Tag: charlie christ
Former Florida Governor Charlie Christ Says Bigots A ‘Big Reason’ He Left GOP

Former Florida Governor Charlie Christ Says Bigots A ‘Big Reason’ He Left GOP

By Marc Caputo, The Miami Herald

Democrat Charlie Crist is offering up a new and inflammatory reason he left the GOP: Too many Republicans oppose President Barack Obama because he’s black.

Crist made the remarks Tuesday in an interview with Fusion’s Jorge Ramos that instantly drew rebukes from Republicans who said the party-switching former governor was playing the race card.

But Crist said the bigotry against Obama was a “big reason” for his decision to leave the party.

“I couldn’t be consistent with myself and my core beliefs, and stay with a party that was so unfriendly toward the African-American president, I’ll just go there,” Crist said. “I was a Republican and I saw the activists and what they were doing, it was intolerable to me.”

Ramos said Crist left the GOP to run as an independent because he was losing the 2010 Senate Republican primary to Marco Rubio. But Crist denied it.

Crist has made race an on-again and off-again theme as he campaigns for his old job back as a Democrat, his third party affiliation. When he left the GOP four years ago, he didn’t mention race.

“Being a flip-flopper is bad enough, but playing the race card to win over voters is pitiful,” said Izzy Santa, Republican National Committee spokeswoman.

Crist, saying he was “liberated as a Democrat,” also bashed the GOP for being too inflexible and for appearing to be “anti-women, anti-immigrant, anti-minority, (and) anti-gay.”

Black voters are particularly important to Crist. They comprise 28 percent of the 4.1 million active registered Democrats in Florida, and he still has to beat former state Sen. Nan Rich in a party primary before facing Gov. Rick Scott.

In a general election, black voters are key for Democrats. Along with Hispanics, African-American voters have disproportionately stayed home during midterm elections, allowing more Republican-leaning white voters to dominate and elect GOP office holders. Black and Hispanic voters each account for about 14 percent of all active registered voters.

Crist has generally good relationships with black voters and leaders. He probably had the highest proportion of African-American support of any Republican when he won the governor’s office in 2006 as a Republican. As governor, Crist championed civil rights causes, opposed racial language in the official state song and was called Florida’s “first black governor” by some African-American lawmakers.

In standing with Obama to support the stimulus package in 2009, Crist won a measure of support from black voters but also earned the enmity of the GOP. In 2012, Crist campaign for Obama and boosted his profile further with black voters.

But Crist’s decision to run as an independent, which cost Democrat Kendrick Meek votes in the 2010 Senate race, left some African-American leaders upset with the former governor.

Crist’s comments to Fusion weren’t the first time he used racial imagery.

In February, while plugging his new book The Party’s Over on Comedy Central’s Colbert Report, Crist said some Republicans opposed Obama’s stimulus act in 2009 because he was “not just a Democrat, an African-American.”

“Oh, you’re not going to play the race card,” host Stephen Colbert replied.

“I’m not going to play it, no,” Crist responded.

“You just did,” Colbert said. “Would you like to pick it up again and put it in your pocket? Because you just played the race card.”

Photo via Wikimedia Commons

Poll Roundup: Shaheen Is In The Driver’s Seat

Poll Roundup: Shaheen Is In The Driver’s Seat

As the 2014 midterm elections draw closer, an avalanche of polling data will emerge on the key races that will decide who controls the House of Representatives, the Senate, and statehouses across the country. What follows is a brief summary of some key polls from the week of April 6:

New Hampshire
Former Massachusetts senator Scott Brown officially entered New Hampshire’s 2014 Senate race this week, and was immediately greeted with polls confirming his underdog status against incumbent Democrat Jeanne Shaheen.

A Granite State poll released Thursday found Shaheen with a 45 to 39 percent lead over Brown, with 14 percent undecided. The poll, which was sponsored by WMUR-TV and conducted by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center, suggests that the race has plenty of room to move; just 17 percent of respondents said they have definitely decided which candidate they’ll support.

The poll also asked voters give one word to describe each of the candidates; in a worrisome sign for the recently relocated Brown, 15 percent — including 29 percent of Independents — described him as a “carpetbagger” or “outsider.”

A Public Policy Polling survey, released Thursday, contained even worse news for Brown. That poll showed Shaheen with a 49 to 41 percent lead, with 10 percent undecided.

While respondents were split on their opinion of Shaheen — 47 percent approve of her job performance, while 46 percent disapprove — they strongly dislike Brown;. 49 percent view the likely Republican nominee unfavorably, while just 35 percent view him favorably.

According to The Huffington Post’spolling average of the race, Shaheen leads Brown by 8 percent.

Arkansas
Senator Mark Pryor (D-AR) is widely viewed as one of the most endangered incumbents in the country, but the latest poll of his race against U.S. Rep. Tom Cotton paints a different picture.

A new survey from Opinion Research Associates finds Pryor opening up a 48 to 38 percent lead over Cotton, with 10 percent undecided. Pryor’s double-digit lead sits outside of the poll’s +/- 5 percent margin of error.

In addition to his big deficit, Cotton should be concerned with the poll’s question on the Affordable Care Act — 49 percent of respondents said they are “tired of hearing about the debate over the health care law” and want to move on to other issues, while 47 percent said they think it’s important to keep debating it.

The new poll is one of several reasons that Democrats are reportedly feeling optimistic about Pryor’s chances of winning a third term. Still, most other surveys show a much closer race; Pryor leads by just over 2 points in The Huffington Post’s poll average.

Mississippi
For the second straight week, six-term senator Thad Cochran (R-MS) got encouraging news about his primary battle against Mississippi state senator Chris McDaniel.

Harper Polling, a Republican firm, released a survey on Monday finding Cochran with a 52 to 35 percent lead. That’s a 7 percent improvement for McDaniel since Harper’s previous poll in December, but still leaves him with a sizeable deficit to close before the June 3 primary.

Meanwhile, controversy continues to follow the Tea Party challenger; a week after McDaniel was criticized for his ties to a white nationalist, audio emerged of him using controversial language (to put it mildly) to describe reparations for slavery, immigration, homosexuality, and other topics.

Former congressman Travis Childers, a moderate Democrat, will face the Republican nominee in the general election. Many Democrats believe he would have a fighting chance if the gaffe-prone McDaniel wins the primary.

Florida
Florida governor Rick Scott’s (R) re-election hopes continue improve, according to a Voter Survey Service poll released Monday.

The poll, which was commissioned by Sunshine State News, finds Scott leading former governor Charlie Crist (D) 45 to 44 percent, with 10 percent undecided. That 1-point advantage is within the poll’s +/- 3.46 percent margin of error.

Among voters who say that they have an excellent or good chance of voting in November, Scott’s lead swells to 49 to 42 percent. That’s very encouraging news for the governor, considering Republicans’ likely turnout advantage in the off-year election.

Should Scott successfully win a second term, it would mark an impressive political comeback; just one year ago, Scott’s approval rating was in the low 30s, and he trailed Crist by double digits.

Photo: Talk Radio News Service via Flickr

Dr. Cheech Called — Your Prescription Is Ready

Dr. Cheech Called — Your Prescription Is Ready

Medical marijuana will be on the Florida ballot in November, which is bad news for Gov. Rick Scott and other Republican leaders who oppose any relaxation of the state’s backward cannabis laws.

They say medical use of weed is the first step toward Colorado-style legalization, and they might be right. They say that although the proposed constitutional amendment names only nine diseases, lots of people who aren’t really sick will find a way to get marijuana from certain doctors.

That’s probably true, too. This, after all, is the state that made pill mills a roadside tourist attraction. Who can doubt that future pot prescriptions will bear the signatures of a Dr. Cheech or a Dr. Chong?

But guess what — voters know that, and most don’t seem worried. They’ve seen what’s happened in California, where no anarchy materialized after medicinal pot was approved.

Nor has the fabric of society disintegrated in the 20 other states and the District of Columbia, where similar laws are on the books.

In Florida, as is true throughout the country, public surveys continue to show landslide support for medical marijuana, and a majority favoring the decriminalization of small amounts for personal use.

This is a thorny problem for conservative Republicans like Scott and Attorney General Pam Bondi, who are up for re-election. They now have to sally forth and crusade against a popular cause, trying to stir fear and doubts among a constituency that’s heard it all before.

The main force behind the medical marijuana movement is John Morgan, an Orlando trial attorney. Morgan is a major Democratic donor who is close to former governor Charlie Crist, Scott’s likely opponent in November.

One would assume that having medicinal pot on the ballot will draw more Democrats and independents to the polls, boosting Crist’s chances of beating Scott. However, the high polling popularity of the marijuana measure means lots of Republican voters like it, too.

For one thing, pot really does help certain patients with glaucoma, AIDS, multiple sclerosis and other serious medical conditions that don’t discriminate between liberals and conservatives.

For another, marijuana isn’t some exotic mystery drug whose effects are unknown; it’s been around so long that it’s embedded in our culture — music, movies, television and literature.

Smoking it is totally a bipartisan groove.

Tallahassee is currently controlled by Republicans, but the Capitol building would be as quiet as a mausoleum if you got rid of everyone who came to work with THC in their blood. The same is true for most big workplaces.

Opponents of the marijuana amendment say the wording is too loose because it allows cannabis to be prescribed for other medical conditions besides the specified diseases _ if the physician thinks the benefits outweigh the potential harm.

Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Ricky Polston, writing for the minority in the court’s 4-3 decision that approved the ballot item, criticized a section giving doctors immunity from prosecution for prescribing marijuana.

“For example, a physician, in his misguided ‘professional opinion,’ could believe that the benefits of marijuana for a teething toddler would likely outweigh the risks,” Polston said, “and, therefore, recommend that the toddler use marijuana three times a day for six months until the teething subsided.”

This bizarre hypothetical assumes that the pediatrician is an incompetent psychopath, and that the parents of the toddler are knuckle-dragging morons. That’s a recurring theme of the political opposition to the medical cannabis amendment — people are just too darn naive to know what’s really happening.

Yet on this subject most voters aren’t naive, and they’ve got a fair idea what’s coming.

Of course the law will make marijuana more accessible. Of course many perfectly healthy people will try to obtain prescriptions, and of course some doctors will oblige. Of course there will be some abuse, as there is with alcohol and prescription drugs.

And, of course, because it’s Florida, the licensing and regulation of medicinal cannabis facilities will be haphazard, bumbling and occasionally corrupt. Big, big money is at stake for the state as well as for the growers.

There’s one huge difference between the phony pain clinics that once proliferated here and the marijuana dispensaries that will open if 60 percent of voters approve:

Pill mills, which cater to addicts and street dealers, kill lots people. Pot dispensaries don’t.

There’s a political risk if Scott, Bondi and the others fight too hard against marijuana reforms. Public sentiment is strongly against them, and their scare tactics could backfire in November.

It’s better to be downwind from Willie Nelson’s bus than to get run over by it.

(Carl Hiaasen is a columnist for The Miami Herald. Readers may write to him at: 1 Herald Plaza, Miami, Fla., 33132.)

AFP Photo/Theo Stroomer