The return of Alan Grayson?

[Keystone Phil]

You can tell BRTD isn't really involved in politics.

Uh, do you have any clue how much doorknocking and phonebanking I did this season? Probably not as much as you (as I have a non-political job taking up much of my time as well), but a hell of a lot. I even woke up before 8AM on Election Day for that.

I can't tell if you're saying this as a joke or seriously...

Uh, I'm serious. Do you have any clue how insufferable it is for me to get up before 8? Hell before 9 is bad enough. I had to come in at 9:30AM today because I bribed this guy to trade shifts with me so I could leave before 8:30 and go to my show and it was HELL. I felt like I was going to fall asleep for the whole first half of work. I don't get up before 8AM unless it's IMPORTANT.

Of course you're serious. That's why it comes across as a joke to 90% of the rest of us.

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Before you go into all of these positives, do you know anything about the local political structure? Do you know the feelings of the key players down there when it comes to Grayson? Stop thinking this is some slam dunk because you and a few other clowns worship the guy.

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This has nothing to do with Grayson being a total jackass; it has to do with understanding why your idea might not be golden to local political players in Florida. I'm amazed even you can't understand that.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Yeah well who did local political players in the Delaware Republican Party want nominated?

[Keystone Phil]

Yeah well who did local political players in the Delaware Republican Party want nominated?

Great argument.

By the way, your dream scenario would give the "new Grayson seat" a heavy black population, right? See why your plan hits another obvious roadblock?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Yeah well who did local political players in the Delaware Republican Party want nominated?

Great argument.

By the way, your dream scenario would give the "new Grayson seat" a heavy black population, right? See why your plan hits another obvious roadblock?

An Orlando-area seat would probably look something like this:



That seat is 47% white, 24% black and 24% Hispanic.

[Capitan Zapp Brannigan]

We can do much better than Alan Grayson.

[DrScholl]

Great argument.

By the way, your dream scenario would give the "new Grayson seat" a heavy black population, right? See why your plan hits another obvious roadblock?

White politicians can get elected to seats with high minority populations, TN-9 is proof of that.

[minionofmidas]

It's not actually impossible.

Where does Suzanne Kosmas live? A two-former-Congresscritters-primary would be fun to behold.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

It's not actually impossible.

Where does Suzanne Kosmas live? A two-former-Congresscritters-primary would be fun to behold.

On the coast.

[minionofmidas]

Boo.

[-]

We can do much better than Alan Grayson.

That never gets old, Miles.

[Keystone Phil]

Great argument.

By the way, your dream scenario would give the "new Grayson seat" a heavy black population, right? See why your plan hits another obvious roadblock?

White politicians can get elected to seats with high minority populations, TN-9 is proof of that.

Sure, they can. It's not likely though.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Great argument.

By the way, your dream scenario would give the "new Grayson seat" a heavy black population, right? See why your plan hits another obvious roadblock?

White politicians can get elected to seats with high minority populations, TN-9 is proof of that.

Sure, they can. It's not likely though.

We're not talking about a majority black seat though. Only about 25%. You can't draw a majority black seat only in the Orlando area.

[Keystone Phil]

Great argument.

By the way, your dream scenario would give the "new Grayson seat" a heavy black population, right? See why your plan hits another obvious roadblock?

White politicians can get elected to seats with high minority populations, TN-9 is proof of that.

Sure, they can. It's not likely though.

We're not talking about a majority black seat though. Only about 25%. You can't draw a majority black seat only in the Orlando area.

Got it.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

If Florida refuses to renominate Grayson if he runs, that just solidifies its status as the most epic fail joke of a state forever. Grayson is the best thing ever about Florida.

[Keystone Phil]

If Florida refuses to renominate Grayson if he runs

Ah, yes, Florida At Large better re-nominate this guy!

[Landslide Lyndon]

If Florida refuses to renominate Grayson if he runs

Ah, yes, Florida At Large better re-nominate this guy!

Maybe he means the singer.

[??????????]

The guy is done, sorry BRTD. He got beat by nearly thirty in a somewhat Democrat friendly district. He's to kooky to have a shot there again, sorry.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

The guy is done, sorry BRTD. He got beat by nearly thirty in a somewhat Democrat friendly district. He's to kooky to have a shot there again, sorry.

How is it Democratic-friendly? It's a gerrymandered monstrosity.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

The guy is done, sorry BRTD. He got beat by nearly thirty in a somewhat Democrat friendly district. He's to kooky to have a shot there again, sorry.

18% as a freshman in a McCain district.

[© tweed]

Why wouldn't the Democrats nominate Grayson in a safely Democratic seat? Democrats LOVE Grayson.

if the new district were only plurality white wouldn't Grayson have difficulty beating a black in the Dem primary?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Why wouldn't the Democrats nominate Grayson in a safely Democratic seat? Democrats LOVE Grayson.

if the new district were only plurality white wouldn't Grayson have difficulty beating a black in the Dem primary?

No. The seat would be about just under 50% white, 25% black and 25% Hispanic. Grayson would obviously get the Hispanic vote (it's not Cuban up there) against a black.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

BTW I just looked at the state legislators in the area to see who could beat Grayson. Let's see:

-The only Democratic State Senator in the area is a guy who was convicted of a felony for misuses of his office in his first term yet was re-elected anyway (amusingly this means he was not eligible to vote for himself in his re-election bid.) Yeah I think we can rule him out.

-State Rep. Geraldine Thompson, a black. The seat would only be about 25% black, so we can also rule her out. From her profile she doesn't seem like she'd be interested in running anyway, she showed more interest in a county-wide school board seat. And she's an old.

-State Rep. Darren Soto. Young guy (32), interesting background, half-Puerto Rican and half-Italian, has a not so bad legislative record, Wikipedia says:

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 However he also seems really occupied with the job he still keeps at a law firm. Eh, he doesn't seem particularly horrendous but not exactly all that impressive either. And does he even want to run?

-State Rep. Scott Randolph. Also a relatively young guy, though not as young as Soto (37). Beat an incumbent Republican in 2006 in a landslide, though the district contains downtown Orlando (I guess the minorities in Orlando live in ghettos separated from downtown if the area ever had a Republican rep. Not surprising.) His wiki article was obviously written by one of his staffers, but actually he does sound pretty awesome:

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If we can't have Grayson, this guy would still be a pretty good stand-in. Then again the legislature also said that he applied for a vacant Orange County Commission seat citing stress from the Legislature. He only filed for re-election after being denied. If he finds the state legislature too stressful not sure if he'd want to move up to Congress. Plus I doubt he'd run just to deny Grayson his seat back.

[Bacon King]

Re: the last quote; what exactly is an "advanced procedural maneuver"?

[Sbane]

The performance of Perrielo vs Grayson made me realize something. Yes, people like some spine in their politicians, but they really don't like douchebags such as Grayson.

If a safe D Orlando district is created, the Democrats would be wise to pick someone who is not as much of a prick as Grayson though they can be just as liberal, if not more.

[Dgov]

The performance of Perrielo vs Grayson made me realize something. Yes, people like some spine in their politicians, but they really don't like douchebags such as Grayson.

If a safe D Orlando district is created, the Democrats would be wise to pick someone who is not as much of a prick as Grayson though they can be just as liberal, if not more.

This.  There's a difference between "Very Liberal" and "Obnoxiously Liberal", and Grayson is very much the latter.