I'm in Illinois, so all I know about the Florida gubernatorial race is what I read,

[Atticus]

but it seems that there are two good Democrats battling it down to the wire for the Democratic nomination. So, what's with all the Chicken Little histrionics about how one is a sure loser? What happened to all that , "Support ALL Democrats" stuff?

Pissed off? GET OVER IT! Support the Democratic candidate, WHOEVER that may be.

[oberliner]

1. Battle is over - Gillum has won

[Atticus]

3. Fine. Let's elect him. nt

[oberliner]

6. Amen

Here's hoping Florida comes through in November!

[jberryhill]

4. Presidential material then

[oberliner]

11. Time to get on board and support him

[RandySF]

13. He has my moral support

But I won't be sending anymore money to Florida. It's a lost cause.

[BeyondGeography]

12. So was our 2016 presidential nominee

and she won. Sorta.

[Phoenix61]

16. I wish more people had been aware of that

I like him and saw him speak in Tally on Feb 21st with the Parkland students. He is a charismatic speaker and I liked what he had to say I just wish he had waited to run until after the investigation was over. We end up with DeSantos for gov and Rick Scott as a Senator and we will be well and truly screwed.

[uponit7771]

19. Link and quote? Regards

[RandySF]

21. .

https://www.tampabay.com/florida-politics/buzz/2018/06/01/report-andrew-gillum-scheduled-meeting-with-undercover-fbi-agents-during-costa-rica-trip-with-lobbyists/

[uponit7771]

22. "law enforcement has assured him that he is not the focus of the probe"

Let's not spread untrue news that hurts Dems

[NCTraveler]

5. Graham voter here.

I’m not just accepting the Gillum win, I’m already on board as a supporter.

[oberliner]

7. That's the spirit!

[MaryMagdaline]

8. Me, too

[Scurrilous]

9. ...

[Pacifist Patriot]

34. Yep. Just donated and signed up as a volunteer.

[HAB911]

35. +++++++++++

[Phoenix61]

10. I'm in Florida

Gillum is the mayor of Tallahassee, a city whose government is under investigation by the FBI for corruption. Not a strong selling point for a liberal in a strongly conservative state. Graham has a much better chance in the general than he does.

[Atticus]

14. My understanding is that Gillum has not been named in any subpoenas

and no charges have been filed. Vote Democratic and don't aid DeSantis by dissing Gillum.

[octoberlib]

18. I'm sure Dems will do some oppo

research on DeSantis. He’s a Trump supporter so he’s got to be crooked.

[babylonsister]

15. Not if she doesn't get enough votes today.

I don't know anything about Gillum and the FBI investigation.

Except this from February and I will research more.

https://www.politico.com/states/florida/story/2018/02/06/gillum-not-listed-as-subject-in-fbi-affidavit-but-political-damage-may-already-be-done-238466

Gillum not listed as 'subject' in FBI affidavit, but political damage may already be done

By MATT DIXON

02/06/2018 06:00 AM EST


TALLAHASSEE — FBI documents inadvertently made public Monday outline a corruption case against a prominent Tallahassee City commissioner, but may give some relief to Andrew Gillum, the city’s mayor and Democratic candidate for governor.

more...

[mcar]

17. This Floridian thanks you

We had several good candidates. Andrew Gillum ran a great campaign and won the nomination. He deserves our support.

[Sancho]

20. I will vote for the Democratic candidate...

but we might as well welcome Desantus a governor.

Independents make up the majority of voters, and they don't vote in the primary. Levine and Graham split the mainstream vote. There is very little chance the independents will turn out for Gillum...

Actually, none of these candidates were exceptional, but probably Graham had the best chance across the state. After Rick Scott, how bad can it be?

The only good news is that both candidates are "outliers" - Gillum on the left vs Desantas on the right. Maybe the independents will hate Desantas (tRump endorsed) more, so they would vote for ANYONE to defeat the republicans.

It will be old repubs, Archie Bunker, and racists against a weird array of Democrats, independents, environmentalists, and anti-gunners.

[Atticus]

23. This is not a private converation. How would you feel if your pessimism was

quoted in a DeSantis campaign ad? Sometimes our words---negative or positive---become self-fulfilling prophesies.

[Sancho]

24. I will be out campaigning for the Democratic candidate...

just like I have for decades here in Florida. Sorry if you see that a pessimistic. I would love to win some statewide elections here.

If Florida hopes to have a governor win, they need to attract independents. Maybe Gillum will do that...we'll see. I went to one of his rallies here. He is good with the base. He has not gotten traction outside that group yet.

We saw an ex-republican moderate (Crist) lose to Rick Scott (who is a tea party, tRump favorite), but it was close.

The good news is that Desantis is so crazy that the independents might show up just to vote against him! The repubs here probably see this election as holding the line, not one of issues (charter schools and property taxes are not hot). The environment and guns are issues for both sides.

This will be an election of two base positions trying to win the middle who did not vote in the primary. That's not pessimism, but realty. Obama won Florida, in my view, because he was supported by the base and also was "moderate" enough to attract the independents here.

The repubs have a lot of advantages here if it's close, so Gillum will have to win by enough to overcome that advantage.

There are a LOT of new voters in Florida from the last election too, so it's going to be interesting.

[Atticus]

26. If I misinterpreted your attitude, I apologize. Sounds like you are ready

to do battle. Thank you. I

[Sancho]

28. I will be out there on the front lines...

I'm a union officer, and I visit our legislators.

I also see poll data, etc. You may have heard that Gillum had some last minute issues with an investigation - that's not settled yet.

The biggest issue is getting independents in the I4 corridor to come out for a Democrat. Here on DU we live in a bit of a bubble. If you talk to the typical independent they are all over the place, but they believe in issues. That's the biggest voting block in Fl.

For whatever reason (Fox, etc.), the repubs convince some independents to their candidate. In the last few elections, moderates have done better here. Chances are that Graham or Levine would fit that profile better, but they ran against each other and opened the door for Gillum, who was the obvious base candidate.

We have to hope that the issues in Florida are enough to defeat ANY republican candidate - and especially an extreme one like Desantis.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

30. I still don't get how Rick Scott won as governor all those times. This is one fucked up state.....

[Sancho]

32. I agree

There had to be some manipulation.

[Awsi Dooger]

33. Scott won twice with huge national tilt in favor of Republicans

The 2010 and 2014 midterm years. He barely prevailed despite major terrain advantage for his party. In anything close to balanced years, Scott loses both times.

Unfortunately his approval rating is completely different now than those years. Scott is now popular, thanks to how he was perceived to handle the recent tragedies in the state. That's why he is ahead now, despite a blue national tilt and not a red tilt

[TomSlick]

25. Thank you, Atticus.

The primary is over. There is a Democratic nominee.

The country is at stake. There is no time for looking back or nay-saying.

Let's go Florida! (Of course, not in football).

[Rocky888]

27. Absolutely!

I had voted Levine, but I’ll be happy to have this good man as our next Governor!

[madville]

29. The FL House and Senate will remain solidly R

So in a way that will help Gillum while running in the general, he can promise or support anything with little chance of it actually having to materialize.

[katmondoo]

31. The winner is a good man

He will make a very good Governor