WHO WILL BE ANOINTED IN THE 19Th C.D. OF FLORIDA?

Now that our erstwhile Congressman, Robert “Weasel” Wexler, who lives in Potomac, Maryland, is stepping down in January, who will be the person to be “anointed” to fill the seat in the 19th C.D. of Florida?

Since redistricting a few years ago, the 19th C.D. has been a Democratic stronghold with about a 2 to 1 Democrat registration. Even a “carpet-bagger” Congressman, like Robert Wexler, had little trouble winning election after election as he fit the party affiliation criteria and he represented the predominant ethnic group qualifications for the 19th C.D. His main strongholds were the retirement communities of Century Village and Kings Point who voted for the Democrat candidate by about a 9 to 1 ratio. You can’t get much higher than that unless you lived in Harlem.

Quite a few candidates have stepped up to make their intentions known that they want to run for the soon-to-be vacated seat. All the Democrat candidates, about five, meet the above mentioned criteria. Where’s the diversity the Democrats keep harping about? I believe that even if Bernie Madoff ran as a Democrat in the 19th C.D., he’d win in a landslide in those above mentioned retirement communities because that’s the way it is. The same is true with fellow Congressman Alcee Hastings who represents another
“gerrymandered” district that has a preponderance of minority voters. Even as a former impeached judge, he has no trouble winning election after election. Is that the democracy our founding fathers envisioned? I think not!

Left out of the equation, is another candidate who represents the “evil” Republican Party. His name is Ed Lynch, and he’s announced that he’s a candidate in 2010 as he was in 2008. He ran a very enthusiastic campaign in 2008, even without the financial support from the state Republican Party and he didn’t have the big “lobbyist contributed” war chest that Robert Wexler had at his disposal. Lynch did fairly well by garnering close to 30% of the vote under insurmountable odds, especially when the darling of the Democrat Party, Barack Hussein Obama, was heading up the ticket. This time (2010) there won’t be any Obama heading up the ticket so his chances (although still in the long-shot category) are greatly enhanced. Ed lynch is a candidate who is unafraid to address the opposition in trying to get his message to the electorate. He is staunchly pro-Israel (Wexler was wishy-washy on the subject but he got a pass) and he is a fiscal conservative who is against raising taxes on all tax paying Americans, including residents of the 19th C.D.

It should be interesting as to how things will turn out during the coming year. Can an upset be in the offing as President Obama’s poll numbers keep going down? Tune in next November for the conclusion of this soap opera.

Written by Chuck Lehmann