Florida Democrats, not Republicans, will be the ones tested in 2018.
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When it comes to lessons learned, the GOP is the quicker study.
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Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson leads current Republican Florida Gov. Rick Scott by 1 point in a potential 2018 matchup. 1 point, look at the voting record of these 2 men and think how is this possible.
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49 percent of Floridians ARE not able to assess his job performance. Nelson has been in the Senate since 2001.
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The test for Democrats will be the governor’s race. Graham, the candidate representing the party establishment, leads the polls and in fundraising.
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Philip Levine, the wealthy mayor of Miami Beach has praised Trump and Chris King talks like a progressive but with no record of public service and low name recognition.
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That leaves Gillum, the unabashed progressive mayor of Tallahassee. On the campaign trail, he has excited Millennials, Latinos, people of color, and true progressives.
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Consider this, when Graham became a Congresswoman representing the Big Bend, she announced she would “reach across the aisle.” She might as well have been sitting across the aisle. According to USA Today.
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She was one of
12 Democrats to vote for a bill increasing from 30 to 40 the number of hours an employee must work per week to qualify for mandatory health insurance under the Affordable Care Act.
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28 Democrats to vote for a bill approving the Keystone XL pipeline.
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8 Democrats to vote for a bill making it tougher for federal agencies to impose new rules without detailed justification.
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29 Democrats to vote for a bill relaxing some Dodd-Frank banking regulations.
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31 Democrats to vote for an intelligence authorization bill to ban the government from transferring detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to the U.S.
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19 Democrats to vote for a bill granting states authority to regulate coal ash disposal. The measure would undo a federal EPA rule.
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25 Democrats to vote against a bill approving the nuclear deal with Iran.
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That is not going to excite the demographic Democrats need to win.
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Graham surrogates advocate the erroneous perception that Graham is their party’s best opportunity to recapture the Florida governorship. There’s a more compelling argument that her nomination would be business—losing—as usual.
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Graham allies in the press and social media are perpetuating this utter “best bet” balderdash. She’s scared stiff of Gillum and being exposed as an ideological fraud.
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Her father (Who we have always liked) sits on the Board of the Poynter Foundation. The Poynter Institute is the parent of the Tampa Bay Times. The paper, discredited in 2017 because of slanted, unethical coverage in several political races, has maliciously attempted to torpedo Gillum’s candidacy.
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An example: a political reporter labeled Gillum’s candidacy “toast” because of an FBI investigation of contracts in Tallahassee. Outright falsehood. It is widely known by everyone but the Times’ dwindling readership, that Gillum is not a target of the probe.
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The Graham campaign has resorted to placing fluff pieces in pay-for-play blogs that few voters read and those that do can easily spot an advertorial.
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To Mr. Javellana and all her misinformed supporters.
We were very good to Ms. Graham when she ran for congress, we thought we were getting her father. We even bought her opponents info domain name.
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Words of Jim Bleyer - Tampa Bay Beat used with permission.
