Politics

Empty chair attack is having an effect

By Adam C. Smith, Times Political Editor
Published March 9, 2008

The "empty chair" attack is having an effect on Charlie's veep chances.
	[Ron Brackett | Times illustration]

One way not to get picked as John McCain's running mate: hand the Florida Democratic Party a nifty way to attack you every time you campaign with McCain. There are signs that the Florida Democratic Party's new line of attack against "Empty Chair Charlie Crist" is starting to sting, and thus Crist loses some ground in the Veep-O-Meter this week.

In 2006 Crist pounded gubernatorial rival Jim Davis for missing votes in Washington ("Jim, as you know, you can't govern from an empty chair").

Florida Democrats are throwing it right back at him, with a new Web site www.emptychaircharlie, mocking the governor's official schedule that showed him taking off more time than he worked in the first six weeks of the year.

When the party blasted out an e-mail noting that Crist's schedule showed him doing little on Thursday except campaigning in South Florida with McCain, the Governor's Office added some gubernatorial duties to his official schedule - "work and call time" in the afternoon and national media interviews in the morning.

Another way not to get picked as McCain's running mate is to have reporters in such a frenzy to talk to you that they nearly knock over McCain. In West Palm Beach Thursday, McCain barely dodged a nasty bonk on the head from a TV camera trying to get past him to talk to Crist.

Said McCain: "I know one thing about Gov. Crist, and that is that he is a great governor. He does a great job. And I think that ... there are many ways for him to serve the country."

Hmmmm. Do we need a U.S. attorney general-o-meter?

Teeny-weeny tax reform?

If you are hoping the heavy hitters on the state's Taxation and Budget Reform Commission will produce bold and sweeping tax reform for Florida, you'll be mistaken, says commission member Jade Moore of Pinellas. In a Political Connections interview airing today on Bay News 9, the executive director of the Pinellas Classroom Teachers Association lamented that the commission is unlikely to approve much beyond allowing sales tax to be collected on Internet sales.

The discussion of tax reform in Florida is too shortsighted, said Moore, a Democrat. "You've got some thoughtful people in Legislature, but you don't have enough. You've got some thoughtful people on the commission, but you don't have enough, and yet the public is ready for, I think, a true reform. They can't get their views articulated," he said.

Today's Political Connections also features Democratic analyst Bob Buckhorn talking about the Democrats' primary woes. It airs on Bay News 9 at 11 a.m. and 6:30 p.m.

Florida primary will be today's topic

Gov. Crist appears today on ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos, where Crist is scheduled to discuss the Florida primary situation along with Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean and Michigan Sen. Carl Levin. Florida Sen. Bill Nelson will be talking about the same topic on CBS' Face the Nation.

Former governor in no hurry to be delegate

Former Democratic national chairman and Maine Gov. Kenneth M. Curtis would have been a potentially key superdelegate vote for Hillary Clinton. Except that he moved a couple of years ago from Maine to Sarasota, something only recently noticed. Now he's Florida's 211th would-be delegate (23rd superdelegate). He thinks the Democratic National Committee shouldn't have superseded the law of the land in Florida, and he doesn't buy the argument that Florida's Jan. 29 election was meaningless because the candidate did not campaign in Florida.

"An awful lot of Florida voters turned out. They seemed to know who the candidates were," said Curtis, 77, who has little interest in going to the convention. "At my age, I can't party enough anymore to hit these conventions," he said with a laugh.

Democrat sees a mail-in opportunity

Should the state party or state government oversee a do-over, vote-by-mail Democratic election in Florida, Nelson and Crist say the state would be best equipped. But House Democratic leader Dan Gelber says the party should handle it, using an accounting firm to guard against any shenanigans.

"The major reason is that the revote, in addition to making sure Florida voters are heard, should also be a party-building exercise," Gelber wrote on his blog. "Returned ballots (because of address changes) will help us dramatically improve our voter database. If appropriate we could also ask Democrats to voluntarily give us their e-mails and telephone numbers so we can communicate with them in November and beyond. All this would help us considerably in the general election."

Adam C. Smith contributed to this week's Buzz.

[Last modified March 8, 2008, 21:51:56]