Three hold dear.Conservative values that families in District Three hold so dear? That's why they had elected Nancy Agenziano, the most moderate GOPer in the Senate? Greer boy, you are just out of touch, aren't you?
Elections are about the future. The voters of Senate District Three are looking for a leader with new ideas, not a tired old codger like Charlie Dean. Oh and speaking of taxers, wasn't it Charlie Dean who voted for that huge sales tax increase the Rubio tried to push n this state? Didn't Charlie Dean vote for the $545 million school property tax increase? Sounds to me like the folks in District Three could use a fiscally conservative Democrat in that seat instead of the tax hiking Dean.
Monday, May 21, 2007
Dr. Dean - Let Our Votes Count
Blog Florida Blue
Florida Governor Charlie Crist today signed an elections reform bill that moves Florida's Presidential Preference Primary up to January 29th in 2008. This puts the Florida Democratic Party and the Democratic National Committee on a collision course. DNC primary rules call for draconian penalties for any state that moves its primary up before February 5th. Potentially, Florida could lose all of its delegates to the Democratic National Convention.
I have blogged about this before. The first time was last November on DailyKos. More recently, I blogged about the Florida Primary Conspiracy Theory, a dubious concept at best. I have also blogged about How to Have Our Primary Cake and Eat It Too. This laid out how the FDP could avoid delegate penalties from the DNC. The technique would be to declare the January 29th primary non-binding. This would then require the FDP to hold a caucus at a later date to actually select and apportion the convention delegates. It would also have the unfortunate effect of the the Florida Democratic Party telling its members that their votes on January 29th wouldn't count.
I have come to the conclusion that this is not a cake I want to eat. Our Republican dominated state legislature did this to us. Make no mistake here, though. Many Dem legislators were just as happy to move up in the primary schedule. I know I was, and continue to be. We are the largest swing state in the country. We have more electoral votes at stake than the states going before us combined. We are much more diverse than any state going before us in this process. Floridians deserve to have their voices heard as part of the presidential nominating process.
Our own state party should not be put in the position of telling us our primary votes are not going to count. Not in Florida of all places. We have a hard enough time getting our votes to count here as it is. (Although the bill that Gov. Crist signed today also does away with touch screen voting machines (almost entirely) and provides us with a voter verifiable paper trail.) No , the state party should not put us in that position.
That puts the ball squarely in your court, Dr. Dean. As Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, your position on this dilemma counts for a great deal. Do you really want to tell Florida Democrats, of all people, that their votes won't count? After all, this was done to us by the Republican controlled Florida Legislature. The Dems couldn't have stopped this if they had wanted to. Speaking of Florida Democrats, Dr. Dean, you do recall how important their support was in your ascendancy to the Chairmanship, don't you? The early support from the Florida delegation to the DNC really got the ball rolling for you.
But, let's just get back to the basic issue here. There will be a presidential primary in Florida on January 29th. It is now the law of this state. The Democratic candidates are going to campaign here. This state supplies too much money, and holds too many electoral votes for the candidates to ignore us. The only remaining question is this:
Florida Governor Charlie Crist today signed an elections reform bill that moves Florida's Presidential Preference Primary up to January 29th in 2008. This puts the Florida Democratic Party and the Democratic National Committee on a collision course. DNC primary rules call for draconian penalties for any state that moves its primary up before February 5th. Potentially, Florida could lose all of its delegates to the Democratic National Convention.
I have blogged about this before. The first time was last November on DailyKos. More recently, I blogged about the Florida Primary Conspiracy Theory, a dubious concept at best. I have also blogged about How to Have Our Primary Cake and Eat It Too. This laid out how the FDP could avoid delegate penalties from the DNC. The technique would be to declare the January 29th primary non-binding. This would then require the FDP to hold a caucus at a later date to actually select and apportion the convention delegates. It would also have the unfortunate effect of the the Florida Democratic Party telling its members that their votes on January 29th wouldn't count.
I have come to the conclusion that this is not a cake I want to eat. Our Republican dominated state legislature did this to us. Make no mistake here, though. Many Dem legislators were just as happy to move up in the primary schedule. I know I was, and continue to be. We are the largest swing state in the country. We have more electoral votes at stake than the states going before us combined. We are much more diverse than any state going before us in this process. Floridians deserve to have their voices heard as part of the presidential nominating process.
Our own state party should not be put in the position of telling us our primary votes are not going to count. Not in Florida of all places. We have a hard enough time getting our votes to count here as it is. (Although the bill that Gov. Crist signed today also does away with touch screen voting machines (almost entirely) and provides us with a voter verifiable paper trail.) No , the state party should not put us in that position.
That puts the ball squarely in your court, Dr. Dean. As Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, your position on this dilemma counts for a great deal. Do you really want to tell Florida Democrats, of all people, that their votes won't count? After all, this was done to us by the Republican controlled Florida Legislature. The Dems couldn't have stopped this if they had wanted to. Speaking of Florida Democrats, Dr. Dean, you do recall how important their support was in your ascendancy to the Chairmanship, don't you? The early support from the Florida delegation to the DNC really got the ball rolling for you.
But, let's just get back to the basic issue here. There will be a presidential primary in Florida on January 29th. It is now the law of this state. The Democratic candidates are going to campaign here. This state supplies too much money, and holds too many electoral votes for the candidates to ignore us. The only remaining question is this:
Doctor Dean, are you going to let our votes count?
Friday, May 11, 2007
Florida Primary Conspiracy Theory?
Blog Florida Blue
Matt Towery of the Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville has written a story titled Will Howard Dean step in GOP's Florida primary trap? He buys into the theory that moving Florida's Presidential Preference Primary to January 29th is part of some Machiavellian plot by the Florida Republican Party. Here's a sample:
But wait, it gets better. Towery displays his stunning knowledge of Florida election law thusly:
Here is Florida Statute 101.021 :
The only way an independent voter can vote in a primary election is to change their registration from independent (or technically No Party Affiliation) to one of the political parties. A cursory review of voter turnout statistics reveals that there is no substantial evidence of massive voter registration changes and voting in primary elections by Florida's independent voters.
This kind of thing makes it hard to give credence to anything else Mr. Towery has to say on this matter. Having said all that, the Florida Legislature did put the Florida Democratic Party in a box. But that is the point, isn't it? This was an act of the Florida Legislature, not the Florida Democratic Party. Does it seem just to penalize Florida Democrats for the act of the Republican dominated Florida Legislature?
Doctor Dean, now is the time to remember how important the Florida Democratic Party was to your gaining the DNC Chair. Now is the time to ensure that the votes of Florida Democrats, of all people, get counted and counted fairly.
And, oh, bye the way, maybe now is the time to get that 50 state strategy cranked up in Florida so we are not put in this position by a Republican dominated Florida Legislature again.
Matt Towery of the Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville has written a story titled Will Howard Dean step in GOP's Florida primary trap? He buys into the theory that moving Florida's Presidential Preference Primary to January 29th is part of some Machiavellian plot by the Florida Republican Party. Here's a sample:
The Republicans know the DNC is governed by hard-nosed and inflexible leaders who have managed to botch numerous presidential campaigns in recent years. Knowing that Dean likely will attempt to make a Jan. 29 Democratic primary meaningless, Republicans recognized the opportunity to be the only game in town.
But wait, it gets better. Towery displays his stunning knowledge of Florida election law thusly:
How does a party reeling from a loss of independent voters hope to win back those independents in Florida, the biggest state still up for grabs in the presidential election?
By holding its primary in a situation where independent voters can only vote Republican if they want their votes to count.
Here is Florida Statute 101.021 :
In a primary election a qualified elector is entitled to vote the official primary election ballot of the political party designated in the elector's registration, and no other. It is unlawful for any elector to vote in a primary for any candidate running for nomination from a party other than that in which such elector is registered.
The only way an independent voter can vote in a primary election is to change their registration from independent (or technically No Party Affiliation) to one of the political parties. A cursory review of voter turnout statistics reveals that there is no substantial evidence of massive voter registration changes and voting in primary elections by Florida's independent voters.
This kind of thing makes it hard to give credence to anything else Mr. Towery has to say on this matter. Having said all that, the Florida Legislature did put the Florida Democratic Party in a box. But that is the point, isn't it? This was an act of the Florida Legislature, not the Florida Democratic Party. Does it seem just to penalize Florida Democrats for the act of the Republican dominated Florida Legislature?
Doctor Dean, now is the time to remember how important the Florida Democratic Party was to your gaining the DNC Chair. Now is the time to ensure that the votes of Florida Democrats, of all people, get counted and counted fairly.
And, oh, bye the way, maybe now is the time to get that 50 state strategy cranked up in Florida so we are not put in this position by a Republican dominated Florida Legislature again.
Blog Florida Blue
Sunday, May 6, 2007
Blog Florida Blue
Last week, representatives from the Florida Progessive Coalition, Florida Net Roots and Florida Kossacks held a conference call with staff from the Florida Democratic Party. The topic of the call was upcoming opportunities for bloggers to interact with the FDP, particularly at the Jefferson Jackson dinner in June and at the FDP Convention in October.
What came out of the call, which went very well by the way, was something that could be far more powerful. It was a brand name for the online effort to bring Democrats back into control in Florida. That brand name is Blog Florida Blue.
I'd like to invite all Florida bloggers to adopt this brand name whenever they are blogging on the effort to elect Democrats and build the Democratic Party in Florida. Blog Florida Blue can be a powerful branding device linking otherwise disparate efforts from Key West to Pensacola.
These are exciting and hopeful times for Democrats in Florida. While we did not win the Governorship in 2006, we did elect Alex Sink as Florida's Chief Financial Officer. Bill Nelson was easily re-elected to the US Senate and the political career of Katherine Harris crashed and burned. Democrats also seated two new Members of Congress from districts previously held by the Gopers. I am betting that we will actually make that three before the investigations into the under vote fiasco in FL-13 are over.
In the Florida Legislature, we stayed even in the Florida Senate. Charlie Justice was elected to an open seat in the Tampa Bay area that was previously held by a Republican. We almost picked up another seat in the Tampa Bay area when exciting new candidate Stephen Gorham came oh so close against Rhonda Storms for the seat held by term limited Tom Lee. Unfortunately, we were not able to retain the seat given up by Rod Smith when he ran for Governor.
The Florida House was an entirely different story. Democrats picked up seven seats previously held by Republicans. We were also tantalizingly close in two more seats in the greater Tampa Bay area. So far this year we are one and one in Florida House special elections. However, we did pick up our eighth seat in the House when Daren Soto won in Orange and Osceola Counties for HD-49. Congratulations to Representative Soto, FDP Chair karen Thurman and all those who worked so hard to make that victory possible. We are going to have one more special election for the Florida Senate and a couple more for the Florida House as a result of Senator Nancy Argenzano being appointed to the PSC. So our friends at the FDP are going to have some more opportunities to apply the lessons learned from the HD-49 victory.
Stay tuned for more details about the exciting opportunities for bloggers to interact with the FDP. But start thinking seriously about attending the Jefferson Jackson gala in Hollywood on June 8th and 9th. Nancy Pelosi is the keynote speaker, and you may be able to inteview her if you apply for blogger media credentials. More details on that to come later.
And take every opportunity to use the power of the blogosphere to Blog Florida Blue.
What came out of the call, which went very well by the way, was something that could be far more powerful. It was a brand name for the online effort to bring Democrats back into control in Florida. That brand name is Blog Florida Blue.
I'd like to invite all Florida bloggers to adopt this brand name whenever they are blogging on the effort to elect Democrats and build the Democratic Party in Florida. Blog Florida Blue can be a powerful branding device linking otherwise disparate efforts from Key West to Pensacola.
These are exciting and hopeful times for Democrats in Florida. While we did not win the Governorship in 2006, we did elect Alex Sink as Florida's Chief Financial Officer. Bill Nelson was easily re-elected to the US Senate and the political career of Katherine Harris crashed and burned. Democrats also seated two new Members of Congress from districts previously held by the Gopers. I am betting that we will actually make that three before the investigations into the under vote fiasco in FL-13 are over.
In the Florida Legislature, we stayed even in the Florida Senate. Charlie Justice was elected to an open seat in the Tampa Bay area that was previously held by a Republican. We almost picked up another seat in the Tampa Bay area when exciting new candidate Stephen Gorham came oh so close against Rhonda Storms for the seat held by term limited Tom Lee. Unfortunately, we were not able to retain the seat given up by Rod Smith when he ran for Governor.
The Florida House was an entirely different story. Democrats picked up seven seats previously held by Republicans. We were also tantalizingly close in two more seats in the greater Tampa Bay area. So far this year we are one and one in Florida House special elections. However, we did pick up our eighth seat in the House when Daren Soto won in Orange and Osceola Counties for HD-49. Congratulations to Representative Soto, FDP Chair karen Thurman and all those who worked so hard to make that victory possible. We are going to have one more special election for the Florida Senate and a couple more for the Florida House as a result of Senator Nancy Argenzano being appointed to the PSC. So our friends at the FDP are going to have some more opportunities to apply the lessons learned from the HD-49 victory.
Stay tuned for more details about the exciting opportunities for bloggers to interact with the FDP. But start thinking seriously about attending the Jefferson Jackson gala in Hollywood on June 8th and 9th. Nancy Pelosi is the keynote speaker, and you may be able to inteview her if you apply for blogger media credentials. More details on that to come later.
And take every opportunity to use the power of the blogosphere to Blog Florida Blue.
Saturday, May 5, 2007
Florida Primary: How to Have Our Primary Cake and Eat It Too
The Florida Legislature has thankfully ended their regular session. I say thankfully, because it is harder for them to screw things up when they are not in session. But they are coming back in June for a special session since they could not get their act together on property tax "reform".
That's another whole diary in and of itself. Today, there is good news and bad news and it is the same news. The good news is the Legislature has voted to move Florida's Presidential Preference Primary to January 29th. The bad news is the Legislature has voted to move Florida's Presidential Preference Primary to January 29th.
Follow me to find out why this is both good and bad news and how to have our cake and it eat too.
The Florida Legislature limped to a close of its annual regular session with a whimper Friday afternoon. The list of the dids and did nots will provide fodder for many diaries in the days and weeks to come. Today, though, we are going to take up the topic of the Florida Presidential Preference Primary.
The Republican dominated Florida Legislature passed a wide ranging election reform bill this week. The most publicised news is that Florida is moving to voter verified paper ballots. Congrats to Pam Haengel, President, Voting Integrity Alliance of Tampa Bay (VIA Tampa Bay) and all the other folks who worked so hard to make this happen.
The other big news is that the Legislature also voted to move Florida's Presidential Preference Primary up to January 29th. This is before the primary "window" allowed by both the Republican and Democratic National committees. From the New York Times:
That sounds pretty draconian, particularly on the part of the Dems. Maybe Karen Thurman should call Howard Dean and remind him that the Florida Legislature is dominated by the other guys. A little help with the 50 state plan might be more in order than threatening us with punishment for the sins of others.
But there is another option that is entirely within the control of the Florida Democratic Party. Also noted in the New York Times:
This may be the saving grace for for Florida Democrats. The FDP could choose to make the January primary non-binding. They would then need to create a mechanism for the awarding of convention delegates to the candidates. A caucus is one method that the FDP would totally control. The only real problem the FDP is going to have: Figuring out how to make it snow so the caucus goers will have to wade through the obligatory snow to get to the caucus locations.
That's another whole diary in and of itself. Today, there is good news and bad news and it is the same news. The good news is the Legislature has voted to move Florida's Presidential Preference Primary to January 29th. The bad news is the Legislature has voted to move Florida's Presidential Preference Primary to January 29th.
Follow me to find out why this is both good and bad news and how to have our cake and it eat too.
The Florida Legislature limped to a close of its annual regular session with a whimper Friday afternoon. The list of the dids and did nots will provide fodder for many diaries in the days and weeks to come. Today, though, we are going to take up the topic of the Florida Presidential Preference Primary.
The Republican dominated Florida Legislature passed a wide ranging election reform bill this week. The most publicised news is that Florida is moving to voter verified paper ballots. Congrats to Pam Haengel, President, Voting Integrity Alliance of Tampa Bay (VIA Tampa Bay) and all the other folks who worked so hard to make this happen.
The other big news is that the Legislature also voted to move Florida's Presidential Preference Primary up to January 29th. This is before the primary "window" allowed by both the Republican and Democratic National committees. From the New York Times:
The national parties warned Florida that any state slating its contest earlier than Feb. 5 without express permission will lose half its delegates to the party’s national conventions in the late summer of 2008. In addition, Democratic Party rules stipulate that any candidate who campaigns in a state that has violated Democratic scheduling rules will forfeit delegates the state retains — in effect, shutting out the state altogether.
That sounds pretty draconian, particularly on the part of the Dems. Maybe Karen Thurman should call Howard Dean and remind him that the Florida Legislature is dominated by the other guys. A little help with the 50 state plan might be more in order than threatening us with punishment for the sins of others.
But there is another option that is entirely within the control of the Florida Democratic Party. Also noted in the New York Times:
DNC spokeswoman Stacie Paxton said in a statement that the committee is hoping to work with the state to reach a solution. “This is not the first time that a state legislature has set its primary on a date outside DNC party rules,” Paxton said. “As with similar situations in the past, the DNC is working closely with the state party to look at the alternatives for proceeding in accordance with the rules on or after February 5th.”
Alternatives might include holding a party-run event such as a caucus, making the primary a non-binding event.
This may be the saving grace for for Florida Democrats. The FDP could choose to make the January primary non-binding. They would then need to create a mechanism for the awarding of convention delegates to the candidates. A caucus is one method that the FDP would totally control. The only real problem the FDP is going to have: Figuring out how to make it snow so the caucus goers will have to wade through the obligatory snow to get to the caucus locations.
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