Gary Siplin: Republican Lite

It's no secret that Gary Siplin is Florida's worst Republican. Siplin won yesterday's primary with a group of backers that would make any Republican proud.

A school-voucher group called All Children Matter had fired back with ads financed in part by the DeVos family, which owns the Orlando Magic, and the heirs to Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton, who chastised Woodard for being a registered Republican until last year.

Republicans and U.S. Sugar even got in on the act, sending out mailers this month trying to link Woodard to Republican policies that "shipped our jobs overseas, wrongly started the war in Iraq and destroyed our economy."

Siplin won with money from conservative-leaning businesses and Christian advocates. These are people that are dedicated to defeating Democrats.

The Florida Democratic Party and election official should have came out forcefully for Maurice "Doc" Woodard. Democrats supported Joe LIeberman in 2004, in hopes of winning the Senate majority. LIeberman has turned into a disaster for the party. Siplin has had legal troubles and the Florida Senate is not turning blue. What excuse does the FDP have for not giving Siplin the boot. His district isn't about to go Republican.