Depressed by 'rotten' results, Florida Democrats struggle to move forward
TALLAHASSEE Demoralized after their brutal midterm election losses, Florida Democrats are once again battling each other and now face an even tougher challenge of rebuilding.
"It's hard. It's rotten. It's depressing," said Allison Tant, chairwoman of the Florida Democratic Party, who promises to press ahead and finish her four-year term. "But I'm not going to walk away just because it's gotten harder. I don't have that in me."
Democrats' explanations are many: not enough money, not enough good candidates and an unfocused message, especially to independent voters.
Tant on Thursday announced a task force headed by U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson to attack the party's most glaring weakness: a failure to recruit capable and well-funded candidates for the Legislature, Congress and statewide offices.
But rather than unite, some Democrats are pointing fingers and seeking scapegoats.
Their target is state Rep. Mark Pafford, a soft-spoken lawmaker from West Palm Beach already chosen by his colleagues to lead the 38-member House Democratic caucus for the next two years. Humiliated by last week's losses, some Democrats want to replace Pafford with Rep. Dwayne Taylor of Daytona Beach.
Tant is furious at what she calls a "circus" and is calling out Pafford's critics as "bed-wetters" on the eve of a public vote Monday in Tallahassee.
"I'm pretty tired of this whole circular firing squad thing," Tant said as she pounded her fist on a conference table in an interview with the Times/Herald. "I'm ready for the bed-wetting to stop."
Gleeful Republicans are enjoying the Democrats' latest episode of divisiveness.
"Talk about a fistfight in a phone booth," said Republican strategist and lobbyist J.M. "Mac" Stipanovich, who has been on both sides of epic political battles. "When there's just a handful of you, you need to stand back-to-back."
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Depressed by 'rotten' results, Florida Democrats struggle to move forward