To my fellow Florida DUers...

[In It to Win It]

We just voted to restore voting rights to former felons, with some exceptions. I've been hearing many pundits say that this may turn Florida blue. Block that out; ignore it. They assume these people will vote democratic in future elections. That is a dangerous assumption.

We have to fight for their votes. This issue was resolved using a nonpartisan method, a ballot initiative. That's probably why it was able to get enough support from Republican voters for it to pass. We can't take credit for it as it were policy that our side introduced and passed.

We have get them active in the voting process; show them why their vote matters; and show them our issues, such as making it easier for former felons to integrate back into society, prison reform, criminal justice reform, etc. These are things that would help them and people like them that would be in their shoes in the future.

[guillaumeb]

1. And the GOP will do everything to make voting for them nearly impossible.

Recommended.

[Hokie]

2. "vote democratIC"

Please don't perpetuate the Repuke slur of the name of our party.

[In It to Win It]

3. I swear it paused me when I looked over it. LOL!

I went back and forth in my mind. I couldn't figure out which one to use.

[Ferrets are Cool]

10. Thank you very much for your post

[FM123]

4. Yes, we have to fight for their votes, for all votes. We can never let our guard down.

[Cha]

5. Mahalo for that reminder for Floridians.. Tweet from Andrew..

Link to tweet

[In It to Win It]

6. I hope this isn't the end for him in statewide politics. He's such an inspirational figure

[Cha]

8. Me too! When does Mayor of

Tallahassee term end?

[Awsi Dooger]

7. That is a Happy Adjuster topic

Nobody who properly evaluates variables and outcomes is placing any stock in it. As I've mentioned, the odds on Florida won't change at all.

Bottom line, we can't keep making silly mistakes in Florida. Republicans have their act together in this state. It is exactly the opposite of what I witnessed in Nevada, where the Democratic operation was more sophisticated. Bill Nelson basically didn't campaign at all the first 8 months of the year. He assumed he was well known throughout Florida. Not the case. This segment of a recent Marc Caputo column was sickening. Nelson may have been able to win this race if he merely took the time to introduce himself to the newly transplanted Puerto Ricans:

https://www.politico.com/newsletters/florida-playbook/2018/11/15/nelson-needs-royal-flush-more-fraud-or-stupidity-recounts-to-end-start-today-mar-a-lagos-handbag-ambassador-killer-monkeys-347510

"BORICUA BAROMETER — We wrote more than our fair share of stories about how, early on, it appeared that Scott had made some in roads with Puerto Rican voters while Sen. Bill Nelson’s lack of name ID in the Boricua community was too low for a Democrat. Scott didn’t need to win the Democratic-leaning Puerto Rican vote. But he needed to just eat into Nelson’s margins enough. Well, here’s what one Democrat privately told us was “a hell of a data point” from the results in Osceola and Orange counties, the heart of the Boricua diaspora: Nelson’s combined margin in the two counties was 132,423, compared to Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum’s margin of 146,026 over Ron DeSantis. Difference: 13,603. The margin in the Senate race as it went to recount: 12,562. So despite the fact 969 fewer people voted in the governor’s race than the Senate race, Scott won 9,737 more votes in these two counties than DeSantis — and Nelson got 3,866 fewer than Gillum."

[ornotna]

9. We also voted

for the land south of Okeechobee to be used as a buffer for lake discharge. That's been working out well for us. I don't trust the Florida government to implement this anytime soon. It will get dragged out for years possibly.

[Blue_true]

11. There has to be a lot of education done.

I seriously believe that every able bodied progressive voter should vote in person, best early. That way they know if there is an issue and can have a chance to fix it and get their vote counted. We won't change laws until we start winning statewide elections and flip the legislature and senate.

Unfortunately, as a warm weather state with no income tax, we get a lot of retirees here. They vote more republican and they vote consistently.