I told you that there would be a civil war in the R party in FL if Crist vetoed the teacher bill.

[Orlandodem]

I was right. The Republican bill concerning teachers was EXTREME. Now, if we can get the Obama administration to deny Florida a Race To The Top grant due to a failure of the Republican legislature to gain support from the teachers, it would be the equivalent of setting off a nuclear bomb on the R party here. The Republicans hate Obama but they want his education money simply to plug a hole in the budget. Obama could punish the Rs by leaving them empty handed.

That alone would reinvigorate Florida's teachers for Obama. We hate the RTTT grant money!!!1

Furthermore, you need to encourage Crist to run as an Indy - even if from far away. Whether it's through sending a small amount of money, friending him on your Facebook page, sending him an email thanking him for vetoing SB6 (the teacher bill), you need to support Crist. It would further divide the Republicans. The national Republicans are shaking in their shoes because a Crist 3rd party candidacy would divide the conservative and moderates.

There is a possibility that the Dems can make a big push in the FL legislature due to Republican credit card scandals, the teacher bill (even Republican teachers are out for Republican blood), the terrible economy, and a ballot initiative that would stop Republicans from gerrymandering their districts (Fair Districts Florida).

If we could only get a national Democrat to organize our state party....Howard Dean??? He's seen as too liberal here but he knows how to organize and FIGHT. For whatever reason, they don't play hardball. Our state Dems don't know how to do either, but they are capable of learning.

The national Democratic Party needs to look at the political calculus of what's going on in Florida and help us out. There is the potential for major long term gain here!!!! HELP OUR FLORIDA PARTY, National Dems, HELP!!

[Ozymanithrax]

1. Should we punish students for political purposes? n/t

[Orlandodem]

2. The Republican bill would have punished students with standardized tests

in EVERY grade from K-12. Every grade, every subject.

THAT is punishing students.

Oh, by the way, it came out yesterday that 2 testing companies paid the lobbying firm where bill's sponsor used to be a partner thousands of dollars the past 2 years.

[Ozymanithrax]

3. Yes, and they are shit heads fo doing it. But we should not call for Obama...

to punish students because it would be good for Democrats.

[Orlandodem]

7. I understand what you're saying. However, as it is currently written, Florida's

RTTT application is terrible. Teachers hate it, and even conservatives hate it because the Republican legislature has their hand out to Obama.

Our children and students are not up for sale and Florida's RTTT current application mirrors the disastrous Senate Bill 6, written by Republicans. It would be difficult to implement without buy in from the people on the front lines - the teachers! That's the bottom line. The Republicans are using a crisis to screw Florida's teachers, not improve student education. You should think of the dog, Cujo, when imagining the relationship the Republican legislature has with the teachers of Florida. It's really sad and the students (and teachers) end up hurt in the end. The Republican "leadership" is to blame for this deplorable situation.

[Ozymanithrax]

9. We lost out in California because our divided congress couldn't pass a bill..

to let them whack off in the John in private. The schools and the children need that money after putting millions of teachers out of work.

But I oppose either Democrats or Republicans putting politics before children. I have no say in the decision, but I don't think we should do what they do and call it fair.

If Florida meets the criteria for the money, the children should get it, even if it is bad for Democrats.

[Chulanowa]

8. In states like florida, federal money doesn't go to the students

it simply inflates the salaries of board members and becomes state handouts for "charter" schools

[monmouth]

4. The buzz at my local town hall l(Dem mayor) was that Charlie would

announce his run as an Indy. As a voting Dem, but registered Ind...I am giddy. Rubio spells disaster and Jebbie has to be put on notice we don't want him meddling anymore.. Elections have consequences.

[Dappleganger]

10. Same here.

Like you I'm a registered I but vote Dem.

Things are beginning to really heat up around here. When the FL republican party implodes, it will be the perfect time for SOLID Democrats to step up to the plate. What we need to do is concentrate on those hot-button, grassroots issues such as education to motivate and increase the base. There are some valuable lessons to be learned by how Facebook groups managed to rally the troops to "Kill the Bill!"

[monmouth]

11. Yes indeed. I think FL will go Blue in a big way...Fingers crossed...n/t

[csziggy]

12. There is speculation Crist might run for another term as governor

Which would stir the pot in a whole different way. Then he would not be in the Senate race to split the Republican vote, but would split it for the Governor's race. Unless, of course, McCollum would pull out to give Crist a clear shot.

I have not checked recently to see how the Alix Sink - Bill McCollum race is going. Sink has not had a very high profile so far. McCollum has been in the headlines with this stupid lawsuit against HCR and that may have poisoned his name with moderate Republicans.

[Gman]

5. Somehow there will be an "angry" Florida native that will be upset with this post

I don't know why.

[DirkGently]

6. Should be interesting.

If Crist goes Indie or Dem (and he might have to) it should help Dems in Florida either way. He certainly has stirred things up, and that's got to be a good thing, especially with our Republican state legislature apparently having chosen "pure evil" as the appropriate response to Obama's election.

Don't know that we couldn't us the RTT grant either way, although it seems to follow the tried-and-proven (to fail) Republican approach of treating schools like car dealerships, allocating funding to those that "put up the numbers" instead of putting funding to work to ... I dunno ... improve the schools that need it?