Jeff Miller ( R) defeats Steve Briese (Rat) in Florida's Congressional Race

election.dos.state.fl.us ^ | 10-16-2001 | Kqql

[Rensselaer]

To put in perspective, Joe Scarborough ran unopposed in '00 and '98; he won with 73% in '96 and won the open seat (formerly held by a yellow dog Democrat) by a 62-38 margin in 1994. Bush carried the District 68-30; Dole carried it 59-31. So it's a solid win, but nothing unexpected nor out of the ordinary. We won it by the exact same margin Bush did last fall. Also today, Dems held Joe Moakley's seat in Massachusetts, winning it 65-33. Moakley had won it 78-20 last fall, but the fall off won't alarm Dems much - the GOP had a better candidate in the special, and Moakley wasn't running. Last fall Gore carried the district 63-31, with 6 percent for Nader. So the Dems won by the same margin as Gore did last fall in District (and also, BTW, same margin as Clinton in '96 - 62-30 that year).

[BlueNgold]

This is a HUGE win! People don't seem to realize that the 1st district of Florida is NOT considered a GOP bastion. Scarborough was the first Republican to hold that seat since the civil war. Joe changed things up there for us, and the heavy military population in Escambia (Navy) and Santa Rosa (AF) counties is a huge plus. This was NOT a gimme, but it is indicative of the contining shift of 'traditional conservative southern Democrats' who are now registering and voting Republican.

[VRWC_minion]

Sounds like a good place to live if I ever leave CT.

[bluewater bird]

Blam, I was at that fantastic rally that Joe sponsored in Pensacola for counting military votes. Really inspiring! Would like to have met you.

[lasisra]

It's true that NW FL has not been considered a "GOP bastion", but it has always been conservative.

It's true that people around here used to overwhelmingly register & vote as Democrats. There were so few Republican candidates that many elections were decided by the Democratic primaries.

However, it was not as bleak as it seemed. Many of the "Democrats" who got elected had positions much more like those of Republicans elsewhere in the country. Call them "DINOs", I guess.

Now that it's fashionable to be Republican, many people are switching their registration to Republican and voting that way as well. The DINO candisates are switching to the GOP, leaving liberals in the Democratic party. There is now (finally) a functioning two-party system here.

Also, GWB carried 2/3 of the vote around here, which reflected the true politics of this region.

[blam]

"Blam, I was at that fantastic rally that Joe sponsored in Pensacola for counting military votes. Really inspiring! Would like to have met you."

That was a fine rally. Other FReepers that were there were 'Timeout' and 'Eagle Eye.'....and probably others like yourself that we did not know about. We had www.freerepublic.com on our signs.

[bluewater bird]

Darn - wish I had seen your signs! The square was mobbed with people and I was right in front of the stage, so couldn't see much behind me. Wonderful rally and we need more like it. Will have to see if Jeff Miller can inspire like Joe Scarborough did.

[blam]

Joe was a winner and will be missed.

[pchuck]

Oh, I don't know if this sends any shivers up any D's spine. This was like shooting fish in a barrel. The Rats won that Joe Mokley seat yesterday, it was Mass. after all. An interesting House race is the Arkansas Asa Hutchinson vacancy. That is an R seat in a pretty even state.

Look, the Nov. elections are going to be tough and 2002 elections are going to be tough. We've got the Virginia gov's race coming up this Nov. as well as the NJ gov's race. Currently, those are R states. The Virginia race is very close and in the NJ race, the Rat is currently leading (although the NJ Republican candidate is wonderful).

NYC will, in all likelyhood, go to Mark Green (D). NYC will then realize how truly f*cked they really are.

[orlop9]

I don't think we've seen the last of Joe's political career. I think he'll get bored (and sick of the libs) working for Levin.