Thursday was another eventful day in the race for Florida’s 13th Congressional District, complete with a “Music Man” reference for you Broadway show tune geeks out there.
Today in Florida’s 13th Congressional District history:
Playing the Abortion Card —The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee played the abortion card in the CD 13 race with a new digital ad Thursday attacking David Jolly’s pro-life stance. “Banning a Woman’s Choice,” the 30-second DCCC spot, goes after the “special interest lobbyist” and his “plan” to overturn Roe v. Wade, taking away women’s rights to make their own healthcare decisions. Now it’s getting dirty …
First Bob Barker, now this – In a statement released Thursday by her campaign, Alex Sink raised the “Ponzi-scheme” comment from Jolly point man Jim MacDougald, the candidate’s lobbying work with a conservative interest supporting privatization of Social Security, and the Republican commenting that “everything should be on the table” since Social Security was “not guaranteed.” The conclusion? Sink is the “Only Candidate Pinellas Seniors Can Trust.” But doesn’t Jolly already have Bob Barker?
I’ll see your Pinellas senior, and raise you two — In what has become the CD 13 “battle for the elderly voter,” David Jolly counterattacks by blasting Alex Sink’s support of the “Simpson-Bowles” plan, which effectively raises the retirement age for Social Security and Medicare eligibility and social security taxes, and further cuts Medicare spending. Haven’t Pinellas families been hurt enough by Obamacare, Jolly asks. When will the madness end? March 11, by my guess.
Teach a man to fish and you have his vote – The Tampa Bay Times reported that Jolly visited the John’s Pass boardwalk Thursday; to reminisce about scuba diving as a kid with his uncle — an oceanography professor at St. Petersburg College — and announce a series of plans to reduce fishery closures and enhance local stock. One idea is to move fishery closure decision-making from Washington D.C. and give it to regional and local authorities. Sounds fishy? It isn’t.
We’ve got trouble in River City – The Times’ Adam Smith takes out his slide rule and sees trouble-with-a-capital-T-and-that-rhymes-with-P in the mail-in ballots for David Jolly. Republicans expect a turnout advantage in CD 13 by as much as 7 percent, but the three-point advantage so far in the actual Supervisor of Elections numbers suggests that Sink could actually benefit, since she will siphon off more GOP voters (as much as 16 percent) than Jolly is taking away Democrats. And that is not good. We’ll just have to see.
