Just the other day, I saw a tweet from someone (for the life of me, I can't remember who it, and I wish I could give them credit) noting that the media has been awfully quiet about Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis lately. This observer mused that this is the best evidence available that DeSantis is doing an excellent job managing the aftermath of Hurricane Ian. It's hard to argue with the logic. If virtually anything at all were going wrong, the Left and their allies in the news media would be jumping out of their socks to 'Katrina' the guy. They've already tried and failed.
Incidentally, isn't it interesting that Katrina was President Bush's scandal -- and not the fault of Louisiana's Democratic governor or New Orleans' Democratic mayor -- whereas the clear goal here was to blame any mishaps on a Republican governor, but not the Democratic president. Odd, that. I'm sure there's some sort of explanation. Anyway, the lack of caterwauling and breathless "questions swirling" coverage really does suggest that DeSantis is getting the job done, and quite well at that. His magnanimous and friendly interaction with President Biden, who notably praised the governor's leadership, seemed to let the air out of that balloon. Plus, how does even the most hostile press corps, which is what DeSantis has confronted for years, spin the following story into a negative? Here was the governor's update on a badly damaged bridge just a few days ago:
Thankful for the hard work that went into the temporary repair of the Sanibel Causeway that allowed a one-time convoy onto the island.
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) October 17, 2022
We are working around the clock to get the Causeway restored for the public. pic.twitter.com/pZwt6HjUbp
The bridge had been temporarily repaired enough as to allow one convoy of vehicles and supplies to cross, but the goal was to get traffic flowing again. As of Wednesday, that realty arrived, in remarkably short order:
Three weeks ago, Hurricane Ian destroyed the Sanibel Causeway in three places, leaving the island of Sanibel isolated.
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) October 19, 2022
Today, we have re-opened the causeway for our residents after completing temporary repairs more than a week ahead of schedule. Way to go! pic.twitter.com/cxO6Kj9o4w
The governor's announcement:
This is competence and leadership. And it's very much the opposite of the type of bureaucracy-drowned ennui that bogs down actual progress in places with other governing priorities and philosophies. Places where abominations like this are tolerated-to-expected. Places...like this:
The San Francisco Chronicle reported earlier today the city is spending $1.7 million to build a single public toilet and it won't be done until 2025.
— Mark Hemingway (@Heminator) October 19, 2022
Two Americas, I guess. https://t.co/xZCYA3rgzo
Here's that story, alongside another depressing vignette out of 'progressive' San Francisco, if you can stomach it. By contrast, Florida's superb, all-hands-on-deck, hyper-focused response is why I don't reflexively dismiss the possibility of something like this happening (despite not knowing anything about the pollster or the quality of the survey):
𝐍𝐄𝐖 𝐏𝐎𝐋𝐋: Ron DeSantis holds 𝟭𝟬 𝗣𝗢𝗜𝗡𝗧 lead over Charlie Crist in FL Governor Race
— InteractivePolls (@IAPolls2022) October 17, 2022
(R) Ron DeSantis 52% (+10)
(D) Charlie Crist 42%
Independents
(R) Ron DeSantis 59% (+21)
(D) Charlie Crist 38%@SachsMediaGrp | October 15 | LV'shttps://t.co/dLVhiHW0YF pic.twitter.com/UFw3u1kmOY
Ten points would be astounding, but my over/under is six points at this point, and I think I'd take the slight over. Maybe not so slight, come to think of it:
These numbers are, to coin a phrase, godawful for the Democrats. https://t.co/V2g3NCQtCv
— Varad Mehta (@varadmehta) October 19, 2022
The mail-in vote should skew heavily Democratic. Those Miami Dade numbers are eye-opening. And check out the overall Florida data on partisan breakdown, as of yesterday, compared to this point in 2020:
Shout out to @WinWithJMC for putting this data together. I added the improvement in GOP margin of these AB/EV voters (CLICK IMAGE TO SEE). Something's a brewing! pic.twitter.com/BdTIpXa8Rx
— Brent Buchanan (@brentbuc) October 19, 2022
Trying to draw any confident conclusions from murky and incomplete early voting data and trends is a fool's errand. That said, if Florida Republicans are even in the ballpark of competitiveness with Democrats in the early vote totals, with a heavy expected red skew on the election day turnout, this could turn into a real blowout. In case you missed it in Rebecca's post, I'll leave you with a bruising moment from the Sunshine State's Senate debate this week:
It’s almost not even fair that Demings had to debate Rubio. She’s so out of her depth. This is how most of the debate went. So painful. #FLSenDebate pic.twitter.com/DMKF160k9X
— ⚜️ Ellen Carmichael ⚜️ (@ellencarmichael) October 19, 2022
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