FL-02

It's hard hearing the cracking voices of our countrymen and women from the Florida Panhandle whose lives have been turned inside out by Hurricane Michael. Some of lost their homes or businesses; some lost both. There were 17 American deaths, 8 in Florida, attributed to the strongest hurricane to strike the Panhandle in recorded history, the third strongest to ever hit the U.S. mainland. It made landfall near Mexico Beach as a Category 4 storm. Insured damage is estimated to be $8 billion so far.

Florida's 2 worst congressional DemocratsAlmost a year ago, when she first declared her candidacy for the Florida panhandle seat that gaffe-prone Republican Steve Sutherland had won from reactionary Blue Dog Allen Boyd in 2010, I managed to contact Bob Graham's daughter Gwen.

If you live Inside the Beltway instead of in America, there's a decent chance your involvement with politics centers on Team Red vs Team Blue horse races. And I'm sure that Abby Livingston from Roll Call really and truly meant it today when she tweeted this:Excluding friends and family and horse race aficionados, there is virtually no reason to be interested in the FL-02 race.

2 GrahamsExactly a month over a year ago, a friend of mine suggested I get to know Bob Graham's daughter, Gwen, just as she was announcing that she would run for the Tallahassee-based House seat (FL-02) occupied by undertaker and teabagger Steve Southerland.