Bill Nelson deserved better from the people of Florida

[DemocratSinceBirth]

This former Floridian thanks you for your service

[NightWatcher]

1. Maybe we try as hard to secure the vote as repukes have tried to deny the vote?

I'm Florida Man and I vote D anytime there's an election.

[Progressive Jones]

2. This nation deserves better than Florida, period. nt

[Vinca]

3. Wasn't this most likely a ballot design issue? It sounds like the race for Senate

was beneath the instructions for filling out the ballot and was easily missed. Add to that what appears to be incredibly incompetent people running the voting and it's a wonder it was so close. I feel sorry for the people of Florida being stuck with Scott for 6 years.

[atreides1]

4. Yes he did!!

But at least the rest of us now know that the majority of voters in Florida are supporters of racism and have sent a thief who stole from them to the US Senate!!

And as long as the Republicans control the state every election is going to be a giant shitshow...and we all know that the Republicans aren't going to fix the system!

[mcar]

5. Yes, he did

Now we're stuck with Gov DeRacist and Sen Voldemort.

[PeeJ52]

6. I've lived in Florida for 40+ years...

and I give up. I think Nelson didn't run a very good race, but still can't see how Floridians can vote for a known crook that swindled Medicare and got 64 million dollars richer since he's been governor of Florida. He turned down money for rail that would have been a boon to the economy. He was the major fighter against Obamacare. If Nelson would have run any kind of campaign, Scott shouldn't have had a chance. Like I said... I give up... I'm taking my social security check to Canada where I don't have to worry about crazy rednecks shooting up grocery stores...

[JCMach1]

7. He was outspent at least 3-1 last figures I saw...

Probably much more when black money is factored in...

[Algernon Moncrieff]

8. It's hard to ignore the facts: Florida has taken a hard right turn

They seem to have decided they want to be Texas.

[UniteFightBack]

10. He lost by 10K votes. It's neck and neck. nt

[Algernon Moncrieff]

13. Look at the bigger picture though

Yes, Obama won Florida twice. However, they haven't had a Democratic governor since Lawton Chiles (16 years), Marco Rubio won reelection, and Scott (who was horribly unpopular just six years ago) won the seat held by a very long-term Senator. In a seat we likely should have won, Brian Mast defeated Lauren Baer. Yes, Shalala picked up Ros-Leithenen's old seat in Miami, but bottom line is that the state is red and getting redder.

Is it insurmountable? No, but we may need to wait for demographics to shift some more.

[UniteFightBack]

15. I'm not giving up on Florida..........yet............nt

[Algernon Moncrieff]

32. I'd never say give up

But the Party needs to change its approach.

[radius777]

11. I don't agree, it was a razor thin race.

If Dems get their act together in the state, ie properly target/turn out our voters, fight voter suppression, make it easier to vote (that confusing ballot in Broward is the fault of Dems) we could imo easily turn FL light blue.

Obama won FL twice, despite the incompetence and weakness of the FL Dem party.

TX itself has moved in a blue direction, Hillary only lost by 9 and Beto by 3.

[Algernon Moncrieff]

14. You'll get no argument from me that the FL party needs better leadership

I thought, and still think, that Gillum was a great candidate.

I'd love to see Buddy Dyer run for the Senate against Rubio, but the next shot will be 2022, and IIRC he will be 64.

[Awsi Dooger]

25. You post this repeatedly and you are wrong every time

Ideology is the variable, not flawed subjectivity.

The ideology in Florida has not changed further to the right. The state has 36-39% conservatives every time, depending on whether it is a presidential year or midterm. States like Texas and North Carolina and even Georgia always have 42% conservatives or higher.

It was 39% conservatives this time because older voters showed up in greater frequency than young voters. Big shock. If we had a 2016 electorate this year with 36% conservatives and 25% liberals in Florida, and 60% of the electorate aged 45+ instead of 75% aged 45+ like this year, then both Gillum and Nelson would have won. Independents slanting our way would have been more than enough.

Florida is a difficult state to maximize and Republicans recently have figured out a way to boost rural turnout and percentage, while also limiting losses in Miami-Dade County. That is what is going on. We have favorable trends in Duval (Jacksonville) and Orange (Orlando) but need to do a better job in the Tampa area.

Bottom line, Florida is like a good college football team in a very good conference...ending up with one frustrating tight loss after another. Anyone who knows anything about power ratings knows that teams like that can maintain very high power ratings despite the won/loss record, and are hardly a lost cause.

[Algernon Moncrieff]

31. You say I'm wrong, but yet Scott is in the Senate and DeSantis is in the Governor's Mansion.

The Republicans have won the Governorship 4 straight times

The outgoing Republican Governor knocked off a three-term Senator (this rarely happens, regardless of party), and did so in a year in which that outgoing governor is taking a lot of heat for the water management policies that exacerbated the Red Tide.

We picked up a whopping two Congressional districts, and one was via the retirement of Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who (by Republican standards) is pretty moderate (not that I'm not happy for Donna Shalala). And while I'm thrilled Mucarsel-Powell squeaked by Curbelo, it was by less than a point in an election with the President's popularity running consistently around 40% nationally.

Bottom line, Florida is like a good college football team in a very good conference...ending up with one frustrating tight loss after another. Anyone who knows anything about power ratings knows that teams like that can maintain very high power ratings despite the won/loss record, and are hardly a lost cause.

If a college team squeaks by 12 opponents, but wins every game by a point, then they are an undefeated team. They will go to a bowl game or a playoff. If a college team loses close games by 1 point to 12 opponents, the team is 0-12, and most likely the coach gets fired. There are no "good losses." We aren't 0-12 in Florida, and they aren't 12-0, but they consistently win key races.They hold both Senate seats; they hold the Governor's Mansion; and despite picking up two seats, they still hold a majority of the Congressional districts in Florida. I'd point out that we picked up no seats in districts Trump won - even where he won by a small margin.

And I've yet to see a standard bearer emerge in Florida. We've seen a string of failures (in no particular order and for no particular race) - Buddy Dyer, Bette Castor, Alex Sink, Bill McBride, Kendrick Meek, and now Gillum. Who is going to challenge DeSantis? Who is going to challenge Marco Rubio? Right now, I'm not seeing it. Sorry.

[UniteFightBack]

9. Bill Nelson lost because of ballot design...a stupid, foolish and proven flawed ballot was used

anyway!

[Roland99]

16. And a poorly run campaign. He joined the fray way too late

[UniteFightBack]

18. It was ballot design 100% ....proof is that the Dem AG got more votes than Nelson...the Dem

AG ballot position was prominent and at the top. Bill's was under instructions and at the bottom. When you see the ballot it's obvious that is the reason why he lost. That was the reason for the undervote. Nelson really did win.

[Roland99]

19. The point is it shouldn't have come to that. What I said stands. And I called this defeat months ago

[LBM20]

22. You knew it there was going to be a shitty ballot? Crystal ball?

[peekaloo]

33. No, Roland99 was sounding the alarm for months due to the lack of response from

Nelson's team on Scott's early commercial deluge.

Nelson was playing from behind the entire race.

[Sunsky]

29. I agree. We need a recall election for Brenda Snipes.

She should not be our SOE for the 2020 election.
The Republicans will always win in close statewide elections if Broward elections are ineptly run.
As I've stated before, the Panhandle's vote can't supersede the vote from the heavily populated tri-county Democratic stronghold. Republicans know they can't rely solely on the Panhandle to win Florida. It is for this reason the Republicans will always find ways to suppress the vote in Broward, Miami-dade and Palm Beach counties. So yes Brenda, of course the state officials would have agreed to your ballot design . Democrats need to open our eyes.

[lpbk2713]

12. We will probably be stuck with Snott for a long time.

Because Florida voters consistently vote against their own interests.

[Stidham8]

17. It's scary to think about 2020 now

Florida will be critical as usual. The entire state is now Red and it'll be tough to flip it back in 2020.

We have struggled winning Florida aside from Obama. I don't know if we have a potential candidate with the charisma he had to put us over the top there again.

[LBM20]

21. Almost just won it. Razor close. EVERYONE on our side needs to VOTE!

[rockfordfile]

20. You will have to win Florida to win the Presidency

[LBM20]

23. No. Hillary's wins plus PA, MI, and WI wins it.

[FL_Jerry]

24. It's the panhandle

Of Florida, 75 percent sometimes higher R vote. We need to get it down to high 60s at least, or suppress the vote with targeted negative barrages. Its lower Alabama, so I'm not sure what the strategy should be, but ignoring it isn't working.

[In It to Win It]

36. It's also the South Florida counties

Turnout is still piss poor. If turnout wasn’t so poor in the liberal parts of the state, Democrats would win.

[Turbineguy]

26. Indeed he did.

But sometimes the Romans vote for the Visgoths.

[Scurrilous]

27. I take solace in the fact that Miami Dade flipped two house seats.

State wise it was disappointing...again.

[Takket]

28. Fear not, Florida..............

Despite the DISASTER this election was in florida, you DID pass prop 4 which restores voting rights to a LOT of people that were unfairly disenfranchised after serving their time. And I'm willing to bet those people are pretty damn angry at the rethugs that did this to them to supress he vote.

The Dems need to be reaching out and making sure all these persons get registered before 2020, and vote blue. We can flip this state back with the new demographics.

[peekaloo]

35. Well

Alex Sink was on a local radio station recently and wasn't so optimistic. The Board that oversees this restoration includes the Governor, Attorney General and AG Commissioner (undetermined?) and a couple of others to which I'm experiencing a brain fart at the moment. The point being most, if not all, of these spots will be filled by candidates who opposed the language of that amendment as being "too liberal".

The voters also approved medical marijuana a cycle or two ago and the Legislature not only dragged their feet but did their best to water it down.

[JI7]

30. so fucking disgusting. really makes me so turned off to Florida

[In It to Win It]

37. Dont give up on us yet 😞

[peekaloo]

34. Bill Nelson was a tireless advocate for the people of his state.

Easily accessible and accommodating usually on issues of VA service, SS and Medicare/Medicaid.

Rick Scott will further enrich himself and his cronies.