Enter
title “In Heavily Republican District, Democrats Proved They
Can Compete,” emphasizes that
Republicans spent “millions to
salvage a district they have held
for six decades,” and that “electorate doesn’t reflect the general
election landscape Democrats
will face in November.”
It’s all too clever by half. While
outside groups did dump their
ducats into the race on behalf of
Jolly, it was the GOP candidate
who spent the bulk of the race at
a significant financial disadvantage. As the National Journal’s
Scott Bland reports, “Sink outspent Jolly about 4-to-1 on the
airwaves,” leaving it to “outside
groups including the National
Republican Congressional Committee, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, American Action Network,
and American Crossroads” to
help “close the financial gap.”
More importantly, however, is
that the DCCC is glossing over
the part where “President Obama
won a majority of the vote across
the district in 2008 (51.9 percent of the vote) and again in
2012 (50.7 percent),” and how
in 2010 “Sink received 51.1 percent of the vote in FL-13 despite
losing statewide to Rick Scott.”
LOOKING FORWARD
IN ANGST
HUFFINGTON
03.16-23.14
That’s from a 2013 DCCC memo
in which these facts were not
overlooked, which was surfaced
in timely fashion by Slate’s Dave
Weigel, who also provides some
handy-dandy maps that put the
erosion in rather stark relief.
In short, this is one of the
districts that Democrats had
more than a dim hope of winning. That they couldn’t — and
keep in mind that mere months
Jolly’s journey from
afterthought to victor probably
gives a boost to any GOP
candidate running far behind
their Democratic contender
at this point in the race.”
ago, Sink had commanding leads
in the polls — should be more
than a little unnerving ahead of a
midterm election in which none
of the underlying fundamentals
present themselves as advantageous. Jolly’s journey from afterthought to victor probably gives
a boost to any GOP candidate
running far behind their Democratic contender at this point
in the race. And it will sap the
Democrats of what optimism