Kendrick Meek Zombie Watch: Why Al Lawson Endorsed Crist
Joy-Ann Reid interviewed Lawson. Reid asked why Lawson endorsed Crist. I answer is telling.
He was the only person that asked me to consider endorsing him, and I had worked with him on a number of issues that affect state employees that he responded to, as well as issues facing our school teachers [Crist vetoed the teacher tenure bill SB6] and many of the projects that are very important for small counties, which he did not veto. So when he asked me to consider it, it was an easy choice for me, really.
Lawson goes on to say that the Meek campaign never even made an attempt of contacting him.
I hadn’t heard from him or his campaign in nearly two-and-a-half years. I know he’s been in town a number of times, and had even been in my district, but had never really heard anything at all from the campaign. The only time I heard anthing form the Meek campaign was Friday night. That was the first time I’ve heard from them in two years. I figured they didn’t really need my support.
It never occurred to Meek and his campaign staff that it would be a good idea to ask for the endorsement of the Democratic leader of the Florida Senate and most powerful African American in state government. If anyone wanted proof that the Meek campaign was incompetence then this it.
Team Meek didn't contact Lawson until after his endorsement of Crist. The Meek campaign went into panic mode and I am betting they asked Lawson to pull his endorsement. The campaign had two and a half years to seal up an endorsement and wasted the opportunity. A smart campaign would reach out to every elected Democrat in the state and ask for an endorsement. This campaign is amateur hour.
The media is now portraying the Florida U.S. Senate general election as a two man race between Charlie Crist and Marco Rubio. Crist released an internal poll showing Kendrick running a distant third behind Crist and Rubio. Alison Morano explains to a reporter that people should not pay any attention to the Crist internal polling numbers by Frederick Polls. Normally, I would agree. However, the Frederick Polls numbers match other polls.
Frederick Polls
Charlie Crist 35% Marco Rubio 34% Kendrick Meek 17% Undecided 14%
National poll numbers averaged out by TPM Poll Tracker
The endorsement by Florida State Sen. Al Lawson doesn't help matters for Team Meek.
As the race continues the media will focus on Crist and Rubio. Meek will become the also ran candidate. Team Meek staffers can keep telling people their candidate will soon catch on fire. It is a narrative by Team Meek that is getting rather old. Team Meek is the political equivalent of all talk and no action.
Update: the Miami Herald runs a story the possibility of Meek supporters turning to Crist to keep Runio from winning. Beth Reinhard cites Democrats nominating Bill McBride as an example of why backing Crist is bad strategy.
The Anyone-But-Rubio logic recalls what Democrats said about Janet Reno in 2002. She can't win, they said. No way this controversial former U.S. attorney general with Parkinson's disease can beat Gov. Jeb Bush. So they nominated a little-known, politically unseasoned Tampa lawyer named Bill McBride -- and he got trounced.
The so-and-so-can't-win logic becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
The Crist/McBride comparison is faulty. Crist has name recognition, won state races and has more money than Meek or Rubio. The more likely scenario is Crist and Meek splitting the Democratic base and providing Rubio with an easier path to victory.
The Beth Reinhard article continues the trend of the media openly wondering if Meek can win. Team Meek can spin things all they want but until the polls show they are in the lead the narrative will continue.
Florida Senate Minority Leader Al Lawson has endorsed Charlie Crist. How this hurts Kendrick Meek is Lawson is one of the highest level African Americans in Florida government. The Team Crist press release on the endorsement.
"Florida desperately needs an independent Senator in Washington who will fight for good jobs and economic opportunity, a quality education for every child, and Social Security for all of our seniors regardless of what the political party bosses want," said Senator Lawson. "Charlie Crist will be exactly that Senator, and I am proud to endorse his candidacy."
“I am honored by the support of Senate Democratic Leader Al Lawson,” said Governor Crist. “Senator Lawson has been a champion for working families for his entire career, whether it be fighting for jobs, the environment, or good schools. I look forward to working with him when I’m elected to the United States Senate."
Further undercutting Meek is Crist's ad buys in Democratic-leaning television markets.
The Charlie Crist campaign has bought $517,000 to run from 9/7-9/19, we're told. All but $7000 in Tampa Bay cable time was for broadcast in the Miami (434 points), Orlando (430 points), Tampa (292 points), and West Palm beach (278 points) markets.
"Our political system is broken," he said. "They look at Washington and they don't like what they see."
He added that he doesn't have a Republican Party or Democratic Party to turn to. "I need you -- the people -- more than ever. I am counting on you. And I believe in you."
Crist will be list on the ballot under no party affiliation.
Update: ABC News has more on Crist's announcement.
"My decision to run for the United States Senate as a candidate without party affiliation in many ways says more about our nation and our state, than it does about me," Crist announced.
"For me it's never been about doing what's easy," he said today, "it's about doing what is right for the people first."
Update Marco Rubio has issued a press release condemning Crist. Nothing shocking about that. RNC Chairman Michael Steele sent out his own press release.
"Now more than ever, Floridians need leadership in Washington. With unemployment at an all-time high in Florida, they want a Senator to exercise strong fiscal discipline and be a catalyst for job creation. Without question, the Republican nominee this fall will offer those qualities. Governor Charlie Crist, however, will not be that candidate. Over the years, he has served this party well, which is why his decision to run as an Independent is so disappointing. To be sure, he left this party. This party did not leave him. His decision will in no way impede our path to victory in Florida. The challenges that Floridians face are many. And this November, we will have a nominee in place that will listen to them and put forth solutions to get Floridians back to work."
The Republican nominee will create jobs!?! I seem to remember the state budget and housing market tanking when Rubio was Florida House Speaker. Rubio was against the stimulus. As of February of 2010, economists estimated the stimulus created 1.8 million jobs. Rubio's solution would have been tax cuts. Job growth grew by 0.28 percent under President Bush. The Bush tax cuts did not create the promised budget surplus or job gains. Joel Friedman and Isaac Shapiro summed up how the Bush tax cuts damaged the economy.
The Bush tax cuts have contributed to revenues dropping in 2004 to the lowest level as a share of the economy since 1950, and have been a major contributor to the dramatic shift from large projected budget surpluses to projected deficits as far as the eye can see.
The tax cuts have conferred the most benefits, by far, on the highest-income households — those least in need of additional resources — at a time when income already is exceptionally concentrated at the top of the income spectrum.
The design of these tax cuts was ill-conceived, resulting in significantly less economic stimulus than could have been accomplished for the same budgetary cost. In part because the tax cuts were not as effective as alternative measures would have been, job creation during this recovery has been notably worse than in any other recovery since the end of World War II.
Rubio's answer to the worst economic crisis since the Depression is more tax cuts. Rubio's economic worldview reminds me of Alcohol Anonymous's definition of insanity.
"repeating the same action over and over again, hoping to achieve different results."
Rubio is addicted to the Republican mantra of tax cuts and refuses to give it up. Rubio would rather get elected than talk seriously with voters about economic policy.
Update: Jeb Bush comes out to officially diss Crist.
"I am not surprised. This decision is not about policy or principles. It is about what he believes is in his political self-interest."
Democrat Kendrick Meek told reporters he is ""running against two Republicans in the general election." The Meek campaign is hoping Crist and Rubio will split the Republican vote. This is what DNC Chairman Tim Kaine is hoping for. Meek needs to start exciting Democratic voters. Counting on Crist and Rubio to implode is not enough.
Democrats and Republicans, in the Florida Senate, comment on a Crist NPA run. African-American Democrat Al Lawson thinks a Crist NPA run could make Meek's chances of getting elected harder.
LAWSON: I wouldn't say it really helps Meek. I think if you're Meek, you really have to be concerned the Governor is gonna pull a lot of African-American votes. So, as a result, if you're Kendrick Meek this is a bad move.
Jamie Leigh Jones is taking Halliburton to arbitration. Jones served as a contractor for KBR/Halliburton at Camp Hope. She was drugged and raped by an unknown number of men. Jones' father called Rep. Ted Poe to rescue Jones from her own employers.
"We contacted the State Department first," Poe told ABCNews.com, "and told them of the urgency of rescuing an American citizen" -- from her American employer.
Poe says his office contacted the State Department, which quickly dispatched agents from the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad to Jones' camp, where they rescued her from the container.
Jones' contract forbids her from suing Halliburton or KBR in court. State Department rules, during the Bush administration, exempts contractors from being prosecuted of crimes committed in Iraq.
Jones was recently interviewed by on All Things Considered how Halliburton is using arbitration. The difficulty with arbitration is employees rarely win against their employers. Information about the rulings is not made public. Arbitration was designed to protect corporations. The little guy doesn't even enter into the equation.
Arbitration is a closed, private process, often with little or no written record. But one state, California, changed its law to require that arbitration results be publicly recorded. Public Citizen staff reviewed 34,000 California cases, and Arkush says the results speak volumes.
"Overall, consumers lost 94 percent of the time," he says.
The arbitration industry disputes that number. But it does not disagree that corporations win more of the time. The disagreement is about whether this is evidence of bias or a reflection that corporations bring stronger cases.
Mike Kelly, spokesman for the National Arbitration Forum — one of the country's largest arbitration firms — says it's the latter.
"You're not going to bring a case that you're going to lose," he says. "Frankly, you're not going to bring a case that you think you have a chance to lose."
A judge ruled Jones is allowed to take her case to court. There are many other female contracters that have been sexually assaulted. Their legal options are less certain.
"Unfortunately, my case is not an isolated incident," she said Tuesday. "With the misuse of arbitration, we have made corporate entities in this country above the law."
Rep. Hank Johnson is sponsoring the Arbitration Fairness Act of 2009. Jones has endorsed the bill. Russ Feingold has introduced an arbitration reform bill in the Senate.
Jones spoke in Washington for the Abitration Fairness Act.
Republicans followed the lead of Grover Norquist's and Newt Gingrich's nutty ideas of making government small enough to drown in a bathtub. Gingrich claimed that eliminating the Department of Education would save taxpayers money from wasteful spending. The truth is Republicans aimed their contempt of teachers' unions at the department. They have no problem throwing more money for defense contracts. The Congressional Budget Office reported that 25 percent of Defense Department funds can not be accounted for. Republican presidential candidates talk about spending more money. I have yet to hear a GOP candidate talk about reforming the Pentagon.
On Sept 10, 2001, Donald Rumsfeld publicly announced that $2.3 trillion was unaccounted.
Marco Rubio supports using tax dollars to build the Florida Marlins a new stadium. Studies shown taxpayers financially lose on sports venues. Rubio's idea to save the taxpayers money is "agency eliminations." Sen. Al Lawson said, "That's really an insane approach by the speaker." Senate President Ken Pruitt didn't even want to touch Rubio's latest brainstorm. Who can blame him.
"We love our partners in the House," said Pruitt. "Anything that comes over, we will thoughtfully take up and consider."
Rubio is an economic illiterate. He is a slave to economic principles of Dick Armey and Donna Arduin. Rubio doesn't need to know math, not when he has truthiness on his side.
