via Giovanni Montelli Heres what everyone is getting WRONG about the FL-13 district results! Its not really voters we need to be concerned mostly with, its Democrats in Congress and state legislatures backing away from the President and the Affordable Care Act who dont want to campaign with him because they feel they may lose their seat if they do, and thereby discouraging voters to show up at the polls. I say pooh on them!! Ok, I got that out of the way..... Alex Sink is not from the FL-13 district. Even though she carried the district in the 2012 gubernatorial race with 51.1% of the vote, she simply ran a lousy campaign, lets just be real here. In fact, more Democrats showed up to vote in the district in 2014 than they did in 2012 in just the FL-13 race. And this was a special election, the seat will be up for an election again in November 2014. We have a second chance to get it right. The votes were higher for the Presidential general election, because Pinellas County covers far more than the FL-13 district, so as shown in the three attached pictures to this post, the first displays the 2012 Presidential general election results. The next two display the white areas that couldnt vote in the FL-13 district, because they are not part of the district. Blue represents Democrats and the red, Republicans. And as stated before, more Democrats showed up to vote in 2014 (3rd picture shows more blue area), than they did in 2012 (2nd picture shows less blue area). Its swing voters that didnt show up. Although the demographics have changed for the so called I-4 swing corridor of Florida that FL-13 is not a part of. msnbcmedia.msn/i/MSNBC/Sections/A_Politics/_Today_Stories_Teases/I4CORRIDORCOUNTIES.pdf In the Presidential general election the vote is countywide because the President appears on every ballot across the state in every single district and every precinct in that district. Congressional candidates only appear on the ballot for that district. President Obama won a majority of the vote across the district in 2008 (51.9% of the vote) and again in 2012 (50.7%). In 2010, in a challenging election cycle for Democrats, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Alex Sink received 51.1% of the vote in FL-13 despite losing statewide to Rick Scott. In 2006, Democratic Senator Bill Nelson won the district with 63.7% of vote, compared to the 61.3% he received statewide. The majority of swing voters in FL-13 are seniors and Independent White voters who are the demographic by majority that tune into Faux news. They are easily swayed by scare tactics from the right. One of the tactics was an ad that claimed Obamacare would cut Medicare, a blatant lie, but those who dont fact check are usually persuaded by these tactics. Some folks have asked about the minority voters. Even if all the registered Black voters had shown up, Sink still would have lost if the White voters didnt show up. It still takes White seniors and Independents voting Democratic as well. In fact, according to the U.S. Census, as of 2010, censusviewer/county/FL/Orange the Hispanic, black and Asian populations have nearly doubled since a decade ago. There were 242,000 more Latinos (140,000), African Americans (75,000), and Asians (27,000) from 2000. At the same time, there were only 114,000 more whites - a net change of 128,000 non-whites. Hillsborough is 48 percent non-white (25 percent Latino, 18 percent black, 4 percent Asian). The Latino population increased 70 percent from 2000 to 2010; the black population is up 37 percent; and the Asian population doubled. censusviewer/county/FL/Hillsborough Osceola is 65 percent non-white (46 percent Latino, 13 percent black, 3 percent Asian). Its the same demographic story here. The Latino, black, and Asian populations all doubled. censusviewer/county/FL/Osceola (Excerpt from previous three paragraphs taken from MSNBC). Of course there was a bump in the Presidential general election because of what was shown above, everyone knows about that election cycle. But the midterm phenomenon is not just a Florida problem, its a nationwide issue, because historically, Democrats nationwide do not show up to vote in the midterms, (remember 2010), because they like many others have no clue how government works, that the Congress only serves a two year term, and/or arent aware by law that their employer must allow them to take time off from work, come in late or leave early if necessary and vote. But voters are awaken nationwide evidenced by more Democrats showing up in the FL-13 race. Thats our jobs, to inform and enlighten those who seek knowledge and want to be involved. We cant afford to be angry at one another now, thats what Republicans want. Sink was a horrible candidate, lets just be truthful about it. Yes she would have voted along party lines, but she could have run a much better campaign than she did. And if any other Democrat thinks they can run away from the President and his record, and the ACA, they too will face the same dilemma!
Posted on: Thu, 13 Mar 2014 08:29:44 +0000
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