FL-10

Mind your own businessWassermann Schultz and some of her cronies, Lois Frankel for one, are trying to get Val Demings elected to Congress in the Orlando area, specifically in the very redistricted 10th CD, currently occupied by Daniel "Taliban Dan" Webster.

Daniel Webster has been in the news lately because he's "running" (not really) for House Speaker as the Freedom Caucus/Tea Party candidate. He isn't considered a serious candidate with an actual chance to ever become Speaker, just a pawn in the game between the extremists and the mainstream conservative Establishment. But ole "Taliban Dan" is probably happy he's in the news as a potential Speaker rather than as someone who's about to lose his congressional seat.

Right-wing crackpot Daniel Webster (R-FL) was the first member of the extremist Freedom Caucus to say he wants Boehner's Speaker's gavel. He'll be the far right's sacrificial lamb against current Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). Oddly enough, both men are in electorally vulnerable districts. McCarthy's district, CA-23 has been solidly Republican and still officially boasts an R+16 PVI.

Last we ran into Steve Israel-Debbie Wasserman Schultz creation Val Demings, she had just lost a congressional race against weak Republican incumbent Daniel Webster in a much touted race. Although the DCCC and its allies made sure she had far more money than Webster, he beat her 52-48%, even beating her in Orange County. She spent $1,932,580 to Webster's $1,498,872 but outside big money groups spent another $4.6 million on her behalf (against $1.2 million GOP groups spent on Webster).

Last night I took old friend, Wisconsin Democratic Senate Leader Chris Larson, for dinner at the best vegan restaurant in the area, Crossroads. Unfortunately, all the desserts are made with sugar so afterwards, we went down the road to Cafe Gratitude for some sugar-free, gluten-free desserts. As we were parking and walking over to the restaurant, I explained to Chris that the place was run by a cult. He seemed stunned. "Oh, they're harmless enough," I assured him.

ExtremistsOrlando has grown so much over the last couple of decades that the metro area now has 4 congressmembers, Corrine Brown (FL-05), John Mica (FL-07), Alan Grayson (FL-09), and Daniel Webster (FL-10). The districts were gerrymandered in such a way to put gigantic numbers of Democrats in Brown's and Grayson districts so that Mica's and Webster's would be relatively safe. These are the PVIs-- along with Obama's 2008 percentages: