Nan Rich Almost Lost Once; Can’t Win Now
BY BUDDY NEVINS
Nan Rich stirred up a lot of media chatter when she found out she wasn’t being allowed to speak at next weekend’s big state Democratic Party confab.
After almost a year running, the aborted speech is almost the only time she has gotten any attention.
Judging from her past performance in campaigns it may be the last time anybody talks about Nan Rich.
She really had only one race that counted – her 2002 run for state House against Republican Alexander “Sandy” Halperin, a former Weston Commissioner.
That was the only year where the outcome was in question for Rich. The rest of her elections were slam-dunks.
The reason the 2002 race was tough was reapportionment.
The Weston-based district, which had been safely Democrat, was recast. It was cut to 40 percent Democratic, 40 percent Republican and 20 percent independent, according to the Miami Herald.
That’s roughly the breakdown in Florida today.
Yet Rich, the incumbent, only squeezed out a 542 vote win
Only a 542 vote win despite Rich spending $273,000 to Halprin’s $77,000.
Only 542 votes despite Rich’s scorched earth campaign charging that Halperin inflated his resume by claiming he graduated from Harvard. He was only an assistant professor in the school’s dental school.
Halperin apologized and said it was a typo. Maybe it was only a typo since being an assistant professor at Harvard seems to be at least as impressive as being a graduate.
Nan Rich
My point: Rich could hardly pull off a win in her backyard while she was an incumbent.
Now she is a former state Senator with an undramatic record. That record is clearly out of Florida’s mainstream, being much too liberal for a majority of the voters.
This time she will be up against the Hundred Million Dollar Man – Gov. Rick Scott.
The governor will have that much to spend. The Democrat will have, well, much less.
Nan Rich claims she is a true (whatever a “true” Democrat is.) lifelong Democrat vying for the party nomination against a Republican-turned independent-turned Democrat Charlie Crist.
Correct.
But Crist can win.
Nan Rich can’t!
Winability should count.
Even if Democrats forget about Rich being too liberal, they should consider name recognition.
Nobody knows Nan Rich. Everybody in Florida knows Charlie Crist.
So let Nan Rich talk to as many Democrats as she wants to between now and next August’s primary.
Then Democrats need to nominate somebody who can topple Gov. Scott.
That isn’t now and will never be Nan Rich.
XXXXX
Read the SaintPetersBlog for another take on Rich’s 2002 race. The link is here.
June 6th, 2013 at 7:44 pm
Yea but Crist is not a democrat and he will never be a democrat.
June 6th, 2013 at 10:47 pm
@RealDeal – yeah maybe but who cares. we need a guv that can lead and manage with wisdom, spend wisely and keep Florida working in good or at least decent paying jobs. Crist did that the years he was in.
June 7th, 2013 at 12:53 am
Nan may be a “true” Democrat, for whatever that is worth to a small number of yellow dog Dems in south Florida.
But Charlie will appeal to the moderates, especially to the I-4 corridor. A “true” or even strong Dem can’t win a state race.
Remember when Skip Campbell tried to win a state position? He is a “true” Democrat, widely known and loved here in SoFla, and was a big yawn in the rest of the state. Skip who? Same with Nan.
My money, and my vote, is with Charlie. And I’m a registered Dem, albeit not necessarily a “true” one.
June 7th, 2013 at 7:36 am
Yes on Crist not being a Democrat, until he registers as one, and then he is by definition. Only those with a political agenda care, but not the general populace if they really like the person.
And yes, he will be elected by Democrats, so give up this ‘you can’t be in a party unless you are always in the party’ philosophy. That’s what creates DINO’s and RINO’s which are far worse, plus eliminate most of the voters who have changed parties over the years.
Rich is a nice person, but is not electable. Just like Meek wasn’t last time out. Voting for Meek was a wasted vote.
June 7th, 2013 at 8:30 am
Everyone knows that one is only a viable candidate for Gov if Young Republican VP and Aide to Chip LaMarca Ryan Rieter buys domain names and runs websites in your name. He has only done that for Crist, so Nan and Rick Scott you have no chance. The Reiter Meeter deems it so.
June 7th, 2013 at 9:57 am
Charlie Crist has no track record for leading or managing with wisdom or in any other way. He provides no track record for managing money well or for creating jobs. His track record is getting elected, and then being bitch slapped by Rothstein, the Florida Chamber and a long list of others before jumping ship to run for the Senate which he failed to achieve. Now he wants to come back as a democrat which he is not. Democrats would have to be total and complete morons to accept him. Total and complete morons to believe that suddenly he has had a life change. There isn’t one honest thing anybody can say about Charlie Crist except that what you see isn’t what you get with him.
June 7th, 2013 at 10:52 am
Nothing like looking at the main page to this website and seeing the headline saying “Nan cant win” yet right below it is an ad for her campaign.
FROM BUDDY:
Nobody can accuse me of favoritism to advertisers!
Actually, I have nothing to do with picking the actual ads. That is done by Google, which probably uses a program to match words in the headline with the ads.
To buy ads on the site, advertisers must go to Google and request placement on Browardbeat.com.
June 8th, 2013 at 10:16 am
So the Democrats want anyone – just so long as they can win. MESSAGE: Democrats stand for nothing but getting elected. Is this the idea?