SPT on Sen. Bill Nelson: If liberal label doesn't fit, we must elect?

The St. Peterburg Times seems to be trying to inoculate Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) against the charge that he is a liberal.

WASHINGTON — The punch is coming at him in slow-mo:

L ... I ... B ... E ... R ... A ... L.

Even in the earliest moments of his 2012 re-election campaign, Florida Sen. Bill Nelson can see the windup. Twice before Republicans tried to discredit him as a liberal. Twice they failed.

"Facts," Nelson says, "are stubborn things."

Huh.  Nelson must not be a liberal if Republicans failed to discredit him as one on two occasions.

The story goes on like that, even to the point of giving some detail about the two elections Nelson survived--one against the relatively bland Bill McCollum and the other against a self-destructing Katherine Harris.  Is it possible that, all other things being equal, Nelson could have been defeated by stronger candidates?

Could it be???  That the election isn't necessarily about labeling Nelson as a liberal?

Don't float that idea past the Times:

McCollum was perhaps too conservative for the time, and Harris ran a disastrous campaign. A more formidable opponent may be able to wield the liberal stick with more force.

Maybe Nelson will whack himself with that stick?  The story earlier admitted that Nelson reliably supports President Obama's legislative initiatives.  But, hey, maybe Obama is a moderate, too.

In 2009, Nelson ranked as the 39th-most liberal member of the Senate and the 60th-most conservative, according to a National Journal analysis. That puts him in the centrist camp. Longer-range studies show the same.

Interesting definition of "the centrist camp."  One would think that our government is not sharply polarized.  And maybe we'll forget that the Democrats had about 60 senators in 2009.  The cusp of the bottom third most liberal Democrats makes you a centrist.  Go figure.

A statewide poll released Thursday showed that 44 percent of voters think Nelson's views are "about right'' and 23 percent say he's too liberal. A plurality of voters, 46 percent, say Nelson generally shares Obama's views but his disapproval rating dropped 10 percentage points from August, suggesting criticism surrounding the president is not sticking.

That's the good news for Nelson.

The poll came from the folks at Quinnipiac.  Forty-three percent of those polled felt Nelson deserved another term in office.

"Sen. Bill Nelson's numbers are mixed. Only one in five voters is unhappy with his job performance, which indicates he hasn't stirred up strong opposition. But history shows that when only 43 percent of voters say an incumbent deserves another term, that incumbent sometimes doesn't get another term," said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

quinnipiac.edu

That's the bad news for Nelson.

But the Times is interested in the positives while pushing the theme that Nelson isn't a liberal and therefore should be re-elected.

We get it, St. Petersburg Times.  You want the incumbent to win.

Nelson's fortunes do ride with Obama's.  If Obama tacks to the right then Nelson can profitably tag along.  If, on the other hand, Obama tacks little then Nelson's record of supporting Obama's legislative agenda will be easy for Republicans to pin on Nelson's lapel.  And that's a true message to the effect that Nelson's a liberal.  Not the most liberal.  But right there in the camp.

High speed rail a partisan issue?

With Robyn "Blumñata" no doubt still on the mend after Tuesday's Republican electoral wave, the St. Petersburg Times came up with a nonsensical and byline-less Sunday editorial to take up the slack.

The editorial cautions (Republican) lawmakers not to cease feeding money to the high speed rail project that would connect the Tampa region to Orlando.

The concluding paragraph:

Rail service may have to evolve in Florida, especially amid this down economy. But it presents a tremendous opportunity for the state to grow, ease congestion, link the major cities and tourist destinations and put people to work. Florida rarely gets its fare share of federal dollars, and the state's new Republican leaders should not throw up roadblocks to high-speed rail because of partisan politics. 

 Isn't that kind of like asking Congress not to renew the Bush tax cuts because of partisan politics?  How ridiculous.

The issue with high speed rail is and should always be:  Is it a good idea?  If it loses money because cars remain the more efficient means of transportation then it's a bad idea, period.  If the only way to make the rail trip less expensive (and convenient) than the car trip is to tax the latter to artificially achieve that result then it is likewise a bad idea.

Florida should proceed with high speed rail only when it looks like a method people will prefer in moving from one place to another at the price it's going to take to get there.

It's not a partisan issue.  It's an economic issue.

Where's the high speed rail success story?

WISN 12 News obtained a copy of the Wisconsin DOT federal grant application. The DOT estimated one-way tickets to Madison would range from $22 to $33. But, the conservative Cato Institute calculated the cost to taxpayers would be much higher with a $68 per ticket subsidy, bringing the real cost of a one-way high-speed ticket to nearly a $100.

Not in Wisconsin, evidently.

Red tide

Voters expressed their opposition to federal government creep yesterday, putting a Republican majority in control of the House of Representatives and narrowing the  Democrat majority in the Senate.

President Obama remains in office, unfortunately.  Hopefully that problem can be addressed in two years.

The election also saw some notable gains in state government.  Pennsylvania ended up with a unified state government under the GOP.  Minnesota's legislature went Republican, though Mark Dayton won back the governorship for the Democrats.

In Florida, Marco Rubio handily won the race for the seat formerly held by Mel Martinez.  Rick Scott appears to have narrowly won the race for governor over Alex "Honesty.  Integrity." Sink.  Sink may increase her resemblance to Al Gore by challenging the results of the election.

Here's the latest from the State of Florida (myflorida.com)

Florida election law calls for a mandatory machine recount for elections closer than one half percent of the vote.  The figures above show Scott with a full percentage point lead with a bit to spare (a 68,000 vote lead).  That's quite a bit for Sink to make up, and these figures apparently represent all of Florida's precincts after some counties (like Palm Beach county) counted late into the night.

I'd worry a bit about fraud if Sink somehow gets a recount going.  The recount seems unlikely, however.

Before & after with the Charlie Crist campaign video

Hot Air's "Allahpundit" is right:  This is a brilliant twist on Crist's ad.

Before:

After:

Scott picks a winner

I don't follow Florida politics with nearly the attention I give to national politics, but Jennifer Carroll seems like an inspired choice if her resume is as advertised.

Congratulations to Carroll and to Rick Scott's campaign.

Red State: Crist, LeMieux implicated in bogus attack on Marco Rubio

Appalling if it's true:

Charlie Crist is becoming so desperate that his campaign has descended to farcical parodies of Nixonian tactics. The campaign has decided to attack itself and blame Marco Rubio. We know this because, when caught, their lame cover up proved they were behind everything.
(read more at Red State)

Just a reminder for Floridians, regardless of whether Red State has the goods on Crist: Vote Rubio.

Rasmussen: Crist and Rubio similarly electable

If you're a Republican leaning toward Charlie Crist in the upcoming election to determine Florida's newest senator--and basing your preference on Crist's popularity making him more likely to win the seat than Marco Rubio--then it's time to recalculate.

Rasmussen Reports has Charlie Crist beating Democrat Kendrick Meek by 12 percentage points, 46-34. Rubio beats Meek by 15 percentage points, 46-31.

Vote Marco Rubio.

Crist versus Rubio

I heard a radio ad from the Charlie Crist campaign the other day. Crist, of course, is pursuing the senate seat left vacant by Mel Martinez.

Crist's ad paints him as the advocate of smaller government. He presents himself as a needed antidote for the spending policies of President Obama.

But it was Crist who appeared alongside Mr. Obama while the latter was extolling the virtues of the Porkulus bill. Crist welcomed those federal dollars with open arms. So it seems his conversion to fiscally responsible federalism is recent if we suppose it real.

Listen to Crist's radio ads here.

Here's a portion of Crist's appearance with President Obama:



I'm supporting Marco Rubio over Charlie Crist, and I'm pleased to see the news that Rubio is closing in the polls.

Crist's claim about his fiscal responsibility rating from CATO is legit. But CATO seems to have looked at the overall flat budget in combination with Crist's lowering of Florida property taxes. The analysis fails to take into account Crist's nonsensical handling of homeowner's insurance and his welcoming of federal pork.