Blue Dog Boyd getting a real primary challenge

[Lunar]

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/palmbeach/floridapolitics/entries/2009/02/05/lawson_to_challenge_boyd_for_c.html


State Senate Democratic Leader Al Lawson will challenge incumbent U.S. Rep. Allen Boyd in 2010, sources close to Lawson confirmed this morning.

Boyd, elected to Congress twelve years ago, is a leader of the “Blue Dog Coalition,” a group of conservative Democrats. The Panhandle farmer also served in the state House.

Lawson is a Tallahassee insurance agent who is approaching three decades as a state lawmaker. He was first elected to the Florida House in 1982. He will be term-limited out of office in 2010.


And as Politico articulates:

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[Filuwaúrdjan]

I'm always a wee bit suspicious when I hear of politicians being described as "farmers"; half the time it translates as "landlord" and the other half as "owner of a factory processing agricultural products". Maybe Boyd is different, I don't know.

Anyway.

Presidential Primary figures for the district... Obama 37%, Clinton 33%, Edwards 24%

[Lief 🗽]

In before Ben makes a spirited defense of Boyd because he's a Southern "moderate."

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Republicans should recruit a strong candidate on the chance that Boyd losses the primary. If Boyd were to win they could always withdraw if necessary. Boyd is unbeatable in a general so it wouldn't matter if they dropped out or not. This is a seat that would potentially go Republican if it become open via retirement or a primaring of the incumbent.

[Lunar]

I don't think the Dems should support primarying Boyd, it's an R+2 district and a fierce primary will alienate the moderate Democrats in the district.

Also, Democrats have to avoid the trap of primarying moderates - it makes the national party look good if it practices an open tent policy with its politicians (unless they're an extreme mismatch like Lieberman became in Connecitcut).

[Sam Spade]

I'm always a wee bit suspicious when I hear of politicians being described as "farmers"; half the time it translates as "landlord" and the other half as "owner of a factory processing agricultural products". Maybe Boyd is different, I don't know.

Anyway.

Presidential Primary figures for the district... Obama 37%, Clinton 33%, Edwards 24%

I translate that primary figure as meaning - black man winning will be difficult.  There are a lot of DINOs in these parts.

[Brittain33]

I'm always a wee bit suspicious when I hear of politicians being described as "farmers"; half the time it translates as "landlord" and the other half as "owner of a factory processing agricultural products". Maybe Boyd is different, I don't know.

Anyway.

Presidential Primary figures for the district... Obama 37%, Clinton 33%, Edwards 24%

I translate that primary figure as meaning - black man winning will be difficult.  There are a lot of DINOs in these parts.

The district is about 22% African American and likely has a sizable number of moderate or liberal Democrats because of FSU and state government. It's comparable to few other districts in the South. Perhaps its only comparison is to John Barrow's district when it included Athens and was substantially more Democratic and diverse than FL-2. Or VA-5 or KY-6? Certainly it includes a few counties with suspiciously massive trends toward McCain this year.

I don't know anything about Lawson or whether he can ignite a successful challenge against Boyd from the left.

[Meeker]

Is this the Congressional Black Caucus not-so-subtly delivering a "Fuck you" to the Blue Dogs over their recent behavior?

[Brittain33]

Is this the Congressional Black Caucus not-so-subtly delivering a "Fuck you" to the Blue Dogs over their recent behavior?

I don't think this is any different from the primaries that happen in California occasionally. Term limits are forcing Lawson up or out, and he can make a good argument for the Democratic nomination.

[Kaine for Senate '18]

We shouldn't be primarying candidates in R+2 districts.  This just makes the Party look bad, and possibly throws away a seat.

[Ronnie]

We shouldn't be primarying candidates in R+2 districts.  This just makes the Party look bad, and possibly throws away a seat.

It's actually higher than R+2 now, because the district's results stayed almost the same, while the national results moved toward the Democrats by 9 points.

It's about R+8 this election cycle.

[Bleeding heart conservative, HTMLdon]

My hats off to Boyd.  The "blue dogs" may be the only hope that America has while we wait patiently for the GOP to become a national party again.... we hope.

[Kaine for Senate '18]

We shouldn't be primarying candidates in R+2 districts.  This just makes the Party look bad, and possibly throws away a seat.

It's actually higher than R+2 now, because the district's results stayed almost the same, while the national results moved toward the Democrats by 9 points.

It's about R+8 this election cycle.

Even more of a reason, then, not to primary him.  We can't go out primarying incumbents in McCain districts.  In the end, it will only hurt us.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

We need to get rid of far right-wing deadwood like Boyd. He doesn't support the stimulus. He supported privatizing Social Security. I'm sure he has zillions of other crappy views, it's not like Taylor or Minnick or Edwards or Mathesion who have the excuse of conservative districts. This is all in a very moderate district. But you know what, I won't be sad if someone honest about being a Republican ends up replacing him. So we might as well try to get a real Democrat in there.

[Landslide Lyndon]

I think his stimulus vote might have been the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I'm sure he has zillions of other crappy views

Hmm... I'm not sure that your average congresscritter is intellectually curious enough to have more than one or two views at the same time...

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

I'm sure he has zillions of other crappy views

Hmm... I'm not sure that your average congresscritter is intellectually curious enough to have more than one or two views at the same time...

Good point. Maybe I should have said he has zillion of crappy votes, that could be construed as having zillions of crappy views.

[Mr.Phips]

I think his stimulus vote might have been the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back.

I dont know about that.  The majority of Democrats in this district are likely Dixiecrats that generally support Boyd's vote against the stimulus. 

[Landslide Lyndon]

I think his stimulus vote might have been the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back.

I dont know about that.  The majority of Democrats in this district are likely Dixiecrats that generally support Boyd's vote against the stimulus. 

Travis Childers, Jim Marshall, Lincoln Davis and many other Democrats are in districts full of Dixiecrats but voted for the bill. And so did the majority of Blue Dogs.

And Boyd is an entrenched incumbent who hasn't much to worry about his reelection, unlike some other No votes (Bright, Kratovil, Minnick).   

[Nixon in '80]

We need to get rid of far right-wing deadwood like Boyd. He doesn't support the stimulus. He supported privatizing Social Security. I'm sure he has zillions of other crappy views, it's not like Taylor or Minnick or Edwards or Mathesion who have the excuse of conservative districts. This is all in a very moderate district. But you know what, I won't be sad if someone honest about being a Republican ends up replacing him. So we might as well try to get a real Democrat in there.

The Democratic Party needs more people like you.

[DanielX]

jfern, you will never have anything approaching a filibuster-proof majority without a big tent. That's one of the problems the GOP has had recently - the Reagan coalition included a lot of people from western and northeastern states that didn't exactly qualify as "far-right".

A *lot* of the Democrats in Congress, and even a couple in the Senate, are Dixiecrats or similar. If the Democratic party ostracizes them, then the only surviving rural Democrats will be representatives from overwhelmingly African-American districts, or from a few states with left-leaning rural areas (like the Upper Midwest and Northern New England). If a liberal Democrat runs in that district, then it will most likely go Republican.

And it isn't just Congress. Consider the governor of Tennessee, Phil Bredesen. Not exactly a friend to the far left (which is why I think he's the best Democrat Obama could choose for HHS ). If the Democrats try to knock him out in favor of a "Real Democrat", and the Republicans run someone more competent than a pineapple, the Republican will probably win.

[Landslide Lyndon]

And it isn't just Congress. Consider the governor of Tennessee, Phil Bredesen. Not exactly a friend to the far left (which is why I think he's the best Democrat Obama could choose for HHS ). If the Democrats try to knock him out in favor of a "Real Democrat", and the Republicans run someone more competent than a pineapple, the Republican will probably win.

Bredesen is term limited.
Nobody is trying to knock him off.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

And it isn't just Congress. Consider the governor of Tennessee, Phil Bredesen. Not exactly a friend to the far left (which is why I think he's the best Democrat Obama could choose for HHS ). If the Democrats try to knock him out in favor of a "Real Democrat", and the Republicans run someone more competent than a pineapple, the Republican will probably win.

Bredesen is term limited.
Nobody is trying to knock him off.

If he came near me I'd "knock him off". With a brick.

[Democratic Hawk]

Boyd, today, switched his vote on the stimulus to Aye

Dave

[Lunar]

Boyd, today, switched his vote on the stimulus to Aye

Dave

Lawson isn't going after him on the stimulus issue but rather Boyd's vote for the financial bailout earlier