I have lately done a lot of wondering about where the heck is Alex Sink?
Her opponent for governor, the very right wing Bill McCollum, is suing over the health care reform bill. He is supporting the Florida legislature's Republicans who are about to destroy the careers of teacher who are devoted to their profession.
Where is Alex on this issue? Mostly silent. Teachers under this bill will find their advanced degrees don't matter, their experience and caring doesn't matter. Only one test matters. As far as I can tell, crickets from Alex.
We worked for her hubby, Bill McBride, when he ran against Jeb. We worked hand in hand with one of the local Republicans who knew what Jeb was up to. I remember just before he lost the election, we worked with those Republicans to call the campaign office and ask why they were refusing to stand up for important issues. We had handed them much info to use about things going on in the state.
I remember the debate where Bill smiled a lot, and Jeb ran over him like a steamroller.
Now Alex Sink is doing the same thing Bill did in that 2002 campaign. Failing to stand up for important issues, failing to speak up when it was demanded and needed. Doing the DLC campaign practice of being bipartisan to a fault.
Howard Troxler says it well, and Alex Sink needs to listen. She would be a great governor, but she is failing to be a good candidate.
MacKay, McBride, Davis … Sink?It would be better if the Democrats ran somebody for governor this year. It seems unsporting to let the probable Republican nominee, Bill McCollum, waltz into the job. This is not out of any disrespect for McCollum. Rather my bias is always toward a good contest. So the Democrats ought to come up with a candidate, which, at last check, they have not done.
The trouble with Democrats (if you do not mind sweeping generalizations, and if you do, too bad) is that they run because they are convinced of their own merits, and that Republicans are bad. Yet they rarely remember to go about the crucial task of winning the most votes in the election. This is a tiresome flaw. After all, there are more Democrats than Republicans in Florida, but you would not know it. The Republicans have a strong majority in the Legislature and all but one seat on the state Cabinet. Florida has had a Republican governor for the past 12 years straight and is leaning toward making it 16
McCollum is well ahead of her now in polls. I have been waiting for her to make a big move.
But for the Democrats since then — pish! They all ran the same race. They ran as if they were running for class president. They ran as if the winner would be chosen by a committee of philosophers. They ran as if the Governor's Mansion would go to the candidate with the highest SAT score. In short, they assumed that the people of the state had to recognize their merit sooner or later. This is always disastrous.
These days, some people say that Alex Sink, our state's chief financial officer and the only Democrat in the Cabinet, would be a good candidate for governor. Since she has not actually engaged in a campaign so far, it is impossible to tell how she would do in one, but the road map of what she should not do is crystal clear.
She cannot hem and haw her way into the job. She cannot duck questions, dodge issues, or run and hide inside her office whenever somebody asks her something tough, while her oh-so-loyal, oh-so-protective, oh-so-worshipful aides cry out, "No more questions! No more questions!"
Nope. If Alex Sink were going to run for governor, she would need to get out there and stick it to the Republicans.
Amen to Troxler.
And now that I think about it, where are the other Florida Democratic leaders and candidates while teachers are being handed their heads on a silver platter?
Troxler is right about Florida Democrats. They run as if they were running for class president. They are fearful of issues, preferring instead to be bipartisan in all things.
The very essence of failure.