Fall Preview? ObamaCare Drags Down Alex Sink

 

BY BUDDY NEVINS

 

 

 

Was Republican David Jolly’s decisive win over Alex Sink on Tuesday an ominous foreshadowing of the fall elections for Florida Democrats?

ObamaCare helped wreak Sink and it could drag down the entire Democratic 2014 ticket including gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist, who has embraced the health plan.

Based on the GOP success, expect ObamaCare to be the major issue for Republicans.

I can guarantee that Democrats all the way to the White House are frantically trying to figure out how to sell ObamaCare to voters who have become increasingly disenchanted with the health insurance.

Jolly won with 48.5 percent, compared to 46.7 percent for Sink, and 4.8 percent for Libertarian candidate Lucas Overby.

Broward Consultant Loses

Jolly’s victory was also a major defeat for Fort Lauderdale-based consultant Ashley Walker, who was identified at various times as a strategist, spokeswoman and manager of the Sink campaign.

Walker ran Obama’s races in Florida and regularly handles campaigns in Broward.

Roughly $12 million was spent on the special election with about $9 million coming from conservative and liberal outside advocacy groups.

The race was in Pinellas County (Clearwater/St. Petersburg) in exactly the kind of district Democrats and Crist needs to win in November — a rare swing congressional seat.  Left vacant by the death of veteran GOP Congressman C.W. Bill Young, the district was won by President Obama 50-49 percent two years ago.

The Democrats were spinning furiously as the results showed them headed for defeat. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee tweeted this:

Untitled

Really?

That’s what you believe, DCCC?  Really?

A DCCC news release stated:

“Despite Republicans spending millions to salvage a district they have held for six decades, Republicans underperformed because the only message they offered voters – repealing the ACA – is out of touch and failed to bring them close to their historically wide margins.

The FL-13 electorate doesn’t reflect the general election landscape Democrats will face in November and tilted heavily Republican in this low-turnout special election, with public polling showing a 13-point party-ID advantage for Republicans among likely voters.”

National Republican Congressional Committee Chair Greg Walden said, “Tonight, one of Nancy Pelosi’s most prized candidates was ultimately brought down because of her unwavering support for ObamaCare, and that should be a loud warning for other Democrats running coast to coast.”

The outline of November is very clear: ObamaCare, ObamaCare and ObamaCare.

Crist may survive because of the overwhelming unpopularity of Gov. Rick Scott.  Jolly was so worried about voters distaste for Scott that he kept the governor far away from his campaign.

It was never going to be a walk in the park for Crist. ObamaCare is just one more barrier for him to overcome.

As for the rest of the Democratic candidates around the nation, forget it.  Democrats will be lucky to hold on the to U. S. Senate.

Based on today’s Florida race, it looks very, very shaky for Ds in November.



17 Responses to “Fall Preview? ObamaCare Drags Down Alex Sink”

  1. DeeDee says:

    Sink was one of the worse campaigners ever when she was going for governor four years ago. That probably had more to do with her being beaten than anything else.
    Charlie won’t have the same problem because he works hard and everybody hates Rick Scott

  2. Thanks says:

    Thanks for commenting for “everybody” DeeDee.

  3. Floridan says:

    I think people are making too much of Jolly’s win — that particular Congressional seat has been held by a Republican since 1955.

  4. Bob Marley says:

    The November election in Florida will be all about the ganja.

  5. Alice McGill says:

    Looks like the famous swinging pendulum is gearing up to swing back from the far out left.

  6. Kevin says:

    Is it too late for Crist to switch back to his original position of opposing ObamaCare?

  7. Duke says:

    Ultimately, republicans will regret labeling it Obamacare. Enrollment is skyrocketing and the different plan choices are pretty decent. At the end of the day, Obamacare is turning out to be a pretty good thing. For a lot of folks, the proof is simply in the pudding.

    Alex Sink is a terrible politician who has no shot whatsoever at becoming Governor. I don’t know that it was Obamacare that brought her down. How do you bring someone down who was never up?

    The Marijuana issue will result in increased turnout during a midterm, and that’s not good for any incumbent, especially Rick Scott. Am I the only one who knows he’s done?

  8. count lf chodkiewicz chudzikiewicz says:

    As a Reagan or Koch Democrat I found Miami former Jewish Democrat chuck Todd on MSNBC like the left learning nothing saying jolly ran a bad campaign n a Republican congressional telling but, but jolly one! And Todd sheepishly says well, yeh! The nyt MSNBC Manhattan based media just lives in their own reality.

  9. West Davie Resident says:

    Mr. Duke, obviously you believe all of the positive spin from the Dems about Obamacare and that Sink lost her own campaign.

    To borrow DeeDee’s expression – EVERYONE expected Sink to win. The district is no longer the Republican stronghold enjoyed by Young. Dem registrations have grown much faster than Reps in that district. Obama won it TWICE and every high powered Dem came to Sinks support.

    This was a race about Obamacare. Sink said keep it and fix it and Jolly said start over. And Obamacare is an unmitigated disaster with low popularity. Enrollment is not only millions lower then expected; young enrollment is well below that needed to make it economically sound; employer groups have been given delays further draining expected revenues into it AND it is now being reported that about 20% of enrollees have not paid meaning the total enrolled is about 3 million and not 4 million.

    Can the Dems overcome Obamacare in November. Pelosi said you had to pass it to understand it. And now the nation understands it to be a failed policy. And failures don’t win elections.

  10. Duke says:

    Mr. West Davie:

    I never expected Alex Sink to win anything.

    Obamacare is here to stay. Just like social security, medicare and medicaid. If republicans want to continue wasting valuable time and resources trying to undo what SCOTUS upheld, have at it.

    I told folks way back in 2006 that McCain would be the 2008 republican nominee. Many laughed. Then I told folks in July 0f 2010 that Romney would be the 2012 republican nominee. Still more laughed.

    What are you gonna do when Hillary beats Santorum in 2016? Go ahead and laugh.

  11. modeengunch says:

    Some of you clowns are whistling past the graveyard. I love it. Guess you don’t want to remember that Obama won that district in 2008 and 2012.

  12. Real telling says:

    The real loser here is Ashley Walker, who proved her strongest asset was that she was in the right place at the right time.

  13. Ghost of McLovin says:

    Dukie: Obamacare is hugely unpopular, and the individual mandate, delayed but in effect, will be the Democratic party’s biggest liability. Stop believing “Obamacare is turning out to be a pretty good thing.” 40-47% of the popoulation is not “a lot of folks.”

  14. Duke says:

    You don’t know how to read the numbers.

    Subtract all the elderly folks on medicare, subtract all the poor folks on medicaid, subtract all the folks who already have health care through an employer plan..and what you have are the people who most need Obamacare and are signing up in droves. Granted the website was a mess and they should have hired the folks running it now to do it in the first place. But it’s fixed and the numbers are impressive.

    It’s a slow news day. Everyone and their mom is opining that because of the Jolly victory it spells trouble for dems and it’s all because of Obamacare. I call BS. I think Hillary breezes in 2016. If anything, she may tweak it even more. My only question is who she picks for her VP running mate.

    FROM BUDDY:

    Here is a headline from the front page of today’s New York Times: Health Law Tied to G.O.P. Victory in Florida Race

  15. Duke says:

    I saw that at about 7 this am while reading the NY Times website. It’s all over Politico too. Hence my reference to “Everybody and their mom.”

    I have a lot of respect for the NY Times. Probably my favorite newspaper. It’s the first site I hit every morning. With that said, the author of that article is Miami based and I’m not buying it.

    I don’t believe for one minute that the recent special election is the least bit indicative of things to come. I think Crist wins this year and Hillary Clinton wins in 2016.

    What’s really funny is the folks still opining on whether or not Hillary Clinton is going to run. Anybody who hasn’t figured that out by now probably isn’t on the DNC mailing list or Hillary’s either.

    Republicans will keep talking about repealing Obamacare for at least a couple more election cycles. It’s a major accomplishment on the part of this president. Republicans are the ones who labeled it “Obamacare” and that will bite them on the butt for decades to come.

    As Charles Barkley once said.. I could be wrong, but I doubt it.

  16. s only says:

    not to worry—if the Dems get half way energized and vote—Scott is history. No doubt about it…Alex Sink is NOT indicative of what is ahead…
    And Obamacare will go down in history as the most positive thing Obama did, I see it in my crystal ball.

  17. Duke says:

    When I was 12 I spent that summer watching the Watergate Hearings with my mom. We had just moved here from Colts Neck, New Jersey and dad was still there tying-up some loose ends. When dad finally was able to join his family in Florida I proudly told him how I had watched every minute of the televised hearings and how interested I was in politics and how I was learning all about the republicans and the democrats. My father then said to his 12 year old son.. “Son,lemme tell ya something. Republicans and democrats are both full of shit. Republicans are more full of shit.”

    Throughout the course of my life I have personally witnessed many scenarios that showed me just how right my dad was.

    I saw my father struggle with diabetes and partial amputations while being denied private health care coverage because he was a diabetic. I saw the health issues my grandparents dealt with and how they had to maneuver the health care system. As a teenager I worked as a busboy and then short order cook at Bagel Nosh in Lauderhill. I saw President Carter trying to raise minimum wage. I saw republicans fighting him every inch of the way. Didn’t take long for me to see based on up close and personal experience which party really cared the most about me, the working kid. I guess one could say that I was paying attention.

    After High School I embarked on a career in radio that lasted 10 years. I saw republicans fighting hard to eliminate FCC public service requirements and democrats fighting hard to keep them. I saw republicans advocating one company owning multiple broadcast outlets in one geographic market and democrats fighting against it. I have ultimately seen what has happened to the radio industry as a result of those republican initiatives and it’s a very big part of why I decided on a career change back in the late 80’s.

    I grew up in the 70’s and 80’s. The war on drugs was a republican initiative. The war on drugs was a war on the people. It continues to be. Although, now that many political leaders are the folks who actually grew up the same time that I did, we see those folks starting to listen to their hearts. As such marijuana will probably be legal in all 50 states by about 2025, if that long. What about all the people who went to jail and had their lives and their family’s lives ruined because of the so called war on drugs?

    Fast forward to the present. President Obama got his healthcare law passed and upheld by SCOTUS. But not without some opposition. But that’s nothing new. Republicans have always been scared of universal health care. In 1946 when president Truman wanted to pass such a measure, then Senator Robert Taft said that national health insurance was “The most socialistic measure this congress has even had before it.”. Then in 1961 Ronald Reagan proclaimed that if Medicare were to be enacted “One of these days you and I are going to spend our sunset years telling our children and our grandchildren what it was once like in America when men were free.” Now, that imbecile Mitch McConnell is going around telling people that Obamacare “is a monstrosity, a disaster, the worst piece of legislation passed in the last 50 years.” All of the aforementioned quotes are complete BS, and most thinking folks know it.

    Obamacare is a major accomplishment for this president. If you want to know just how much of a significant accomplishment it is, just look at the resistance that republicans are trying to throw at it. How well it gets implemented depends on where one lives. States like New York, California, Maryland, and Minnesota are all working hard to help implement it. Go to South Carolina, Texas or Utah and those states are throwing up as many obstacles as they can.

    These obstructionist republicans remind me of the folks in Virginia in 1954, before I was even born. Rather than abide by Brown v. Board of Education, they just shut down the schools rather than allow black children to attend them. It’s the same mentality with the health care law. Rather than help implement the law, people like Rick Scott would rather try to pass a law banning advocates from signing people up. Does our Governor know that since the law was implemented, 3 million people under the age of 26 who are in school can stay on their parents policy? How about the 17 million Americans that will not be denied because of a preexisting condition.

    The website is up and running. Millions are getting signed up. Rates are competitive and dropping lower every day because of all the competition.

    And I’ve never been prouder of a President or prouder to be a democrat.

    Anyone who thinks Obamacare is going to drag down the dems is not thinking it through.