The Florida Progressive Caucus and Charlie Crist

Florida Progressive Coalition head Susan Smith has been less than enthusiastic about Charlie Crist winning the Democratic nomination for governor. Smith was Nan Rich's biggest public supporter. The Florida Progressive Caucus is a member of the Florida Democratic Party structure. Which makes Smith's disparaging remarks about Crist stand out.

Smith told William March of the Tampa Tribune that there was a lack of enthusiasm for Crist's candidacy.

But Rich backer Susan Smith, of Tampa, president of the state party’s progressi ve caucus, said her supporters “will vote for Crist, but I’m not sure if the enthusiasm will be there or if people will be working for him. People don’t get excited about voting against something. They get excited about voting for something.”

Smith gave another lukewarm response about Crist to MyNews13.

Despite the effort, some Democrats aren't thrilled about Crist being the nominee.

"People are discouraged about the governor's race," said Susan Smith. Smith is President of the Democratic Progressive Caucus of Florida.

Mitch Perry asked Smith if she would support Crist. Her statement was underwhelming.

“I will no longer speak out and criticize on issues that I care about,” was as far as Susan Smith would go when asked about her support for Crist.

I asked Florida Democratic Party chair Allison Tant on the Florida Progressive Caucus's lack of public enthusiasm for the party's gubernatorial nominee.

Q: There have been people on social media that have suggested that FDP bylaws allow the Florida Progressive Caucus to speak out against party nominee Charlie Crist. Florida Progressive Caucus head Susan Smith has been rather negative against Charlie Crist publicly since he won the nomination. For the record: is the Florida Progressive Caucus allowed to publicly not back Crist?

Allison Tant: Nan Rich has shown the way to go. She has asked her supporters to support Charlie. I think if the caucus wanted to have an honest conversation with Charlie rather than a contentious one, one where they would honestly listen, they would be happy with his answers. We have too much ground to cover to allow division to occur.

Q: Thank you for your response. On the record question. What happens to the Florida Progressive Caucus's membership if they continue to be outspoken against Crist?

Allison Tant: I am going to have to review with the rules committee. It galls the hell out of me.

We will see what happens next.

Vote For Carol Kurdell

The Florida Progressive Coalition unveiled their endorsements. It is a good list and Tampa area candidates Kathy Castor, Stephen Gorham and Kevin Beckner made the list. I will make it clear that I am not a fan of Gorham. Gorham ran for the Florida Senate. Gorham campaigned to the right of opponent Ronda Storms.



Gorham is currently running for a seat on the Hillsborough School Board. The conservative Tampa Tribune endorsed Gorham. The left-leaning St. Petersburg Times is supporting Gorham's opponent Carol Kurdell. School board races are nonpartisan. I am not going to back Gorham just because he is a Democrat. I'm quite disturbed that A Democrat ran against Storms, with a Republican agenda.

I check Gorham's issues page and his blog. Gorham attacks Kurdell, but refuses to offer his own solutions. One of his blog readers asked Gorham what he would do. Gorham never bothered to answer the comment. The commenter asked again and still no response. Kurdell outlines her vision on her web site.

IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF EDUCATION

Make classrooms more innovative and
creative for the 21st century.
Ensure that schools are spending a
majority of funds in the classroom.
Ensure highly qualified and well trained
teachers are in every classroom.
Raise the standards of our
children’s educational goals.

BE A VOICE FOR OUR TEACHERS

Supports higher teacher pay so we
can attract the best teachers.

Use new practices and policies, on top
of higher pay, to retain teachers.

MODERNIZE OUR EDUCATION SYSTEM

Increase parents’ ability to send children
to the school of their choice.

Expand magnet, charter, and attractor programs.
More technology in the classrooms.

Gorham is the worse kind of politician. He is opportunistic and posesses horrible political instincts. Gorham ran as a Democratic for the 10th District. Gorham pandered to the conservatives in the district by running as a faux Republican. That didn't stop him from appearing at Drinking Liberally. The Storms campaign blasted Gorham for his hypocrisy. Gorham school board campaign is strongly negative. Gorham has also pandered to the netroots. (Gorham tried to friend me on Facebook.)

Vote for Carol Kurdell. Gorham is only running for the school board to further his political career. Kurdell has offered ideas and is more experienced. We need a board member whose main focus is students.

Progressives Tired of Bill Nelson

The comments at the Florida Progressive Coalition blog shows the state's progressive activists turning on Bill Nelson. They are angry about Nelson's grandstanding over the fight between the Florida Democratic Party and the DNC over the January 29th primary date.

Susan S

By repeating that voters are being “disenfranchised” we will further depress turnout. That’s what pissed me off about the Nelson letter.

Mike Huss (on relation to me)

I forgot to mention the article that was deamonizing Howard Dean was based of of comments from Senator Nelson, great job on trying to score youself some points at the cost our parties dignity.

Voxy

Good old Bill !! I don’t think anyone’s much listening to him anymore.

Dean was right from the beginning but rubio had to have his way …
OH ! I thought it was rubio who pushed this and then right away dean jumped down on it ….
Yes, and someone should tell bill nelson to start acting more like a democrat.

There is not much love in the room for Bill Nelson. Can Nelson's ability to never fail to fail be counted as an achievement?

Eddie Schwieterman is still trying to find a compromise solution. To be young and not have your fucking heart ripped out 178 times by the Democratic Party. I'm still recovering from Michael Dukakis.