How To Replace Taliban Dan In Central Florida-- Why Not Leave It To Floridians?

2 excellent candidates for FL-10-- so the DCCC anointed a conservative

With Daniel "Taliban Dan" Webster decamping from his Orlando area base in Florida's 10th CD for whiter climes further north and west, it looks increasingly like whichever Democrat wins the primary will be the next congressmember. The DCCC has decreed that the much-disliked Val Demings is their candidate, despite the fact that their are two other very credible choices, much-loved state Sen. Geraldine Thompson, a civil rights icon, and also highly respected former Florida Democratic Party chairman Bob Poe. One of the DCCC's southern region staffers, Communications Director Jermaine House, told Jacob Engels at the East Orlando Post that Thompson "should wait her turn" and that Poe, who is white and gay, "does not have the right racial makeup for the district." The district is 27.1% voting age African-American, 22.8% voting age Hispanic and 44.3% voting age white; I was unaware Pelosi countenanced this kind of racial profiling and bigoted game-playing. Mr. House, actually said, "We will never support Poe because he's white." I'm sure he's noticed that Sen. Thompson is African-American as well. Maybe it's just that the DCCC has their heart set on a conservative religious nut who will never have an independent thought in her head.

So that leaves Blue America in an awkward situation. We rate both Poe and Thompson "A" level candidates and we rate Demings a solid "F." It's crucial that the DCCC not slip her into office but we think too highly of Geraldine Thompson to endorse Bob Poe and too highly of Bob Poe to endorse Geraldine Thompson. Fortunately this primary isn't 'til August so we have some time to think about it and figure out how best to stop Demings. I'd love to hear from some Florida progressives about how they're thinking about this too.

One interesting side bar. I mentioned that the DCCC was stirring up racial animosities through Jermaine House-- they've also offended the LGBT community by their interference in the race-- well, as far as we know, House is still in the house but his direct superior, Andrew Piatt, who led the DCCC down the disastrous Demings road, was just fired. The DCCC should fire more people-- like everyone... and start fresh with people who want to win and have the capacity to do so. This crew has proven they do not possess that capacity. I asked a DCCC contact if Piatt was fired because of the FL-10 situation and was told, "the was a big part of it." So why is House still there? Crickets.

Meanwhile, if you'd like to help progressive reformers take the Democratic Party back from the corrupt DC establishment and win Congress back for Team Blue... tapping on this thermometer below will give you a list of carefully-vetted progressive candidates who the DCCC is ignoring or even actively sabotaging. Even $10 and $20 contributions are significant for these grassroots campaigns.