Florida's Blue Dog Dems supported Jeb Bush as governor...

[madfloridian]

I do not see a date on this, but it must have been before the last gubernatorial election in 2006 when Crist was elected.

It helps gives some insight into why our Florida Democrats act as they do. It helps me to see things like this also. I feel completely alienated from my Democratic community here right now. I have been searching for answers.

This is from the Tallahassee Magazine.

Northwest Florida conservative Democrats could determine who sits in the Governor’s office

Blue Dogs are rural, white, traditional Southerners who register as Democrats but often vote Republican. They usually are the key to victory in Florida elections, because, as people say in Northwest Florida, Blue Dogs don’t necessarily “go home from the dance with the one who brung ’em.” They register as Democrats but vote for Republicans in state and national elections – unless the Democratic candidates are conservative Southerners like themselves. With Florida Republicans outnumbered by Democrats by more than 345,000 voters, Republicans cannot win statewide elections unless Blue Dogs cross party lines to support them. By the same token, Democrats cannot win unless they can keep Blue Dogs in the yard. The decisive role of Northwest Florida voters was made patently clear in 1994, when Jeb Bush lost his first bid for governor because Blue Dogs supported the reelection of self-proclaimed “Florida Cracker” Lawton Chiles. After Chiles stepped down at the end of his second term in 1998 and the Democrats failed to nominate another Southern populist, Blue Dog Democrats supported Bush, who won by a solid margin with their backing.

I wonder then why it is any surprise that people like me who question motives and intents when the state party does things like putting blame on the national party and urging people not to donate to them.....is it is wonder hubby and I feel isolated? It is like another world of Democrats here.

Florida’s Blue Dog counties are likely to be the main battleground in this year’s gubernatorial election because they are home to the state’s largest bloc of swing voters. The Republican candidate for governor will run strong in Southwest Florida, Pensacola and Jacksonville, while the Democratic nominee will do well in Southeast Florida, Gainesville and Tallahassee. This will leave the election to be decided by Blue Dogs in Northwest Florida and non-Cuban Hispanics around Orlando.

Oh, and about that Bill McBride/Janet Reno thing? I have to admit hubby and I took the wrong side in that campaign. We worked closely with McBride's county chairperson here, and we became friends even though they were Republicans who were shunned because of their support for a Democrat. Yes, we were wrong. Reno should have been the choice.

SO..under the heading of what I did not know before:

The high turnout of Blue Dogs was the key to Bill McBride’s stunning victory over Janet Reno and Daryl Jones in the Democratic gubernatorial primary of 2002. Florida has 25 counties in which a majority voted Republican in the disputed 2000 presidential election – even though at least 60 percent of their registered voters are Democrats. Not only did McBride poll a majority of the primary votes in every one of these Blue Dog counties, his average across them was 62 percent of the votes cast.

And here's something about last year's race between Jim Davis and Rod Smith for Governor.

For Democrats Davis and Smith, the key to victory will be the same in both the primary and the general election, namely, successfully appealing to the Blue Dogs in rural North Florida. So far, Davis has been doing this by lining up endorsements from political leaders popular in the state’s Blue Dog regions. Davis is the odds-on favorite to win the Democratic primary because he already has been endorsed by former governor and U.S. Sen. Bob Graham, whose supporters in Northwest Florida used to be called “Graham Crackers.” Davis also has attracted the support of Rhea Chiles, the widow of Florida’s archetypical Blue Dog, Lawton Chiles.

Still, Smith should not be counted out. He is popular among Blue Dogs, not only because he has a populist political philosophy, but also because he has a personal style or charisma that has long been popular in the rural South. t is perhaps best described oxymoronically as a sort of affable toughness or friendly hostility that combines redneck meanness with relaxed courtesy. Chiles had it, as did former Florida Gov. Reubin Askew. These legends of Florida politics won statewide elections against unfavorable odds by forcefully but politely confronting powerful special interests and advocating for ordinary people.

I don't like reading this stuff, but it helps me understand why...when I tried to explain to some of my mailing lists that Florida was not telling the truth about the primary, I was told not to make waves. I was told we needed to win and be solidly together.

Solidly together with those trying to crash the fundraising of the DNC and boosting themselves as the morally righteous? Solidly together with not being honest? There is an oddness here, and that group can't explain it all. But it gives another clue.

[Baby Snooks]

1. Conservative Democrats

The reality of conservative Democrats is they are merely corrupt and racist Democrats and some of them left the Democratic Party and became conservative Republicans after the Civil Rights Act was passed and even more left after Ronald Reagan announced for president as a conservative although some joined the Republican Party more for George Bush than for Ronald Reagan which may explain why Reagan chose Bush as his running mate. Some of these conservatives remained in the Democratic Party but under the banner of conservatism they seem to have hijacked both parties with their corruption and their racism. Which may explain why so many are leaving both parties and becoming Independents.

The best example of a conservative Democrat who became a conservative Republican is Texas governor Rick Perry. And don't think for one minute that Florida is alone in Democrats electing a Republican governor or that Florida is alone in having to deal with the Blue Dogs who really should be called Purple Dogs which is what you get when you cross a Democrat with a Republican. Purple Dogs are really just a new third party. The Republicrats.

[madfloridian]

2. Did not realize that about Perry.

Good post. I think there are far more than we realize.

[acmavm]

7. You betcha. Look at Nebraska and Ben Nelson. This was a

Democratic state up until the Civil Rights and Equal Rights legislation. Then this place went Repubic and it will never go back.

Ben Nelson runs as a Dem so he can get elected. He's no more a dem than I'm the Queen of England.

[eridani]

4. Actually, they are the majority party nationally

Blue Dogs + Republicans = Southern White Men's Party (with "south" now being disconnected from actual geography).

[Bitwit1234]

3. No wonder they call them bush dogs.

[madfloridian]

5. It's a pretty good term.

I think Open Left started it.

In fact they have a post today needing help on 16 Bush Dogs, who are the reason we will be in Iraq forever.

http://www.openleft.com/frontPage.do

[mod mom]

6. Great term why call them "blue " when they are far from it. "bu$h dogs" is a better fit.

[paulk]

8. you just figured this out?

That the old south - the old Democratic south - was conservative?

[madfloridian]

9. I am learning much more now.

It is more than just being conservative.

It is often about being powerful at the expense of being honest.

[Progressive Friend]

10. Excellent post

[cachukis]

11. I was a member of the DEC in Tampa

(Democratic Executive Committee) for two years before the 2004 election. My wife and I worked feverishly with Dean for America, Move On and ACT (America Coming Together.) We canvassed, phoned, put up signs, did voter regs, held corner signs, gave speeches to union halls and local media events, put up signs and handed out pamphlets on election day. We went to virtually every candidate rally we could manage to lend our support. We went to the state convention to commiserate with like kind dems. Finally, we gave money. We did not want a repeat of 2000. Note, I use the lower case because we found that we were not of the likeable kind.
There is en establishment democratic party in the state of Florida. If you are not a part of that group they will do what they can to undermine your challenge to conventional wisdom. Our constituency challenged the status quo here in Tampa only to have a bloc of votes outside the parameters of voting protocol brought in to help maintain the incumbency. They are DLC supporters. We argued that they did a poor job getting Democratic candidates elected. We maintained that they did a poor job in raising money. Yet, they felt, they deserved better representation in Tallahassee as state leaders.
I saw Joe Trippi up close with tears in his eyes knowing that Dean was done after the scream and that the support was the finest grass roots effort developed in the last half of the century. That group is still there and it ain't the DLC.
The DLC was relieved that Dean was done. They are the pols who want to hand out their rewards because it is their turn.
Maybe we don't have much of a choice to fend of the inevitables of global warming duking it out with sun dimming or the devaluation of the dollar and our real estate. Maybe we can't come up with alternate energy plans in time, but dammit, we can go down fighting.
I told Al Gore's rep in Florida some years ago that if he pushed the environment he could get repubs on his side. I now say that if we got to bring out the bogey man, global warming trumps all terrorists.

Cachukis

[madfloridian]

12. Thank you for that post. I know people are paying attention.

You would not know from some of the comments here, but many are feeling the duplicity in the Florida party.

Your post nearly brought tears to my eyes. We had never been so active as we were then. We did all the things, we ran a candidate, a very good one, we got the petition cards filed, we donated, we worked. The party machine brought in a terrible candidate who sounded just like the Republican. He lost of course.

Now we are sitting on our butts and wondering what happened to the excitement of making a difference.

I have been asked to stop trying to change minds locally about the primary events recently. Even people who know it was done underhandedly.

The party in Florida has lost something very valuable, though. They may be able to make others be silent, but those who are silent are not stupid. They are just afraid of making waves.

Florida has lost the trust of the people now. I am not sure they can get it back for enough votes to count unless they call off the bloggers they enlisted to attack the DNC.

They don't want real change. They just want to be first and be the big dogs.

I miss being excited about being able to make a difference, but here we can not...not yet.

So I write about it. It is all I can do.

[cachukis]

13. I am impressed with what you are doing.

I am new to this fora. I'm not sure about the K & R and how that works. Nonetheless, I read voraciously and feel confident that this is the best way for the underground to keep alert. Someday we'll have to modify, but it's like doing the crossword, you stop and a new generation of clues moves in.

Should time permit, I too might build a soapbox. You are an inspiration.

Cachukis

[madfloridian]

15. Sounds like you could build quite a soapbox....

Welcome to DU, and all you need to do is continue telling the truth. And you just did a lot of that. People don't like to hear it, but many do pay attention.

[Capn Sunshine]

14. Well, sure they did

In the south, you run your party affiliation based on registration numbers, and then do whatever the fuck you want anyway.

You thought the Dukes of Hazard wasn't a documentary?
:evilgrin:

[Mend]

16. Lawton Chiles didn't "step down" at the end of his second term..

he dropped dead of a heart attack on Dec. 12, 1998, during the last few weeks in office as Governor.

[madfloridian]

17. So he was still in office. You know I have the special edition Tribune

that came out when he died. But you are right, I think. He was still in office when Rhea found him dead at home in either an office or personal work out room.

We bought some extras and sent the whole paper to family members who went to school with him.

[Mend]

18. it is in Wikipedia that way and I remember when it happened...I think it

was after he was on a treadmill. I really liked him as Governor.