August 16, 2020

Florida's Nikki Fried lands a speaking spot at Democratic National Convention

Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried will have a speaking slot at the Democratic National Convention, the party announced Sunday.

Fried will join 16 other Democratic rising stars to deliver a joint keynote address on Tuesday under the theme “Leadership Matters.” Together, they’ll speak about the Democratic Party’s vision for America and display the faces who are shaping the future of the party.

As the only Florida Democrat to win a statewide race in 2018, Fried will represent the country’s largest swing state in the convention; no other Floridian currently has a speaking role in the festivities. The distinction further solidifies Fried as the de facto leader of the Florida Democratic Party.

...........................

I must say I'm excited about this! Down here in FL I've been watching Nikki spar with DeathSantis. She's been taking him on over his failed COVID response & not being shy about it. Some months ago I started responding to her tweets urging her to run for governor. As noted, she's currently the only statewide-elected Democrat in FL, & (given how things look right now) she could be a real contender for governor in 2022.

August 15, 2020

Great news! My Republican neighbors are voting for Biden!!!

I live in a red area of Florida. The neighbors in question are a nice couple, & I've done work for them over the years, most recently installing one of those big natural-gas powered Generac generators with a transfer switch that switches their whole house over to the generator when the power goes out, a very handy thing when you live in hurricane country.

I've never detected a hint of racism from them, they've said they've been lifelong Republicans because they lean toward small government & lower taxes, & some time ago when the topic of Trump came up the husband said, with clear dismay, that he felt like "the guy has taken over my party."

Well, this afternoon he came over & rang the doorbell. My wife answered & I overheard most of the conversation. It sounded like he came over specifically to talk about politics, which we've never done before. My wife is Italian (still an Italian citizen) so he started by asking her what her family & friends in Europe think about Trump. My wife, being Italian, didn't hold back. (I love that about her!) Long story short, he's PISSED at Trump & wanted to tell us that after being lifelong Republicans (they're both in their mid/late 50s) he & his wife were voting for Biden. He was surprisingly well-informed & rattled off a whole list of things Trump has done that pissed him off.

He said that he knows where every Trump flag in the neighborhood is (there are 4-5) & every time he drives by those houses he flips them off ... which is exactly what I do! LOL!

What surprised me the most is that he said we would see some signs in his front yard soon. I mean ... a life-long Republican in a red part of FL flipping off Trump flags & putting Biden signs in his yard???

It gives me hope!