Left Flank

Democrats are not celebrating in Florida. President-Elect Barack H. Obama had «short coattails» on November 4.

The swing voters along the crucial Insterstate-4 corridor are still very winnable by either party, and the Democrats still suffer from a lack of depth.

«Florida is obviously in play, but the candidates have to be credible,» said state Sen.-elect Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach, considered a possible challenger to U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez or Gov. Charlie Crist in 2010.

(...)

Enough new voters registered this year to give Democrats a 700,000 voter lead over Republicans. But in past elections, the party couldn't get its voters to the polls. What changed? Principally, Barack Obama. He brought money, a massive voter-registration and targeting program -- and a focused, economy-centered message.

(...)

Obama became the first Democratic presidential candidate to carry the state's Hispanic vote, according to exit polling. Osceola County went hard for the Democrat, flipping from George W. Bush four years earlier.

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I watch the local news, in my hometown of Baltimore and my parents' residence in Florida, for national news. Here's what I see.

Professional fundraisers for McCain?

Coale has long shared money and connections with Dems. But he showed up at the Republican National Convention last week and announced plans to woo high-profile Dems to «Citizens for McCain.» «A Leading Hillary Supporter Defects to McCain,» read the headline as Newsweek.com broke the story.

«First, I'm surprised it's any kind of big deal at all,» Coale told me later by phone from Minnesota.

«And second, I told McCain that I am doing nothing to help [down-ticket] Republicans. John and I go back. We worked together on the tobacco stuff when he was chairman of the commerce committee. I've known him a long time.

«And I like him a lot. ...

«I'm a true-blue Democrat. But look, I don't know Barack Obama. I had one one-on-one for 30 minutes once. I've worked with McCain. He has a tremendous record of compromise in putting deals together in the Senate.

«I made it very clear this is about John McCain, not Republicans and not Republicans in Maryland,» he added. «I will be supporting Martin O'Malley for his re-election and all Democrats, especially in the state of Maryland. I'm holding a fundraiser for what's-his-name on the Eastern Shore.»

So, the man has more money than sense.

Tax cuts are an easy sell?

Back then, candidates from both parties -- from Crist and his Democratic challenger, Jim Davis, to county and city commissioners -- campaigned on the mantra of delivering property-tax and insurance relief to a steamed electorate.

This fall, though, those pitches are nowhere to be heard. Lawmakers trying to get re-elected seem more interested in running away from Tallahassee's track record than embracing the results of the past two years.

For the most part, they've concluded deep tax cuts can't be achieved as long as the citizenry also expects decent public schools and services.

«What we proved to ourselves is we're so dependent on services, that to reduce taxes so largely in one area we have to raise them somewhere else,» said Rep. Dennis Ross, R-Lakeland, who speaks frankly because he's term-limited.

«We have had a lot of failed attempts at tax reforms, but that doesn't mean it necessarily can't be done.»

Service, and competence? Florida can't have that, so it might as well just fire all the legislators! And, the fundraisers!

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Two signs Democrats will fight for Florida:

State Dems sign up voters 7-1 over GOP

«National Democrats have reserved $1 million in Orlando television ads this fall to help defeat U.S. Rep. Tom Feeney, the third-term Republican from Oviedo...»

Afraid of «RNO» Charlie Crist? He's no match for Obama!

A political marriage? A marriage of convenience?

Florida's Republican Governor, and unlikely Vice-Presidential nominee, is surely acting like he's running to be Senator John McCain's political partner. Yet, it would be an affront to social conservatives and fiscal hawks alike.

Rome is a 1991 honors graduate of Georgetown University who became
president of her family's 100-year-old Halloween costume business in
2000 when her father died. She has two daughters, ages 11 and 9, with
former husband Todd Rome of New York, CEO of Blue Star Jets. She moved
to Fisher Island in Miami in 2006.

The Romes' divorce was finalized this year, and Todd Rome has
been quoted in New York gossip columns speaking fondly of his ex-wife
and wishing her the best with Crist.

Crist's famously frugal lifestyle could be coming to an end.
While he has never bought a home and earns $140,000 a year as governor,
his net worth of about $450,000 was by far the smallest of any other
statewide officeholder.

Meanwhile, Todd Rome estimated in court records that his
ex-wife's income has been as high as $1.48-million a year, and the
Romes' numerous properties included a 10,000-square-foot vacation home
in Southampton, N.Y.

CBN's David Brody (via Democracy in America's «Crist to Get Hitched») argues social conservatives will raise the black flag.

So why is Crist a problem for social conservatives? Well, first of
all they don't believe he's pro-life. He says he's pro-life but in the
past he's said he was pro-choice. Read more on that here.
He has also supported civil unions. In addition, when the whole Terri
Schiavo controversy exploded in Florida, Crist DID NOT side with
pro-family groups who wanted him to take a more active role. He stayed
on the sidelines.

Would McCain really pick Crist? It would be seen as a slap in the
face to the Evangelical base yet McCain could look at it another way.

Let's face it. The general election is going to be won (just like
every general election) by winning the Independent vote. McCain could
pick Crist which would (as stated above) nail down the key state of
Florida and at the same time be a signal to Independents to say that
McCain is more of a centrist and WILL NOT pander to the Evangelical
base. Independents will love that. The danger of course is that many
Evangelicals will not vote in November. Decisions, decisions. This is a
critical pick for McCain.

As an independent Floridian (as my driver's license says-I have to keep checking), the prospect of a frugal bachelor marying a rich heiress this late in his life is also a smack in the face.

Hailed as a «Nixon went to China» moment, Florida's Governor Charlie Crist stood up to Big Sugar and didn't blink.

The idea offered an end to a three-decade war over the future of the Florida Everglades, a dispute that had seen environmentalists and four governors and regulators frustrated at every turn by the company they called Big Sugar.

And last week, after seven months of top-secret huddles between the state and company officials, Crist's idea became a formal proposal: $1.75 billion to buy U.S. Sugar «lock, stock and barrel.»

If finalized by November, the state will take over U.S. Sugar's 187,000 acres of land, its sugar mill, railroad and citrus-processing facilities. Within six years, Big Sugar will be gone.

And the rich, black muck farmland that has grown cane since the 1930s will be used to re-create natural water flows between Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades.

The Economist also highlights Crist's coup as an example for Kenya, which is just starting down the road Florida is ending now.

The wetlands that Florida plans to preserve will not only provide a natural buffer against hurricanes, they will also help provide fresh water to Florida's growing population. It will also act as a natural filtering system, eliminating the need to pump contaminated agricultural runoff into the Everglades' Lake Okeechobee.

Today, the South Florida Water Management District approved the plan, but not without some concern for local employment.

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I'm fairly certain if Floridians want a debate about offshore oil drilling, the GOP is not taking the high road. Senator Bill Nelson calls it a «gimmick», and Republican Senator Mel Martinez is looking for special treatment, but it looks like spinelessness.

Though Democrats and Republicans in the 25-member delegation had been nearly unanimously opposed to drilling off Florida's beaches -- only U.S. Rep. John Mica of Winter Park voted for it a few years ago -- most of the 16 GOP members now support loosening the ban.

They were joined this week by Gov. Charlie Crist, who when asked June 10 whether he was dropping his opposition to drilling had replied, «I am not.» But Crist changed his mind after Republican presidential nominee John McCain urged an end to a long-standing moratorium on offshore drilling.

The Florida Republicans -- some of whom changed their positions this week -- cited high energy prices, better drilling technology and the absence of oil spills from wells in the western Gulf, even after Hurricane Katrina.

As some polls show putative Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama sliding ahead of GOP Senator John McCain, Republican Governor Charlie Crist might have made a key mistake, and definitely not leading a discussion.

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