In March when Lenny Curry rolled out his “Civility Project” I among others laughed it off.  I felt Curry’s attacks on female leaders then smacked of sexism. However, over the course of the last several months Curry has been far more civil and dignified than his RPOF predecessors who ranged from nasty, to petty to incompetent to corrupt. The Republican Party Chairman in early 2013 was able to take advantage dysfunctional Democratic opposition and a communications infrastructure inherited by Chairwoman Allison Tant  from failed former Chairman Rod Smith, that resembled the undisciplined public relations of small business start-up lacking professional media help.

What has happened since March is that Chairwoman Tant smartly made multiple staff changes at FDP HQ leading to a  more robust and defined messaging effort. Not that missteps haven’t occurred, like Tant going after Governor Rick Scott on job creation…we can all argue the types of jobs coming to Florida but attacking Scott on jobs when Charlie Crist, Florida’s greatest single job killer since Frank Lorenzo is your potential nominee is just silly. But by and large, communications from the FDP has improved dramatically in the past few months.

The RPOF has seemingly been obsessed with Charlie Crist, and for good reason. Crist makes an easy target, a caricature almost too good to be true as an opponent if you are a Florida Republican.  Curry has also been smart in engaging Democrats most notably on the snubbing of Nan Rich at the J-J Dinner in Hollywood earlier this summer.  Other developments this summer saw Curry promoting Rick Scott and not really engaging the Democrats.

But that changed recently with recent attacks on Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Allison Tant by the RPOF. Interestingly by attacking Democratic women just as the RPOF did in launching the “Civility Project,” a nice symmetry is created.