Category Charlie Crist

5 Lies the Florida Democratic Party Needs to Stop Telling
The LEAD (Leadership Expansion to Advance Democrats) Task Force Report led by Former Orlando Police Chief Val Demings and US Senator Bill Nelson is about to come out, so there’s going to be some discussion about how the party does stuff going forward. Few rational people expect a sanctioned report by party insiders will tell […]

On having “skin in the game” this Memorial Day
The Florida Squeeze has been hosting some interesting discussions lately, particularly regarding the role of activists and blogs like this one. With regard to the discomfiting loss in Jacksonville one notion repeated a few times was the idea that bloggers and activists need to be still. Here’s a quote: “Those who have real skin in the […]

Florida Democrats still need Charlie Crist
A fashionable narrative that has developed among some Florida Democratic insiders since the November 2014 electoral debacle is that Republican-turned Independent-turned Democrat Charlie Crist created the environment for electoral defeat. But when you consider the evidence objectively, Crist almost won the Governorship DESPITE the long decayed statewide infrastructure of the Florida Democratic Party and the […]

Florida political winners and losers for 2014
NOTE: Our Tuesday poll feature will return next week. It’s that time of the year for reflections. 2014 was an election year and with it came the usual array of winners and losers. A difficult year for Democrats across the country as well as here in Florida saw clear winners and losers.

President Obama, national Democrats and Charlie Crist’s defeat
Charlie Crist’s defeat November 4th along with the loss of three other cabinet races mean that Florida Democrats have now lost 17 of the last 18 races for state office. This record is unmatched for futility anywhere east of the Mississippi River. But unlike past election cycles, Florida’s Democrats actually performed equally if not better […]
High Speed Rail passes Florida by while the rest of the world cashes in
Florida should have been the leader – beginning in the late 1980’s High Speed Rail was talked about as a potential driver for the state’s economy. Florida would once again be the national leader, the first to innovate much as the Askew/Graham years had pushed Florida to the forefront of progressive business-friendly reforms nationally. Then […]
Did President Obama’s immigration punt cost Governor Crist the election?
I must admit the various postmortems on Governor Crist’s loss on Tuesday to Rick Scott have been interesting. The discussion of Scott’s North Florida strategy and the Crist campaign’s progressive messaging costing the former Governor the region (which Alex Sink did far better in) is being discussed – though I believe this is a canard […]
Florida’s media and Republican hegemony
The postmortems on the 2014 election in Florida are being written and the ink is barely dry. But one thing that stands out for me which nobody else will talk about is how complicit Florida’s press has become with the Republican Party in this state. The death of strong Tallahassee bureaus at the major daily […]
Watch Pinellas and Palm Beach counties tonight
Our friends over at Saint Petersblog will appreciate this plug…while Hillsborough often is the county to watch when returns come in for statewide races, tonight it could be across the bay in Pinellas that tells the story. Pinellas is often the first large county to report in full and should Governor Crist not amass a […]
Voting in Absentia: Why I Would Cast My Ballot for Charlie Crist in Florida
By Steven Kurlander This article also appeared in Context Florida and the Huffington Post Occasionally, refugees who have settled in the US, including naturalized citizens, cast ballots in elections that take place in their origin countries that allow them to vote in absentia and in effect allow them to still have an impact on events […]