Test Q: Could Florida go the way of Massachusetts? Discuss

Here's the way it's outlined in today's Miami Herald and St. Petersburg Times. We scroll down to the comments for some good description of how Florida and Massachusetts are NOT alike. And we shouldn't have the same outcome as Tuesday's rout in Massachusetts. But we will have to work hard.

Smart comment to the effect that Floridians, unlike the good people of Massachusetts, know what it's like to be governed by Republicans. And are not likely to make the same mistake.

First requirement is to view this as a multiyear task -- to think about not only the November 2010 election but also beyond to 2012 when redistricting will have taken place. That, in turn, means we have to think back to this year and make sure that the anti-gerrymandering referendum passes. Thank you for getting this up and running, Fair Districts Florida!

Donate TODAY to stop Florida gerrymandering

Today, Wednesday Sept. 9, 2009, is the day we've all agreed -- We have, haven't we? -- to donate to Fair Districts Florida to support the petition drive to stop gerrymandering.

Here's the link: http://www.fairdistrictsflorida.org/home.php

The logic is simple and direct. A big reason for Florida's political jungle is the fact that gerrymandering leads to gross misrepresentation in the state legislature and our congressional delegation. Even though there are many more registered Democrats than Republicans in Florida, the legislature lately has been almost three-fourths Republican and the Congressional delegation almost two-thirds Republican.

The petition that your donations support will put a referendum question on the ballot next year to ban political considerations in drawing district lines. We're all doing this on 9/9/09 to make an impact. Please do it before midnight Wednesday.

I just made my donation. I feel victory coming on already.

Pledge to donate on 9/9/09 to end gerrymandering

How to fix the Florida legislature? How to fix our gerrymandered congressional districts?

Change the Florida constitution to ban gerrymandering! That’s the aim of Fair Districts Florida, and this wonderful organization has gathered almost 1.5 million petitions to get the issue on the ballot.

Next step is to raise our personal support of this ambitious drive by donating to help.

I have pledged to donate. Have you?

Please go to fairdistrictsflorida.org/9909 and add your name to the pledge rollcall. I did it this morning and was #88 to sign up. A short while ago the numbers was approaching 150. Please add your pledge.

Then on Sept. 9 we will all pledge together and raise the money needed to process our mountain of petitions.

Thank you for listening and pledging. Now, please go do it.

More on our serial soap opera: congressional races

Too much to say, so little time before the pillow demands my presence.

Starting with our serial soap opera:

Three posts on DailyKos today about our two Democratic members of the U.S. house who can’t figure out a good reason to publicly support three fine Democrats who are challenging the three Republicans who misrepresent Miami-Dade County along with chunks of Broward, Collier and all of Monroe.

Starting with the last, by DavidNYC. It hit the Kos front page about 10 p.m. Short and pithy, bound to make Debbie Wasserman Schultz mad: it declares she has to "buck up" and heartily endorse our three candidates.

Way back in the early morning DavidNYC was on the front page of Kos with a view of how the top of the Democratic Party in Washington would view the situation.

And down in the diaries we had a Florida perspective on it, in which Tally wrote in a Kos Diary how it all was related to gerrymandering. Tally advised all of us to work on the petition to amend the state constitution to ban gerrymandering.

Tally's diary drew a commenter who remarked a little unbelievingly that Joe Garcia says in his campaign speeches that Mario Diaz-Balart designed Congressional District 25 for himself while in the state House. I had to chime in with the comment:

Yes, indeed, Joe Garcia often says that FL-25 was drawn up by the Republican incumbent, Mario Diaz-Balart (whom I happened to see on C-span in the House today fumbling for fulminating words during the budget debate). It's true. I will try to get Joe to start carrying those petitions to end gerrymandering.

Fine diary. It takes the story steps further along into the reason we're in this pickle where Republicans with fewer registered voters than Democrats in Florida have 16 house seats and the Democrats have 9. Gerrymandering. Americans won't stand for this, will they?

Well, then I thought I ought to look up the figures to be sure that there are more registered Democrats than Republicans. Sure enough, over at the Florida Secretary of State, Division of Elections, there are PDF files with very small print that reveal a total of 10,203,122 registered voters in Florida as of the Jan. 29 presidential primary. Of them:

4,137,067 were Democrats
3,825,727 were Republicans
1,911,510 were Non-Party Affiliated
Lots more were in minor parties.

Perhaps not all Democrats vote for D candidates for Congress. And perhaps not all Republicans will vote for their local R. But let’s just say it out loud: there’s no way that such a party breakdown can fairly lead to a 16-9 advantage by the smaller party. So I want to applaud and declare heroic those who are working that petition to make gerrymandering plainly unconstitutional in Florida. Let’s do it!