GOP Wins Big In Northwest Florida House District In First Vote Since Rejecting Medicaid Expansion

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GOP wins big in Northwest Florida House district in first vote since rejecting Medicaid expansion Florida Democrats hoping the fight over Medicaid expansion and the sequester would win them support with those who depend on federal funding won’t find much encouragement in Tuesday’s special election for House District 2.

In the first referendum since House Republicans bypassed more than $50 billion in federal aid for health care, Mike Hill, a 55-year-old tea party Republican insurance agent, won 57.9 percent of the vote in a Northwest Florida district that has an economy dominated by hospitals as well as the military -- which is weathering a sequester deal rife with budget cuts forced by congressional Republicans.

Hill’s Democratic opponent, Jeremy Lau, mustered 42.1 percent of the vote in a special election held after Rep. Clay Ford died in March. Lau, a 40-year-old aircraft mechanic for L-3 Com Vertex Aerospace, a military contractor at Pensacola Naval Station, had made Medicaid expansion his No. 1 issue.

“The failure of the Legislature to expand Medicaid has cost our district jobs,” Lau said. “It’s a huge issue here.”

A University of Florida study concluded that expansion of Medicaid would create an average of 1,619 full-time and part-time jobs in Escambia County annually over the next 10 years and help provide coverage for county’s residents, 20 percent of whom don’t have health insurance.

But Lau couldn’t overcome the district’s conservative demographics (Mitt Romney won 59 percent of the vote here in 2012) and Hill’s overwhelming financial advantage. The district, which covers parts of Escambia and Santa Rosa counties, leans so hard right that no Democrat ran in either 2010 or 2012 against Ford. Hill raised $200,000 compared to Lau’s $29,500, getting plenty of help from the GOP, which chipped in $51,000. Democrats could manage only $1,090 for Lau.

Hill also made the Medicaid expansion a key issue, but as a way to spruce up his conservative credentials.

“I’m so proud of Speaker (Will Weatherford) and the House for turning that down,” Hill said. “We can’t afford that in Florida.”

Hill, a veteran of the U.S. Air Force, becomes the first black Republican in the Florida House since Jennifer Carroll served there between 2003 and 2010. He’s also the first black legislator from Northwest Florida since Reconstruction.

“I know the historical significance,” Hill said. “But it doesn’t matter to me if I’m the first black this or that. I don’t want to be chosen based on my skin color. I want to be chosen based on my character and my value system.”

 

Hill founded the Northwest Florida Tea Party in 2010. He summarizes his value system succinctly: “Limited government, low taxes, personal freedom and individual responsibility.”

He said he will aim to eliminate the corporate tax rate, reduce the state sales tax and eliminate rules and regulations for business.

“People want jobs, they want business to expand,” Hill said.

He lists his net worth, as of April 1, at $1.1 million, deriving about $424,000 a year from his State Farm Insurance agency. He makes another $8,000 a year sitting on the board of Pride Enterprises, which is a St. Petersburg company that makes state license plates using prison inmates. Hill said he supports the program as a board member, but said that as a legislator, he will evaluate the contract independently of his association with PRIDE. Upon running, however, he did step down from his board position with Integrity Florida, a public watchdog group in Tallahassee.

This is the first elected office held by Hill, who ran and lost in 2010 a senate race against Greg Evers. He recently got a shout-out from MSNBC talking head Joe Scarborough for his support in his congressional campaigns from the early 1990s.

Hill is new to District 2. He moved last week to a Pensacola Beach condo so he could qualify. Florida law requires candidates to live in the district upon getting elected. Hill said he actually lived in Ford’s district, but was drawn out of it when the boundaries were reconfigured last year.

He will have a year more in the Legislature than the next class of rooking lawmakers, giving him a headstart in the race for House Speaker. Other recent “red-shirt” freshmen to become speakers or speaker designates are Marco Rubio, who served as speaker in 2008 and 2009, and Jose Oliva, who is designated to become speaker in 2018.

But Hill wouldn’t say if he will vie for the Speaker job in 2020.

“I don’t know what it means to be Speaker,” Hill said. “I don’t know if it’s something I want.”

In a statement from the Republican Party of Florida, Weatherford welcomed Hill.

"Representative Hill will be a strong voice for limited government and individual liberty," Weatherford stated.

 "His election sends a clear message that Floridians want smaller government, lower taxes, and the freedom to pursue the American Dream," said Rep. Steve Crisafulli, R-Merritt Island, in a statement. "Representative Hill will be a strong conservative voice in our caucus."

Crisafulli, who is set to become Speaker in 2014, shares political consultants with Hill: Meteoric Media Strategies, founded by former Gov. Rick Scott spokesmen Brian Hughes and Brian Burgess.

Posted by Michael Van Sickler at 9:40 PM on Tuesday, Jun. 11, 2013 in 2013 FLORIDA LEGISLATURE, Will Weatherford | Permalink

The Miami HeraldCopyright 2013 The Miami Herald. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Comments

You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.

A lot of Hill's money came from the Insurance Industry. You can expect him to continue the attacks on Citizens and the overblown estimates of storm exposure in Floriduh. In other words, you can expect him to continue the inflated premiums and the corporate welfare system Republicans hold near and dear to their hearts and wallets (that's a redundant statement).

Posted by:Anti-Tallahassee |June 12, 2013 at 12:34 AM

Just what Florida needs--another Tea Party Legislator.

Posted by:M.A. Salfinger |June 12, 2013 at 07:26 AM

One more nut for the fruitcake in Tallahassee!!

Posted by:Doug Watson |June 12, 2013 at 10:09 AM

Glad to know that corporate welfare will continue to be the primary mission of the Florida Legislature. West Florida has always been much more a part of Alabama than Florida. No real loss if we just partitioned the state at the Apalachicola River.

Posted by:Can't take anymore |June 12, 2013 at 01:12 PM

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Remarks by the President on Rebuilding America Partnership in Miami, Florida

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For Immediate Release March 29, 2013 Remarks by the President on Rebuilding America Partnership in Miami, Florida PortMiamiMiami, Florida  1:40 P.M. EDT THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, Miami!  (Applause.)  It is good to be back.  You know, I've been waiting for spring.  I realize I just had to come down to Miami.  (Laughter.)  It is wonderful to be here.   We've got some outstanding representatives in Congress from this area -- Joe Garcia is in the house.  (Applause.)  Frederica Wilson is in the house.  (Applause.)  And we've got Debbie Wasserman Schultz here.  (Applause.)  I want to thank the Mayor of Miami-Dade County, Carlos Gimenez.  (Applause.)  And of course, it’s good to see all of you.  And I want to thank the gentlemen who just gave me a amazing tour of the PortMiami Tunnel.  LITTLE GIRL:  Yea!  THE PRESIDENT:  What are you yelling about?  Hey, sweetie.  (Applause.) WOMAN:  She came just to see you! THE PRESIDENT:  Okay, well, hello.  (Laughter.)  She’s going to be a politician because I could hear her without a mic from far away.  (Laughter.)     Now, before we get started, I've got to get into a sticky subject right off the bat.  I know you guys aren’t happy with my Chicago Bulls. AUDIENCE:  Booo -- THE PRESIDENT:  But I just want you to know the Heat are going to be just fine.  They’re going to be okay.  (Applause.) They are playing basketball the right way.  The Hurricanes -- they had a great season -- no, no, they deserve a big round of applause.  (Applause.)  Tonight you’ve got Florida and Florida Gulf Coast going at it.  (Applause.)  One of them will go to the Elite Eight.  So, let’s face it, Florida is the center of basketball right now.  (Applause.)  But I’m not here to talk about hoops.  I’m here to talk about one of the plans that I put forward in my State of the Union address -- a plan to put people to work rebuilding America.  I’ve come to PortMiami today because there are few more important things we can do to create jobs right now and strengthen our economy over the long haul than rebuilding the infrastructure that powers our businesses and our economy -- our roads, our bridges, our schools, and our ports just like this one.  As President, my top priority is to make sure we are doing everything we can to reignite the true engine of our economic growth -- and that is a rising, thriving middle class.  A growing economy that creates good, middle-class jobs – that’s got to be our true North.  That's what has to guide our efforts every single day.  And to do that, we should be asking ourselves three questions every single day:  Number one, how do we make America a magnet for good jobs?  Number two, how do we equip our workers with the skills they need to do the jobs?  Number three, how do we make sure that hard work leads to a decent living? When it comes to good jobs, no workers were hammered harder by the recession than construction workers.  Fortunately, the unemployment rate for construction has been cut nearly in half over the past three years, partly because the housing market is starting to bounce back.  But construction still has the highest unemployment rate of any industry.  Breaking ground on more projects like this tunnel that I just saw means more good construction jobs that can’t be outsourced.  They have to be done right here in America.  And they end up giving people good pay and good opportunities to raise their families.  (Applause.)  Projects like this create a lot of other good jobs, too.  You ask any CEO where we they rather locate their business and hire new workers.  Are you going to set up shop in a country that's got raggedy roads, runways that are pot-holed, and backed-up supply chains?  Or are you going to seek out high-speed rail, Internet, high-tech schools, new state-of-the-art power grids, new bridges, new tunnels, new ports that help you ship products made in America to the rest of the world as fast as possible?  (Applause.)  That's what people are looking for.  That's what CEOs are looking for.    When you ask companies who brought jobs back to America in the last few years they’ll say, if we upgrade our infrastructure, we’ll bring even more.  So what are we waiting for?  There’s work to be done; there are workers who are ready to do it.  Let’s prove to the world there’s no better place to do business than right here in the United States of America, and let’s get started rebuilding America.  (Applause.)  Now, over the last four years, we’ve done some good work.  Construction crews have built or improved more than 350,000 miles of road.  That's enough to circle the globe 14 times.  We’ve upgraded more than 6,000 miles of rail -- enough to go coast-to-coast and back.  We’ve repaired or replaced more than 20,000 bridges.  We’ve helped get tens of thousands of construction workers back on the job.  Because of these efforts, when the American Society of [Civil] Engineers put out their 2013 report card on our national infrastructure, they gave it the best overall grade in 12 years. That’s the good news.  The bad news is we went from a D to a D+. We still have all kinds of deferred maintenance.  We still have too many ports that aren’t equipped for today’s world commerce.  We’ve still got too many rail lines that are too slow and clogged up.  We’ve still got too many roads that are in disrepair, too many bridges that aren’t safe. We don’t have to accept that for America.  We can do better. We can build better.  And in a time of tight budgets, we’ve got to do it in a way that makes sure taxpayer dollars are spent wisely. Now, what these outstanding folks here in Miami have been doing is a good example of how my plan would work.  PortMiami is a busy place.  Hundreds of cargo containers pass through every day.  Nearly one in five cruise ship passengers in North America sets sail from this spot.  All that commerce helps support a whole lot of high-paying jobs, not just in Miami-Dade, but throughout the region.   But it also, let’s face it, creates some congestion.  Right now, 16,000 cars and trucks travel to and from PortMiami every day, and they’re stuck going through downtown.  And those traffic jams are bad for business.  Whether you’re a small business owner in South Beach, or a manufacturer in Atlanta trying to get your goods overseas, that congestion wastes time and money.  Now, some smart folks decided we could solve this problem by digging under the bay, linking the port directly to the highway. State, county, and local governments got together and agreed to jointly fund PortMiami Tunnel.  Everybody had some skin in the game.  They did something else -- they partnered with a group of private sector companies to finance the design and construction of the project.  They made it clear that the payments to these companies would be linked to their performance so if there were big cost overruns, the private companies would have to eat those extra costs.  Because of those efforts, construction workers are on the job digging this tunnel, doing great jobs, getting good pay, boosting the economy, strengthening it for the long run.  The port is in better shape, which means it’s going to be able to get all the containers that are coming in from all around the world, matched up with the improvements that are being done on the Panama Canal -- which means we’re not going to be losing jobs to other countries.   We can do this not just here in Miami-Dade, but we can do this all across the country.  So today, I’m expanding on a proposal I made in the State of the Union.  I’m calling it a Partnership to Rebuild America.  It’s a partnership with the private sector that creates jobs upgrading what our businesses need most -– modern ports to move our goods; modern pipelines to withstand a storm; modern schools worthy of our children. And my plan does three things.  First, we’ll set up an independent fund that will attract private investment to build projects like this one, and make sure companies share in the risk and returns.  Instead of picking projects based on pork-barrel politics, we’ll pick them based on how much good they’ll actually do for the economy, how much the projects make sense.  And we’ll better finance projects that involve more than one mode of transportation, or more than one town or state, with less red tape to gum up the works.  So all of this will make the process more efficient.  It will help us break ground on some of the projects that our cities and states need most, and they can do it faster and better.  Second, we’re going to fund more projects, at less cost, by establishing a new infrastructure initiative called America Fast Forward bonds.  It’s going to give mayors and governors more flexibility and power to attract private investment for public projects. Number three, we’ll strengthen a loan program that, in recent years, has helped governors and mayors leverage four times the money Washington put into it, and that means we’re helping construction workers get on the job quicker, repaying taxpayers their hard-earned money faster.  That’s the kind of approach we used to help PortMiami Tunnel get off the ground -– or I guess underground.  (Laughter.) That’s the Partnership to Rebuild America.  That’s how we’ll create good jobs doing the work America needs done.  That’s how we’ll encourage more businesses to start here, and grow here, and hire workers here.   And by the way, this should not be a partisan idea.  I know in Washington people just like to argue.  I guess it gets them on TV.  But the fact is you’ve got the Chamber of Commerce and the AFL-CIO agreeing to better infrastructure, knowing that it will help both businesses and workers.  So if you’re got the Chamber and the unions agreeing, then the politicians should be able to agree, too.  (Applause.)  Building better roads and bridges and schools, that’s not a partisan idea.  And in fact, that’s where you can get mayors and governors from both parties to find some common ground.   I know that members of Congress are happy to welcome projects like this in their districts.  I know because I’ve seen them at the ribbon-cuttings.  (Laughter.)  They’ll all say how, no, we don’t want to do it.  And then they’re all writing me letters saying, we really need this port.  Cut somebody else’s port out.  (Laughter.)  That’s what they’ll say. Cut somebody else’s road.  Cut somebody else’s -- well, no, we’re all in this together.  So if you think it’s good for your district, then it’s probably good for other districts, too. We can’t afford Washington politics to stand in the way of America’s progress.  So I’ve put forward some ideas to get the private sector involved to protect taxpayer dollars.  But ultimately, Congress has to fund these projects.  And by the way, the three members of Congress who are here, they all believe in this, they all support it.  It will put people back to work and it will grow our economy in the process.   So Miami-Dade, my main message is:  Let’s get this done.  Let’s rebuild this country we love.  Let’s make sure we’re staying on the cutting edge.  Let’s make sure we’ve always got the ports.  Let’s make sure we’ve got the best airports.  Let’s make sure we’ve got the best rail lines.  Let’s make sure we’ve got the best roads.  Let’s make sure we’ve got the best schools. (Applause.) We’re going to push on this issue each and every day, and make sure we get the middle class going again.  We’re going to fix our economy.  We’re going to fix our immigration system.  We are going to make sure that our young people are getting a great education.  We’re going to prevent them from being victims of gun violence.  We are going to make sure that everybody in this country has a fair shot and is doing their fair share so that when we pass on this country to the next generation and the generation after that, we’ll be able to once again say that here in the United States of America, it doesn’t matter what you look like or where you come from, if you work hard, you can make it. Thank you.  God bless you.  God bless the United States of America.  END1:55 P.M. EDT

Blog posts on this issue March 29, 2013 5:47 PM EDTWeekly Wrap Up: ‘The Promise of America”

Here’s a quick glimpse at what happened this week on WhiteHouse.gov.

March 29, 2013 4:11 PM EDTIn Miami, President Obama Talks About his Plan to Put People to Work Rebuilding America

Despite strong efforts to fix our broken national infrastructure over the past four years, much work needs to be done if we are to prove to the world that there is no better place to do business than in the United States.

March 29, 2013 3:02 PM EDTOpen Government: A Time for Self-Assessment

The Obama Administration has harnessed new technology to engage the public, worked to disclose information more quickly, and given citizens a greater voice in decision-making. There is more work to do, and we remain committed to continuing this in the second term.

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Rick Scott’s Secretary Of State Says Florida Should Restore Early Voting

Florida Secretary of State Rick Detzner

Because Gov. Rick Scott (R) and his legislative allies spent much of 2011-2012 filling up the November ballot with complicated and unnecessary ballot questions and pushing through measures aimed at suppressing voter turnout, Florida voters had to wait in lines for up to six hours. Now, Scott’s handpicked Secretary of State has released a report recommending that Florida expand early voting and limit the length of future ballot questions.

Secretary of State Rick Detzner, who in the days after the November elections said he had no regrets about the Scott administration’s handling of the election, acknowledged in the report that there was widespread frustration with “the length of lines at polling places, which were believed to have been caused by the record number of voters, a shortened early voting schedule, inadequate voting locations and a long ballot.” He makes no mention of the reasons for those factors — Scott’s unwillingness to extend early voting hours, a Scott-signed law shortening early voting, and an effort by the Republican legislature to load the ballot up with complicated ballot measures sure to slow down voters at the polls.

But, he encourages Scott and his fellow Republicans not to repeat the same mistakes in future elections, recommending Florida:

Extend the early voting schedule from a minimum of 8 days to a maximum of 14 days, while also allowing supervisors of elections the flexibility to offer early voting on the Sunday immediately prior to Election Day.Expand the allowable locations of early voting sites at government owned, managed or occupied facilities to include the main or branch office of a supervisor of elections, a city
hall, courthouse, county commission building, public library, civic center, convention center, fairgrounds or stadium.Set a word limit for proposed legislative amendments.Repeal statutes allowing the full text (stricken or underlined) of a constitutional amendment or revision to be placed on a ballot.Allow mail ballot elections for candidates in certain elections.

While the 14-day period would be an improvement over the eight days currently provided by Florida law, it would represent a return to where things were before Scott took office.

It remains to be seen whether Florida acts on these recommendations. In November, Gov. Scott defended his suppression tactics as having done “the right thing” and a month later blamed the legislature for the early voting limits he himself signed into law. But last month, he endorsed re-expanding the early voting he limited.

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Florida Business Leaders Vow To Block Paid Sick Day Laws During Worst Flu Season In A Decade

The U.S. is currently experiencing its worst flu season in a decade, but many workers can’t heed the advice of public health experts to stay home when they’re sick due to a lack of paid sick days. And Florida business leaders are looking to keep it that way:

The Florida Chamber of Commerce said Wednesday that one of its top legislative priorities this year would be blocking local governments from adopting paid sick-time measures such as the one pending in Orange County.

At a news conference in Tallahassee, Chamber President Mark Wilson said his powerful business group wants a law that would ban cities and counties from creating varying paid-sick-leave rules across the state.

The passage of local sick-time laws would, Wilson said, “make pockets of Florida very uncompetitive.”

Conservatives have spent a significant amount of effort to block paid sick days laws in Florida and elsewhere in the country. Wisconsin Republicans even went so far as to pass a law preventing any city in the state from passing a paid sick days law after Milwaukee adopted one.

But the complaints from businesses about paid sick days making Florida “uncompetitive” ring hollow. As Jane Farrell and Joanna Ventnor noted, “A study of Connecticut’s policy mandating five days of sick leave found that full use of this leave would cost an employer only 0.4 percent of their sales revenue on average. Without paid sick days, employees come to work unhealthy, costing employers $160 billion per year due to lower productivity levels.”

40 percent of private sector workers, 79 percent of food workers, and 80 percent of low-income workers have no paid sick days. The U.S. is alone in the developed world in not mandating some sort of paid sick leave for workers. And Florida’s business community is doing its best to keep it that way, despite the consequences.

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Florida Governor Now Wants To Expand The Early Voting Days He Cut

Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) became one of the most notorious figures of the 2012 election after he slashed the period for early voting and enacted a number of other vote suppressing election laws. As a result of these laws, Florida voters were forced to wait in lines for up to 6 hours and as late as 1 am. After the election, several top Republicans admitted these election laws were designed to keep Democrats and minority voters away from the polls.

As his public image sinks, the governor has tried to distance himself from his own laws, blaming the Legislature and even denying to a group of black lawmakers Tuesday that the early voting law was his. On Thursday, Scott went even further and endorsed major election reforms–including a reversal of his early voting restrictions.

Scott now supports increasing the number of early voting days, reducing ballot length, and widening the range of polling places:

The proposal calls for extending early voting once again to a maximum of 14 days from 8, including adding back the Sunday before Election Day, a popular day among black voters; increasing voting hours to 168 hours from 96; allowing votes to be cast at locations beyond election offices, city halls and libraries; and making sure that ballots are kept short. Any change in the law must be approved by the Legislature, which convenes for its one-month session in March.

Mr. Scott’s endorsement comes on the same day as the release of a new report concluding that black and Latino voters were most affected by the 2011 changes. Of the more than 1.17 million ballots cast by black voters, nearly half were during early voting.

If early voting days are restored, the state could avoid a repeat of the 2012 fiasco, in which thousands of Floridians were disenfranchised.

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Florida Governor Inflates Cost Of Medicaid Expansion By 2,600% To Avoid Implementing Obamacare

Internal email messages uncovered by Health News Florida reveal that Gov. Rick Scott (R-FL) is knowingly citing inaccurate cost estimates to justify his refusal to expand Florida’s Medicaid program. Though the governor’s office is fully aware that the numbers are wrong, Scott continues to use them anyway, the documents show.

Florida, which has one of the highest rates of uninsurance in the nation, could extend health coverage to about one million low-income residents by accepting Obamacare’s optional Medicaid expansion. But the governor — an ardent Obamacare opponent — has repeatedly said that expanding Medicaid would just be too expensive, claiming it would cost the state $26 billion over the next 10 years.

As Health News Florida reports, however, that figure from Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) is inflated because it doesn’t take into account the full amount that the federal government will reimburse states for choosing to expand Medicaid. A more accurate analysis found that expansion would cost the state around $1 billion:

But those numbers are based on a flawed report, state budget analysts say. A series of e-mails obtained by Health News Florida shows the analysts warned Scott’s office the numbers were wrong weeks ago, but he is still using them. [...]

The Act says the federal government will pay the lion’s share of the cost for new Medicaid eligibles if a state agrees to expand its program — a decision the Supreme Court left up to the states. The federal contribution for the new eligibles would be 100 percent between 2014 and 2016, then would taper after that to 90 percent by 2020 and stay there.

But the AHCA report assumes the federal match for the new patients would be much lower, about 58 percent. It came up with that by averaging the match amount over the past 20 years. The report doesn’t say why the authors made that assumption. [...]

As Health News Florida reported on Dec. 21, the AHCA estimates were huge in comparison to a study released by the Urban Institute and Kaiser Family Foundation, two neutral research groups that specialize in Medicaid studies. Their study estimated that if Florida agreed to expand Medicaid, about 1 million uninsured people would gain coverage at a 10-year cost to the state of around $1 billion.

According to the email chain that Health News Florida obtained, state officials began calling the AHCA’s $26 billion cost estimate into question as early as December 20. One member of the House Health Care Appropriations Subcommittee even pointed out that, since the health reform law specifies that the federal government will help fund Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion, it would actually break Florida state law to expand Medicaid without using the federal dollars mandated for that purpose.

Nevertheless, Scott has continued to repeat his false claim that Florida can’t afford to provide its low-income residents with the health coverage they need. Scott met with U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on Monday to express his concerns about what expanding Medicaid would mean for his state’s bottom line. “Growing government, it’s never free,” Scott explained to reporters. “It always costs money.” Just not as much money as Scott says it does.

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Study: Rick Scott’s Long Voting Lines Cost Obama A Net 11,000 Votes In Central Florida

Credit: Joe Skipper/Reuters

Thanks in large part to a law signed by Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R), which cut early voting opportunities in that state, many Florida voters endured six hour lines simply to cast a ballot. These lines did not wind up costing Obama Florida’s electoral votes, but, according to an Ohio State University study, they reduced the President’s margin of victory by thousands of votes in central Florida alone:

[A]s many as 49,000 people across Central Florida were discouraged from voting because of long lines on Election Day, according to a researcher at Ohio State University who analyzed election data compiled by the Orlando Sentinel.

About 30,000 of those discouraged voters — most of them in Orange and Osceola counties — likely would have backed Democratic President Barack Obama, according to Theodore Allen, an associate professor of industrial engineering at OSU.

About 19,000 voters would have likely backed Republican Mitt Romney, Allen said.

This suggests that Obama’s margin over Romney in Florida could have been roughly 11,000 votes higher than it was, based just on Central Florida results. Obama carried the state by 74,309 votes out of more than 8.4 million cast.

In the wake of the long lines triggered in the wake of Rick Scott’s law, several top Republicans admitted the entire purpose of this law was to keep Democrats from the polls. Indeed, one GOP consultant explained that “cutting out of the Sunday before Election Day [from early voting] was one of their targets only because that’s a big day when the black churches organize themselves.” African-American voters overwhelmingly favored President Obama last November.

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There Is A Lot At Stake In Sanford, Florida

When someone (or a group) can publicly do this, and no one (President, Attorney General, Governor, Sheriff) condemns it or brings charges as a result, we need no more proof that we are losing our country.

Anybody else think this would have happened in Texas? Perry would have the Texas Rangers rounding those thugs up, like within hours of such an announcement. Governor Scott should demand that the bounty be rescinded or someone is going to jail.

And if any of the GOP candidates expressed outrage (are you listening, Mitt?) over this, I suspect his base would finally get energized.

Meanwhile, the great, silent majority is sitting on its collective hands, while these fringe minorities get more and more outrageous in their actions.

The barbarians are truly at the gate.

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