More on the tale of what the DCCC is doing in Florida's 13th District.

[madfloridian]

I found this pr release tonight, and it reminded me all over again just how well Jan Schneider did against Katherine Harris in a district that is only about 30% Democratic.

This press release tells more about the situation. The DCCC has unfortunately chosen to the back the millionaire candidate Jan defeated last time. One of the main reasons is that she can self finance. Her name is Christine Jennings. Jan is running anyway though, I am glad. I will next post, in a reply to this...what I posted before in part.

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2006/3/prweb360077.htm

Las Vegas, NV (PRWEB via PR Web Direct) March 16, 2006 -- In 2004, Jan Schneider ran the closest Congressional race in the State of Florida -- and she did it against incumbent Congresswoman Katherine Harris! Some prominent friends, relatives and associates in Las Vegas, Nevada -- including local Congresswoman Shelley Berkley (D-Las Vegas), foundation chair Elahé Mir-Djalali Omidyar (mother of eBay founder Pierre Omidyar), prominent physician and philanthropist Dr. Parvin Modaber Jacobs and actor and artist Tony Curtis -- are helping Schneider win the open seat Harris is vacating to run against Florida Senator Bill Nelson. They are throwing a fundraiser at the luxurious Grand Salon, Park Towers, One Hughes Center Drive in Las Vegas tomorrow, March 17, from 5:30 to 7:30 PM. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has also previously contributed to the Schneider campaign.

Who Is Jan Schneider?

In 2004, to repeat, Schneider ran the closest Congressional race in the state of Florida. She held incumbent Congresswoman and former Florida Secretary of State Harris to a margin of 55% to 45%. Despite the heavily Republican registration in the Florida 13th Congressional District (roughly 50% Republican to 30% Democratic to 20% other), as a political unknown, Schneider managed to capture the hearts and minds of large portions of the local electorate. An independent-minded person who is appalled by the extreme partisanship affecting both political parties in Washington these days, Schneider is committed to putting the interests of the country and her constituents first.

A straight-shooting Yale-educated lawyer with a Ph.D. in political science from Yale. Schneider has three decades of experience as a practicing lawyer, educator and author. She also has a 30-year history of fighting for public interest causes, particularly in the areas of environmental protection, women’s rights, the arts and public housing. Among other things, Schneider is the author of two books and dozens of articles on environmental protection, and she currently provides pro bono legal services to residents of Sarasota public housing projects. For further information, consult her website at www.VoteJan.com.

The article goes on to describe some shenanigans in the 2004 race in the Harris campaign...a lot of which are coming out now. I don't think the DCCC should have deprived Jan a chance to be supported by her party.

I fear another bad situation of division is setting up here. Part of my previous post next in a reply. We are hurting ourselves doing this stuff.

[madfloridian]

1. Part of my previous post, archived now. Serious stuff the DCCC is doing.

Here is part of what I posted a while ago.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
How the DCCC is doing it in FL 13.

http://www.barbaraboxer.com/news?id=0037

"SARASOTA COUNTY -- In just over an hour on Tuesday morning, Democrat Christine Jennings raised more than $100,000 in political contributions in her bid to win a seat in Congress.

While $100,000 in a day is not abnormal for Republican fund-raisers in Sarasota County, it's a surprising one-day haul for a Democrat. In 2004, Jennings raised $264,000 during her entire campaign. Boxer said she wouldn't have made time for the fund-raiser if she didn't think Jennings could win. She said she checked with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee before agreeing to do the fund-raiser with Jennings.

"What did it for me was the fact that the DCCC said she can win," Boxer said.

Boxer isn't the first big name national Democrat to support Jennings. Political action committees for former presidential candidate John Kerry, House minority leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and DCCC Chairman Rahm Emmanuel have all contributed to Jennings campaign."

But wait, Jennings has a couple of opponents. One of them got 45% of the vote in the general election against Katherine Harris in a district that is only 32% Democratic.

http://www.answers.com/topic/jan-schneider

"Jan Schneider (born May 3, 1947) is a Democratic politician. She ran for United States Congress from Florida's District 13 in 2002 and 2004. Both times she won the Democratic Primary, and lost to Katherine Harris in the open election. She is running again for the open seat in the same district in 2006.

Schneider received her BA from Brown University; an MA in international affairs from Columbia University; and a JD and a PhD in political science from Yale. She has been a practicing lawyer, a law professor, an international civil servant, a businesswoman and a policy advisor. She is also the author of two books and numerous articles.
Congressional Elections

Schneider won 45% of the vote in both the 2002 and 2004 elections, in a district of 32% Democrats. Her campaign captured the largest portion of the vote of any congressional challenger in the state of Florida."

External link
http://www.votejan.com /

Jan's endorsements from last time and this time, just to show the power the party wields in such cases. It is truly amazing.

http://www.votejan.com/endorsements.html
ENDORSEMENTS
Former U.S. Comptroller of the Currency Eugene Ludwig
Former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert B. Reich
Former Deputy Administrator U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Robert M. Sussman

PREVIOUS ENDORSEMENTS
Sarasota Herald –Tribune
The Herald
Venice Gondolier
Pelican Press
Alliance for Retired Americans
American Association of University Women PAC
Brady Voter Education Fund
Business & Professional Women USA/PAC
Daily Kos
Democracy for America
Florida AFL-CIO,
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers PAC
Teamsters Union PAC
United Auto Workers PAC
Florida Consumer Action Network
Florida League of Conservation Voters
HillPac (Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton)
Manasota Veterans for Common Sense
Ms. President PAC
National Organization for Women PAC

National Women’s Political Caucus
People for the American Way PAC
Planned Parenthood Federal PAC
Sierra Club PAC
Women’s Action for New Directions PAC
Women’s Campaign Fund
Edward Asner, actor
Ambassador Carol Moseley Braun, former U.S. Senator from Illinois
Senator Max Cleland, former U.S. Senator from Georgia
Former Sarasota Mayor Jerome Dupree
Former Sarasota County Tax Collector Rebecca Eger
Harvard Economist John Kenneth Galbraith
Former U.S. Comptroller of the Currency Eugene A. Ludwig
Former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno
Martin Sheen, actor
Former Deputy Administrator U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Robert M. Sussman

Last time we talked to Jan she was just not sure she was running, not sure she could overcome any of the machine. I have not heard lately if she is. This one is kind of personal. She is a classy lady. Well, she is running.

[minvis]

2. It's Cegelis/Duckworth all over again

Let's see. The same DCCC involved in this one. Great!:sarcasm:

[The Magistrate]

3. As A Matter Of Curiousity, Ma'am

What is it you do not like about Ms. Jennings?

[madfloridian]

4. You don't get it.

That is not what this is about. You have asked me that several times. I don't even know Jennings. I just know the kind of person Jan is...everything you need to know is in the two posts above.

It is a matter of expediency for Rahm and Karen Thurman, our state chair. It is easier to run millionaires who can self-finance.

Rahm and Karen traveled to South Florida and recruited a Republican millionaire to run. There were Democrats available.

I don't think I could explain it any better. It is just that the primaries are for the people to choose. They did last time. They chose Jan over Jennings. Yet Rahm, Boxer, others are going with the one Jan beat.

Read the bold part above. I am not going to explain any more than that. It is setting up a possibly bad situation that does not have to be.

[The Magistrate]

5. It Does Indeed Seem, Ma'am, Our Interests In The Matter Differ

And certainly if you have some personal acquaintance and allegiance with Ms. Schneider, that is more than sufficient reason for loyal attachment: "He did it for a friend!" is one of the old rallying cries of my sort of politics.

It would also seem a sensible occassion to protest if there were some great ideological difference between two candidates in a primary, but in a number of these cases it is not clear to me that there is such a great difference. In some instances, there are some exaggerations and hyperbolic comments suggesting great difference, that dissolve on close inspection.

The preference for local organization over national organization, though, does not seem to have any merit to me. It is essential that this Congessional election be nationalized, that candidates be running on a nationwide platform to a nationwide theme, for this offers the best chance of capitalizing on the broad distaste current in the public for the present regime, and offers an antidote to the common view that drives many elections for the House, namely that whatever is going on nationally, "my" Representative is different from the rest, and all right. This requires a good deal of co-ordination, and that can be better achieved where candidates feel some allegiance to the national organization, and are responsive to its directions.

[madfloridian]

6. Are you implying Jan doesn't have allegiance to the national party?

I hope you are not. It boils down to big money. I would rather a candidate have allegiance to the district she serves instead of being drafted as a millionaire to self-finance.

Jan is a party player, she always has been.

You see it as the people not having as much right as one or two people to choose their candidate. I see it as takin away their right to choose.

[The Magistrate]

7. On Your Showing, Ma'am

It would not displease me if she won.

The capability to raise funds, though, should not be sneered at as a consderation in assessing chances of success in the general election.

[madfloridian]

8. And I forgot to add this district...

FL 16 is another district in which the DCCC handpicked. They picked a Republican millionaire named Tim Mahoney over two Democrats already in the race. The two Democrats are Carol McLean and David Lutrin. The party has the big dough behind an already millionaire, they pay for his website is my understanding.