Democratic Senate Candidates Shun Broward Party

BY BUDDY NEVINS

U. S. Senate campaign?  What campaign?

 
You would think there is no campaign taking place if you looked at the guest list for the Broward Democratic Party’s Jefferson-Jackson Dinner.


None of the Democratic candidates for U. S. Senate have showed any interest in attending.

They haven’t bought tickets.  They haven’t told Democratic Chairman Mitch Ceasar they’re coming.

So far, they are no shows.

Dumb move.

Broward County is the heart of Florida’s Democratic organization.  The party has the most activists representing the most Democratic voters.

There will be about 500 these activists at the Coral Springs Marriott at Heron Bay on February 28.  Most are uncommitted and many have never met any of the candidates.

The candidates are largely unknown in Broward. 

They should be setting up tables at the event.  They should be flooding the place with volunteers handing out literature.  The candidate should be holding meet-and-greets.

All three candidates already in the race are from South Florida   state Rep. Dan Gelber of Miami Beach, U. S. Rep. Kendrick Meek of Miami and North Miami Mayor Kevin Burns.

 
Two other candidates are sniffing around, but haven’t jumped in U. S. Rep. Ron Kleinof Boca Raton and Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio.


Ceasar said he hoped some candidates may drop in unannounced.

The Democrats should hope that Republican Gov. Charlie Crist drops in unannounced.  He could be the Republican nominee for U. S. Senate.

Crist has higher favorability rating — 66 percent among Democrats — than any of the largely unknown Democrats in the race.

A Crist visit would bring some excitement to Heron Bay.  

But the Jefferson Jackson is a Democratic reception, and Crist is Republican….and based on the polls, the probable winner.

 



6 Responses to “Democratic Senate Candidates Shun Broward Party”

  1. Broward party observer says:

    hmmmm- my guess is they were not issued an “invitation” by the DEC (an organization not known for list management). Typical, typical, typical…………

  2. Broward Democrat says:

    Absolutely right, Broward Party Observer. Mitch Ceasar is too busy looking for lobbying work to worry about the party. I still can’t believe he was elected to another four years.

  3. Jack Seiler says:

    Buddy:

    I recently spoke with State Senator Dan Gelber, who told me that he was going to be there, that he had already confirmed with the Democratic Party he was going to be there, and that he had already advertised in the program.

    FROM BUDDY: First, congratulations on your victory in Fort Lauderdale.
    Second, obviously Mitch Ceasar didn’t know Sen. Gelber was participating in the Broward J-J.

  4. Kendrick Fan says:

    I am sure the next U. S. Senator from Florida, Kendrick Meek, will be at the Broward Jefferson Jackson dinner even if Mitch Ceasar doesn’t realize it. Kendrick Meek intends to attend. That’s the word I get.

  5. Fred says:

    You are making a serious bad assumption here – that the Broward Democratic Party has the ability to take advantage of the Democratic advantage in this county.

    Mitch Ceasar likes to tout the fact that Broward County provided the marging of victory for Obama in Florida. While technically true, Broward County was only in the middle third of Florida counties as far as Democratic performance.

    The leadership of the Broward Democratic Party is interested in only one thing – self promotion and retention of power. They have no ability to organize and their acceptance of the information age is an absolute joke (check their web page if you don’t believe me.)

    The only reason the number of members of the DEC skyrocketed this year was a concerted effort by opposition to unseat the chairman and his frantic attempt to pack the membership to insure he stayed in power.

    As a result of his “take no prisoners” approach after reading each and every ballot to identify each person who voted against him, the county party is in shambles and woe to the Florida Democratic Party if they expect the county party to help deliver any state elections for them.

  6. WTF? says:

    Why are people (Sieler/Fan) speaking for the candidates?

    And oh, it’s obvious that the DEC can’t deliver ANYTHING. So why should any candidate do other than the MINIMUM?