Florida Governor Refuses to Pay for Democrats’ Mistakes
I wonder if John McCain was whispering into Charlie Crist’s ear yesterday. Or if the Florida governor just has some natural political savvy—as well as regard for his state’s finances. I just read that the GOP presidential nominee was campaigning with Crist yesterday in the Sunshine State.
Yesterday, before RealClearPolitics linked me to that Miami Herald article, I watched the governor tell Wolf Blitzer on CNN that of course, he would accommodate the Democrats if they wanted to “do-over” their Florida primary, just so long as the Democratic National Committee (DNC) pays for the re-vote. Maybe he was aware that the DNC “ended 2007 nearly flat broke.” The Republican governor reminded te reporter of his responsibility to balance the state’s budget.
But, the CNN correspondent contended, if you had another primary, you’d generate a “surge” of revenue with all those reporters and campaign aides trekking into the state–not to mention the advertising.
Does Wolf have such a limited understanding of economics that he assumed that money would go into the state’s coffers? He tossed around figures about the cost of the primary and the revenue it would generate, but didn’t even try to estimate how much of that revenue would end up in the state’s coffers. Or whether the amount of money the state gained would offset the expense of the primary.
In any case, the good governor held his ground. And he’s right. His state shouldn’t have to pay for the Democrats’ mistakes. If they want to fix their Florida (and Michigan) problem, let them pay for it.
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Wolf Blitzer has to be the most embarassing journalist on tv.
Comment by Vince P — March 7, 2008 @ 10:13 pm - March 7, 2008
I’m not sure why they need to redo the Florida Dem primary, it was a different thing than Michigan. They all had names on the ballot, no one could campaign…and Obama was coming off his South Carolina Win and that amazing Kennedy endorsement. He didn’t win, he got creamed, so thats how it goes.
Just ratify those results…She will win it anyway, redo or not.
Comment by Darkeyedresolve — March 7, 2008 @ 11:39 pm - March 7, 2008
I don’t know the postion of Florida liberals on us paying for it. Haven’t paid attention to it since the primary. After they’ve been running around Henny Penny trying to convince everybody that the property tax cuts would put an end to services like police, fire etc. It would be ironic, but I wouldn’t be surprised, if the Florida liberals wanted us to pay for it.
Crist probably doesn’t want to hear the resulting crap from the people who bought into that tripe. Perhaps Screamin’ Howie should lobby Disney, Mosaic or Florida Citrus for a loan.
I’m curious. I suppose I should pretend to give a damn and see what Florida liberals think.
Remind me again. Who is it that disenfranchises Florida voters?
Comment by ThatGayConservative — March 8, 2008 @ 4:34 am - March 8, 2008
I love how the Democrats think that the rules just dont apply them.
Who the hell ever heard of re-doing an election? It’s crazy. These people have no respect for our system .. it’s all a game of manipulation and string pulling.
Comment by Vince P — March 8, 2008 @ 6:24 am - March 8, 2008
If I were a FL or MI Democrat – and of course I never would be, so this comment may as well be about unicorns, or something – I would be a little disgusted by Hillary’s "re-do" poor sportsmanship, and vote Obama for sure.
Comment by ILoveCapitalism — March 8, 2008 @ 11:00 am - March 8, 2008
#1 – Please, I can name worse journalists:
Keith Olberfrau
Donna Abrams
Mika "Bubbles" Brzynski
In fact, the entire lineup on PMSNBC would suffice.
Regards,
Peter H.
Comment by Peter Hughes — March 8, 2008 @ 12:21 pm - March 8, 2008
#5
Nah. If I were a Florida liberal, I’d make sure the DNC knew exactly where they could burn for eternity and stay home 4 November.
Comment by ThatGayConservative — March 8, 2008 @ 11:11 pm - March 8, 2008
"Wolf Blitzer has to be the most embarassing journalist on tv."
Vince, you’ve obviously never seen Jack Cafferty.
I would say that Keith O is worse, but I’m not sure that he actually qualifies as a journalist.
There are many, many TV journalists out there who are worse than Wolf Blitzer, but of course he is better known than most of them.
Anyway, about MI and FL—I think it’s great that MI has basically the same situation. Gov. Granholm of MI doesn’t want to pay for a redo election either, so that certainly should give cover to Gov. Crist and FL Republicans to not pay for a redo in FL. Of course, given that the debacle the national Dems are in is completely of their own doing, it should be up to them, not the taxpayers of MI or FL, to pay for their own mistake.
Comment by cme — March 10, 2008 @ 3:14 pm - March 10, 2008