Here's my early morning post to the Dean blog:
Ok, though there aren't very many of you here, let me suggest another direction.
The reason the country is in the pickle it's in is because Florida messed up in 2000. The reason Florida messed up is because NOT ENOUGH ATTENTION WAS PAID. Let's not make the same mistake again.
When I went to the link suggested yesterday for info on all state elections
http://www.dcpoliticalreport.com/stbyst.htm
I noticed that Cliff Sterns in the 6th District of Florida seems to have a viable Democratic challenger this time around. As far as I can tell, David Broderly ran last time and lost. He's asking for money for phones and flyers on his web site
www.bruderly.com
Although Sterns won with 65% of the vote last time, if Democrats had been doing their job all along, he shouldn't be sitting there at all.
Sterns is from Ocala, somewhat of a backwater on the edge of horse country. The real population center is Gainesville where the major industries are education and health care, both of which should be natural consituencies of the Gov.
That this community is represented by a Repub can only be explained by the fact that the local politicos just aren't interested in the national scene.
In any event, if Bruderly were to get a modest infusion of money via this blog, it would provide publicity for the Dean campaign, somebody to visit when the Gov visits north Florida, and to do so on the cheap.
One of the things that has really astounded me is how LITTLE money the fat cats contribute to get their hooks into our representatives. $2,000 to $5,000 is nothing to people who pick up another car for $30,000.
Boswell isn't kidding when he expresses gratitude for the $60,000 we dropped on him. That's still a big chunk of money for the backwater races. North Forida is a lot cheaper than South. A few dollars there would make a big splash.
By the way, although I lived in Gainesville for 17 years, I do not know Bruderly. However, the groups he claims to be affiliated with are, by and large, good guys. The environmentalists are a bit radical but that's largely the result of frustration.
Florida could really benefit from some serious community building. So many of the newcomers don't like each other very much and the "natives" just wish the outsiders would leave their money and go away.
Posted by Monica Smith at January 19, 2004 04:02 AM