Hello, Michael Putney, meet the Democrat running for Congress in District 18

It was pretty funny to hear the tremendously well-informed Michael Putney say to US Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen that she was running unopposed for Congress. Oh. no, replied the ever-alert member of the US House. I have an opponent. This was on live TV (I'm guessing it was live) Sunday mid-day, WPLG Local 10.

Well, here's the well-informed Democrat running to unseat the vastly incumbent Ms Ros. He's Rolando Banciella, born in Cuba, resident in South Florida since age 10.

If you look at his specs on http://banciella2010.info/, you'll see that his background is in real estate, and unlike the rich Democrat running for the US Senate, Banciella (click on the Who/Why link) didn't try to make a billion betting against home-owners and the banks but rather suggests that the government bail out the people with mortgages.

Sounds reasonable. He also has ideas for how to bring Social Security back to good health. Not to kill it, like Ms. Ros's party -- to bring it back to good health. And it sounds reasonable.

So, Michael Putney, how about retrieving your fumble on the Congressional races in your bailiwick, and inviting Rolando Banciella up for a talk. You've given his opponent a ton of time. Now's the time for fair.

FL-25: A Diaz-Balart raver catches TV attention

Hey, Mario, you forgot to take your pills.



Narration by Michael Putney, senior reporter for ABC Channel 10 in Miami.

Now I wonder if the editorial board over at the Miami Herald might reconsider their failure to endorse our calm and collected Joe Garcia for the US House in District 25.

Congressional candidates finally talk; Dems are superb

I haven’t heard Dave Patlak so revved-up since he was just back from Camp Obama.

“I’ve finally realized my dream!” he shouted down the phone.

What was it? A “debate forum” that brought together the three rubber-stamp Republican members of Congress from South Florida with their Democratic challengers. The format was so restricted that the designated moderator, Michael Putney of ABC Channel 10, withdrew and wrote in Wednesday’s Miami Herald that it “promises to be little more than a dumb show – a play done in pantomime, Kabuki theater.”

Someone among the candidates – no one would confess to it – had demanded that the sponsoring Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce reveal the questions beforehand, otherwise no show. Putney said he suspected one of the Republican campaigns for making the demand.

So there was a certain “canned” atmosphere, but the encounter itself was enough to give Dave Patlak chills down his spine, since when he ran for the District 18 seat in 2006, incumbent Ileana Ros-Lehtinen wouldn’t even touch the idea of a debate with a 10-foot pole. Now Democratic challenger Annette Taddeo is running a powerful and well-financed campaign against Ros-Lehtinen, and Patlak said she spoke with wonderful heart and directly demanded that Ros-Lehtinen explain her votes against expanding children’s health insurance.

And Patlak had ringing praise for Joe Garcia and Raul Martinez, who are challenging the Diaz-Balart brothers in Districts 25 and 21, respectively. Patlak said Joe Garcia was “presidential” in his remarks against Mario Diaz-Balart and Martinez was “dominating” against Lincoln Diaz-Balart.

Alas, no one took the trouble to spread the word that the forum was being broadcast live on NBC6.net, so it could have been watched as it was under way. Channel 6 assures me that it’s being processed and uploaded, and should be available Wednesday evening on their archives website.

The Diaz-Balarts, Patlak reported, repeatedly tried to joke their way out of tough corners, and Ros-Lehtinen pranced around like a cheerleader to disguise her weak positions. I hope for more detail from Dave later, amid his constant work on the Obama campaign – he was off to deliver yard signs.

Meanwhile, here’s some word from Joe Garcia about a forum where he and Mario Diaz-Balart appeared earlier this week.

Not once did he offer a plan as to how we're going to get our economy moving again. He also never spoke about how we're going to make health care more affordable for the 1 out of 3 people in South Florida that don't have any.

Here's what he did do: He lied, attacked me, played partisan politics and made jokes.

There's nothing funny about thousands of struggling middle-class families losing their homes, or teachers getting laid off in places like Kendall and West Miami-Dade. The fact that Mario Diaz-Balart has voted over 90% of the time with the failed economic policies of George W. Bush is no laughing matter.

It's no surprise now why Mario Diaz-Balart insists on having questions given to him ahead of time.

This is what politicians do when they've only passed one bill after six years in Washington.

This is why we need change.

Our campaign is different. It's about finding solutions to the problems we face, like fixing our broken economy.

The stakes couldn't be higher. Get involved and let's make history.

Thank you so much for being there for us,

Being there means helping. You will find these links useful in getting to a place where you can help. Annette Taddeo. Raul Martinez. Joe Garcia.

The Putney Challenge, and more from the news

The daily run through the Miami Herald was over 50 percent dispiriting on Sunday, and the list will appear below. But first here’s the pep-up item that hit at the end of Michael Putney’s Sunday morning show, “This week in South Florida,” on WPLG Channel 10.

He cast a sharp eye on wet foot/dry foot, the policy that lets Cuban migrants stay in the United States if they reach dry land but most likely repatriates them to Cuba if they are stopped at sea. I didn’t have a tape running on the show, so these aren’t direct quotes, but his argument ran as follows:

The people who run the smuggling boats are prosecuted, but those who are smuggled are not, though they participated in an illegal act. Also not prosecuted are their relatives who paid for the smuggling. Then there’s the fact that those who are smuggled would be likely to oppose the Castro regime if they remained in Cuba, so this U.S. policy amounts to a safety valve that lets the Castros get rid of opponents. This doesn’t make sense, and Putney looks forward to hearing from the candidates for Congress with new ideas.

Call that the Putney challenge. Let’s hear from Annette Taddeo, running in District 18, Raul Martinez in District 21 and Joe Garcia in District 25. Anyone got a new idea to replace wet foot/dry foot?

May I also ask our D friends among the incumbents, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, District 20, and Kendrick Meek, District 17. Any new ideas? Friends?

This policy is one of my favorites in declaring South Florida as having driven the United States slightly mad. Ethnic politics gone ‘round the bend. Think how this looks from Mars.

I’m not in favor of prosecuting more people – the jails are far too populous already. I AM in favor of having less organized crime around, and smuggling is part of that underworld. Where I do some of my recreation, in the Florida Keys with boating enthusiasts, theft of high-powered boats is a serious problem, to the point that my slow sailboat is not a target for thieves, nor is an ordinary powerboat with puny motors.

It seems pretty clear we need new thinking in this area. I’m waiting to hear responses to the Putney challenge.

Meanwhile, my list from the Sunday Herald:

Headline: Miami Cuban groups to get less aid.

This one presents opportunities for our Democratic challengers for Congress, though it would help if the Herald didn’t ignore our reasonable comments, e.g. what Joe Garcia said the other day when this began to emerge. In part: "Today's developments underscore the fundamental flaws of a policy designed to win votes in Miami and patronize partisan supporters -- not bring freedom to Cuba.” See the rest of his statement here.

Headline: Delegates seated in limbo.

Political writer Beth Reinhard once again mines the – for her – fertile field of how the Democrats screwed up the primary date and their participation in the Democratic convention. And once again never mentions that it was a Republican idea in the first place. Also doesn’t mention that the Republican-dominated legislature is in session and could be encouraged to do the right thing for all the primary voters whose votes were diluted or swept aside by the legislative foolishness of last year. Hey, Tallahassee! Let’s have another primary!

Headline: 10 great destinations to see before it's too late.

This was shocking. The Herald’s Travel section kisses off the Everglades by mentioning the environmental jewel of South Florida as one of 10 world destinations endangered by global warming. Go See These Places Now! And by the way, here’s two paragraphs about the ‘Glades.

Let me tell you: we’ve got some ideas about saving the Everglades, starting with electing Democrats to Congress and building the Skyway to help restore natural water flow in the River of Grass.

Headline: Don't trust this gang with our state's future.

On the positive side, Carl Hiaasen’s Sunday column identifies Jeb Bush as a central driver in the odd business that may get more religion into our politics in Florida. "The unseen hand behind this crusade belongs to former Gov. Jeb Bush ..."

Headline: Pleas to save homes put lawmakers in bind.

Back to the negative: If you, like me, opened the Sunday Herald to p. 5A and saw the little file shot of Lincoln Diaz-Balart on a story about the Foreclosure Crisis, you may have looked in vain for mention of the person running against the FL-21 incumbent. You may have noticed that the story, datelined Hialeah, was not from the Miami Herald’s own stable of writers or from the Herald’s owners, McClatchey. It was a NY Times news service article, so you could look it up online and see a more balanced report, including a photo of Democratic challenger Raul Martinez, and two paragraphs of comment from him, as follows:

Raul Martinez, a former mayor of Hialeah who is running against Mr. Diaz-Balart, said he planned to point out repeatedly that his opponent was slow to help homeowners in crisis.

“People are so concerned about taking care of themselves they might not call anybody,” Mr. Martinez said. “You may not want to let the world know you are losing the house. We have a lot of proud people in our community.” As for Mr. Diaz-Balart, he said, “If I was him, I wouldn’t be waiting. I would be out there leading.”

I can only wonder what Republican breakfast food it is that they eat at the Herald when deciding which words to cut from a piece like this. Let’s see, we’ll cut this guy, he’s a Democrat …

I call this one: Herald misuses NY Times article.

“Team Democrat” – A sweep in view for South Florida in Congress

This is a link to Michael Putney’s column in the Wednesday Miami Herald about our three Democrats running for Congress against Republican incumbents in South Florida.

In itself the story is close to equal to all the coverage our candidates got two years ago mounting vigorous but lightly funded challenges to the same ineffective trio.

I’d pick away at things here and there in Putney’s column – Who are those people who think Ileana Ros-Lehtinen is so great? But no, let’s celebrate the fact that the coverage of our three launches is ample and pretty fair.

Last night I spent some time with Big Dave Patlak, who ran against Ros-Lehtinen in District 18 two years ago (I was his media guy and nominal campaign manager) and we marveled at the attention this year’s candidate, Annette Taddeo, is receiving. “She’s already got more publicity than we got in the whole campaign!” Dave exclaimed. In admiration, I say emphatically. And me, too.

The drift of Putney’s article is that our three candidates were recruited by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Some will dispute that, though the DCCC certainly had a role. Who found the candidates for the DCCC to vet? I think more of a South Florida grass-roots thing is at work. And they certainly wanted to run themselves.

There is a rising up here (Have I been listening to Obama and Edwards a lot in recent months?) of people who see a need to assert leadership against entrenched and ineffective (that word again) representatives in Congress.

The incumbents do not represent us well. If they did, we’d have expanded health insurance coverage for children and the troops would be coming out of Iraq, and we’d have habeas corpus back and no torture permitted.

And they do not lead well. If they did, we’d be doing a good job protecting the Everglades and advancing alternative energy, and someone would have yelled that the economy was going to tank thanks to our over-development.

They may have convinced Michael Putney that they’re popular, but I have my doubts. If I wanted to visit my sick aunt in Cuba and couldn’t go, thanks to the Diaz-Balart brothers and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, they’d be my most unpopular people of all.

They are so vulnerable. Now, if the media will just let the story roll.

Lavish coverage of Dems in races for Congress

I had hoped to pump out a couple quick links to good coverage Sunday of our congressional races, but for some reason the Miami Herald and Channel 10 aren’t cooperating, though both revealed that Annette Taddeo is challenging Ileana Ros-Lehtinen for the U.S. House in District 18.

No links available to the news:
--Channel 10’s “This week in South Florida” program covered Taddeo, along with a live interview with Raul Martinez, challenging for District 21 against Lincoln Diaz-Balart; and a reprise of the Thursday coverage of Joe Garcia’s launch of his run for District 25 against Mario Diaz-Balart.
--Miami-Herald’s story “Ros-Lehtinen Challenged” at the top of the front page of the metro section. As far as I can tell, this was the first time Annette Taddeo was identified in the Herald as intending to run for the District 18 seat in the U.S. House.
UPDATE: Curiously, the Herald waited until Monday to post the link to the Saturday story. Perhaps an oversight.

Maybe links will come later, and I’ll change this post.

But meanwhile, there is some digital coverage available.

Andres Oppenheimer’s Herald column in the main news section reminds us of another reason to vote against John McWar with the headline: “McCain’s advice Miami-bred.” Yes, our friends the Diaz-Balarts and Ros-Lehtinen, along with Sen. Mel Martinez, are influential advisers on McCain’s thinking about our hemisphere.

Count me as agreeing heartily with Oppenheimer’s opinion that McCain “would face an uphill battle to convince the world that he represents change and would bring a breath of fresh air to Washington.” His advisers are toeing a line drawn 40 years ago.

And over on the Reuters wire Miami correspondent Tom Brown has a long piece asking whether the Republicans are “losing grip” on our local Cuban vote. Well, yes, I’d say. And the Reuters report seems pretty much in agreement. Here’s its kicker (that’s news lingo for the last words in a story:

"Unless they (Republicans) address the issues that are important to this community they may be in for, unfortunately, a rude awakening," said Jorge Mas Santos, head of the once powerful but now lower-key Cuban American National Foundation.

Me, I would have left out the word unfortunately.