Alan Grayson bids to replace Rubio in US Senate

Another Sanders Democrat steps up.

I announced today that I’m running for the Senate. If you read these e-mails, then there’s a good chance that you and I think alike. We are kindred spirits. We see things the same way.

So in a way, it’s sort of like you’re running for the Senate. I’m just doing it for you.

Think about it. You and I have a lot of shared beliefs, a lot of shared values. You and I see what needs to be done, and how to do it. If I make it to the Senate, there’s a good chance that I’ll do that job just as you would.

And one thing is for sure: You deserve your support. As the Jewish scholar Hillel asked, “If I will not be for myself, who will be for me?” 

A little heavy on the ask, but he's certainly going to to need all the help he can get in Florida.  Grayson is the toughest Democrat I've ever seen, and that includes Bernie Sanders and David Van Os.  He's a 1940s-style, FDR, New Deal Democrat.  He and Elizabeth Warren together would slay.

Do you know what I really like the best of all about him?  He calls out the Democratic Party on its own bullshit.

As you may have heard, Democratic turnout dropped off a cliff again last year, just like it did in 2010. I was wondering why, so I asked. I polled Florida non-voters. I found that the main reason why they didn't vote last year was simple: They couldn't see any difference between the candidates. When there is no difference between the candidates, Democrats don't vote, and Democrats lose. 

Couldn't see any difference between the candidates.  And Democratic activists keep saying there is, and pointing to the various statistics that demonstrate what a fabulous president Barack Obama has been, or mention something about Obamacare or the stock market or jobs reports or even the Supreme Court.  Activist Democrats -- the kind that read blogs -- don't seem to get that inactive Democrats -- the ones that don't -- are in fundamental disagreement with their primary selling point.

The customer ain't buyin' what you're sellin', guys.  Whose fault is that?

By way of background, the top race in Florida last year was the race for Governor. The Republican incumbent was Rick Scott, whose hospital chain perpetrated the largest Medicare fraud in history. (That is not a misprint.) Nevertheless, because he had an (R) next to his name on the 2010 ballot, he won. He has been a horrible governor, easily one of the worst in the country. Everyone knew that the Democrats had a chance to bring him down last year, especially since our Democratic President had carried Florida twice in a row. There are 500,000 more registered Democrats than registered Republicans in Florida.

The Democratic nominee was Charlie Crist, a REPUBLICAN former governor. Crist was so far to the right that he was known as "Chain-Gang Charlie." In 2010, when Scott was first elected, Crist killed the Democrat's chances for a US Senate seat from Florida by dropping out of his own Republican primary, where he was 25 points down, and running as an "independent." That "stinking maneuver" (as Yitzhak Rabin would have put it) made Marco Rubio the junior senator from Florida.

Rather than shunning Crist for blowing that 2010 Senate race for the Democrats, the Democrats actually recruited him. They crowned someone who was a Republican just a few years earlier, and a conservative Republican at that, as the "Democratic" nominee for governor.

Political strategists called this a brilliant move by the Democratic Party. And Democratic voters were appalled, as my own little poll showed. Democratic voters stayed home in droves, and the Democrats lost. 

This is legacy now in Florida.  As we have been continually reminded, here most recently, Florida Democrats will not vote for a conservative Democrat.  And if you think Florida is the only state where this happens... then I have some prime South Florida real estate you orthodox Democrats may be interested in.  You're already standing in it, in fact.

Getting back to our poll, we focused on people who actually could have voted, not permanent residents, convicted felons whose rights had not been restored or children. We offered the non-voters 12 different reasons to explain why they hadn't voted. Reason #1, the most "popular," was that "people did not like either choice for Governor." Forty-one percent of the Democratic non-voters said that this was the main reason why people didn't vote.

By the way, the non-voters were overwhelmingly Democratic, whether or not they were registered as such. When asked whom they had had favored in the 2012 Presidential race, they chose Obama over Romney by 17 points. President Obama won Florida -- among the actual voters -- by less than one point.

So, let's be honest. When we put up a pseudo-Democrat or a neo-Democrat or a quasi-Democrat or a semi-Democrat for Team Blue, our voters are not amused. They are not fooled. And we only hurt ourselves.

The voters deserve a choice. In fact, they insist on it. Or they simply won't vote. 

I hate to point this out -- well, not really -- but if you think Hillary Clinton is going to win the state of Florida against Jeb Bush in 2016, you might ought to think again.  That's one swing state already lost to the Freak Party.  How many more can you stand?

And are you sure you want to advance a primary attack where you insist Bernie Sanders is a socialist (and not a Democratic socialist in the EU model), AND is also using Republican talking points to describe the economy?  His FB settings may not let you see that, so here's the OP.

Bernie Sanders says that the "real unemployment rate" is 10.5 percent. In other news, my "real height" is 6'2'', my car's "real gas mileage" is 50 mpg and my "real GPA" is a 4.0. See how easy lying is, no wonder he does it!

Methinks thou doth project too much.  Anyways, Imma let Alan finish.

The net worth of the average American household dropped by more than one-third in ten years. The decline from the 2007 peak was almost 50 percent, in just six years. (Most of that loss was in the value of one’s home — home is where the heartache is.)

That’s why everyone is so angry.

The net worth decline of someone at the 25th percentile (meaning that three-quarters of all household are richer than you) was even more extreme — from $10,129 to $3200. And among the bottom five percent, whose net worth is negative, their debt tripled.

Only the top 10 percent of all Americans improved their standards of living during that decade. As the study summarized, “wealth inequality increased significantly from 2003 through 2013; by some metrics inequality roughly doubled.”

By the way, this is not an isolated study. Other studies have shown declining hourly wages going all the way back to 1974. That’s more than four decades of worse-and-worse.

Look at what’s been in the headlines lately: Fast Track. Obamacare. Power plant emissions. Marriage equality. Greece. Entirely absent from the airwaves is any discussion of what’s really on people’s minds, i.e., this.

So, to sum it up, people’s lives are circling the drain, and nobody’s even talking about it, much less doing something about it. That’s why everyone is so angry. And I’m hoping against hope that my party, the Democratic Party, wakes up and does something about it.  (My emphasis.)

Speaking for myself, I’ll try my best to do something about it. But you knew that already.

I can't be convinced that Alan Grayson was inspired to run for Marco Rubio's Senate seat because Hillary Clinton has indicated than when she is president, we're going to attack Iran.  Susie Madrak at Crooks and Liars may believe that Clinton will build a Democratic bench but Sanders won't "because, well, he isn't a Democrat", but that's another laughable premise.  As far as bench depth goes, any Democrat elected in 2016 had better be running for something that has a four-year term, because two years from now they're going to get wiped out.  This is historical; it's also what happens in a Clinton presidential midterm (see 1994).

My personal, humble opinion is that Hillary Clinton supporters need to calm their asses down, because what I am seeing from them recently suggests widespread panic, fear, and loathing of another primary defeat at their own hands.  I have to think that outcome cannot be what they want, but their behavior suggests otherwise.

Old-school ad hominem isn't going to get it done this time, y'all.  Please remember that it didn't work out well for Clinton against Obama in 2008, either.  Sanders isn't going down that road, to his credit.  If you do and she does, there's going to be a cleaving of the Democratic Party that will be slow to heal once the primary dust is settled.

Hell, maybe Hillary Clinton snatching defeat from the jaws of victory in November, 2016 is just what has to happen, though.  I wouldn't necessarily be opposed to it.  Let the GOP screw things up so monstrously while they screw over everybody but the wealthiest, bring God into the Constitution and the Supreme Court while getting involved in a half a dozen fresh wars across the world, while the Earth cooks a little hotter in the climate oven and the robots take all our jobs and....

Maybe it has to all burn down before we go.

(Too dramatic?  If so, then you understand why I'm for Sanders until he's pushed out, and then for Jill Stein, and Alan Grayson.  And for every other Democrat like them, and against every Democrat that isn't.)

Money changes everything

Especially for Adrian Garcia, at least from my POV.

City Councilman Stephen Costello raised $1.8 million in the reporting period that ended June 30, his campaign announced Wednesday, putting him atop the field of top-tier contenders.

The candidates' campaign finance reports are not due until next Wednesday, but already this year's announced hauls top $6 million.

Former Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia was first out of the gate with his figures, announcing Tuesday that he raised $1.5 million since announcing his candidacy in May. According to his campaign, Garcia neither contributed his own money nor transferred funds from his sheriff's account.

Garcia gets the gold star, both for his effort and for the spin applied.  I personally don't feel any differently about him as a candidate, but it seems apparent that I am in the rapidly shrinking minority in this regard.  Strong polling and strong fundraising always does a lot to flip the script in the media's eye.

Former mayor of Kemah (Bill) King followed with a statement Wednesday morning saying he raised $1.25 million, $750,000 of which came from donors, meaning King likely supplied $500,000 for his own bid.

Costello also financed his own campaign to the tune of $250,000 and transferred $262,000 from his city council account, according to his release.

State Rep. Sylvester Turner reported raising $750,000 in the nine days between the end of the state legislative fundraising blackout and the close of the reporting period. Turner started the race with $900,000 from his legislative account already in the bank.

Meanwhile, 2013 mayoral runner-up Ben Hall raised nearly $800,000, according to his campaign, $500,000 of which he donated himself.

Former Congressman and City Councilman Chris Bell ended the reporting period with the lowest number of the group, having raised $400,000. 

John Coby had a fun post from a couple of weeks ago about who wasn't going to get elected mayor of Houston.  He's pretty close to my thinking.  I won't have much more to say about fundraising but I'll link to Charles when he does, probably make fun of him a little about how he focuses so much on it for the benefit of access to the various consultants.  Will try not to not be mean about that.  Update: Via Charles, Stace has more.

If you want to be really impressed -- or really revolted -- about somebody's fundraising, however, just read this story about Greg Abbott from Jonathan Tilove at the Statesman.

Gov. Greg Abbott’s campaign committee raised $8.25 million the last nine days of June.

That’s very good. Nearly $1 million a day. At that pace, he could run for president.

But, to put it in context, those were the first nine days Abbott could receive contributions since being elected governor, so it reflects a certain pent-up energy.

I'm trying to render a mental image of the kind of people -- and their PACs -- that would give Abbott a million dollars a day and do so feeling their 'pent-up energy'.  "God, we are just aching in our hearts to donate to our good Governor George Wallace, and the day(s) have finally arrived!  Quick, Maw!  Scratch out a check for a couple hundred thousand so that Greg can fight Operation Jade Helm, the gays, and defend that good Christian man Ken Paxton from those evil libruls who are trying to take him down!"

To avoid the indelicate impression that influence might be being bought or sold, state officeholders in Texas cannot receive contributions during biennial legislative sessions and the veto period that follows. The prohibition extends from Dec. 14 to June 21.

Even so, the fundraising numbers – released by his campaign Wednesday ahead of next week’s filing deadline with the Texas Ethics Commission – only enhance Abbott’s reputation as an epic fundraiser and a politician who knows that the best way to discourage a serious challenge, or defeat an opponent, is with a big pile of cash.

Abbott’s campaign committee has $17.7 million in cash on hand. Two years ago, as he embarked on his campaign for governor, he had $20 million in the bank. Abbott is not up for re-election until 2018.

Doesn't it just warm your heart to see such good government in action?