You know flailing Democrats are in 'kitchen sink' mode when someone decides it would be a good idea for Charlie Crist to try to paint Ron DeSantis as the COVID shutdown governor. It's so preposterous -- cutting against DeSantis' brand, Floridians' fresh memories of recent history, and relentless Democratic/media attacks against DeSantis -- that it had zero chance of resonating. But desperate times call for desperate measures, so ole' Charlie gave 'Lockdown Ron' a whirl on the debate stage and social media this week. It did not go well for him:
Governor DeSantis is the only governor in Florida history to shut down the schools and lock down businesses. #FLGovDebate
— Charlie Crist (@CharlieCrist) October 24, 2022
Charlie Crist attempts to paint Gov. Ron DeSantis as "the shutdown guy" immediately after DeSantis talks about how he rejected Crist's calls to shut the state down. pic.twitter.com/0XoEbgq4Pg
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) October 24, 2022
Perhaps Crist insisted on using his infamous personal fan during the debate in order to help stave off flop sweat. Another development in Florida's gubernatorial race this week came in the form of an interesting letter signed by numerous high-profile members of Crist's former administration. Remember, Crist professed to be a 'Reagan conservative' as governor years ago, before he launched a sore-loser independent run for Senate (which he lost), followed by yet another party switch. As a Democratic Congressman, Crist has effectively voted against his entire former agenda, because he doesn't actually believe in anything. In the new letter, Crist's former colleagues, advisers and cabinet members strongly endorse Ron DeSantis for re-election. Which makes sense. They are conservative Republicans who served in an administration billed and elected as a conservative Republican administration. Crist has run away from himself, and them. But they still believe things, so the choice in 2022, they say, is quite clear in their minds:
LETTER: pic.twitter.com/9I0N2fFmLK
— Florida’s Voice (@FLVoiceNews) October 25, 2022
That missive is short and to the point. You'll notice that signatories include Crist's own former chief of staff, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, and others. "We unanimously endorse Governor Ron DeSantis for re-election," they write. What a rebuke to the man they all served with and under. For what it's worth, it does appear as though the people of Florida are lopsidedly siding with Crist's ex-colleagues. We mentioned a few days ago that four recent Florida polls showed DeSantis leading by ten or more points. Well, make it five:
🚨 FLORIDA POLL By @UNFPORL
— InteractivePolls (@IAPolls2022) October 26, 2022
GOV
(R) Ron DeSantis 55% (+14)
(D) Charlie Crist 41%
SEN
(R) Marco Rubio 54% (+11)
(D) Val Demings 43%
AG
(R) Ashley Moody 50% (+14)
(D) Aramis Ayala 36%
⦿ 622 LV | 10/17-24 | MoE ±4.7%https://t.co/nMh6qJvRnK pic.twitter.com/NAwuJpkaoE
Now make it six -- and seven. Maybe I'm clinging to an obsolete reality about Florida politics, but I'm still struggling to imagine a statewide race being decided by double digits, despite what the polling shows. Maybe I need to expand my imagination. The early voting data is also looking grim for Democrats, with their traditional advantage in this realm dwindling away:
(1) 10/25 MAIL: +149K, 43.1-37.3% D/R (+5.8% D)
— John Couvillon (@WinWithJMC) October 26, 2022
(2) 10/25 IP: +119K, 52.7-30.9% R/D (+21.8% R)
(3) TOT MAIL: 1441K, 42.5-37.9% D/R (+4.6%D)
(4) TOT IP: 227K, 52.3-31.4% R/D (+20.9% R)
(5) TOT EV: 1668K, 41.0-39.8% D/R (+1.2%D)
(2/2)
One way a GOP blowout in Florida materializes is if the early voting is very competitive, with a deluge of red votes arriving on election day. It's looking plausible. I'll leave you with another embarrassment coming out of this week's debate. Some Crist backers accused DeSantis supporters of chanting "refried beans" about Crist's running mate, a teachers union boss who attacked the governor for following the science and opening schools. She is Hispanic. Video quickly revealed DeSantis' fans were actually and unambiguously chanting..."keep Florida free." Tweets were deleted. If you're falsely imagining other people yelling "refried beans" about a Latina, when they were doing nothing of the sort, who's the racist?
2/2 Deleted the below, but posting this here
— Marc Caputo (@MarcACaputo) October 25, 2022
I’m sure someone will complain pic.twitter.com/uz2u4WpdVt
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