Alex Sink lost the special election in Florida’s 13th Congressional District because she did not turn out enough Democratic voters and lean-Democratic Independents on Election Day to hold the lead she built up in early balloting.
Why did this happen?
One single Facebook post seems to perfectly sum up many of the problems with the Sink campaign — at least with its field operation, which failed to deliver on Election Day.
In this Facebook post, a volunteer who had come from out of town to work on the campaign named Bridget Lamb, writes:
“I was in the field, but as a volunteer. I volunteered daily at the north office. The FD there was a pompous drunk, who held no-one anymore accountable than he did himself. They got hammered the night prior to the GOTV dry run. I didn’t know whether I wanted to cry or throw up. What a shameful effort to fix Congress. My first day down there I was at the main office, and I got a Votebuilder account and set about vol recruitment. I was told that though I was calling the southernmost part of the district, and though there was n office closer to the people I was calling that I was to ONLY recruit them if they were willing to come to the main office, otherwise leave them alone, NOT tell them there was an office closer to them because the FO I was calling for wouldn’t get credit if they volunteered at another office. I have been down here for 7 weeks. I board a plane home in the morning. I think that smart campaigning could have won the district. I hope I never encounter such a dismal effort again.”
