Legal Commentary

Howie Klein Explains Why Taddeo Will Win

By Professor University of Miami School of Law

DownWithTyranny!: Another Exceptional Candidate Debbie Wasserman Schultz Is Trying To Undermine In Florida— Meet Annette Taddeo sets out the case for Democrat Annette Taddeo’s upcoming victory in the Congressional district where I live:

FL-18 is the most Democratic leaning (PVI- R +4) of the three districts and Annette’s campaign is both well-organized and well-funded. Last year two state assembly seats in the district flipped from Republican top Democratic, a far better predictor than Wasserman Schultz’ propaganda barrage on behalf of Ileana Ros Lehtinen. And FL-18 gave over 56% of it’s vote to Senator Bill Nelson in 2006. Bush won there in 2004 with 54%— as opposed to 57% in Lincoln Diaz-Balart’s 21st CD (PVI- R+6) and to 56% in Mario Diaz-Balart’s 25th CD (PVI- R+4). While the Diaz-Balarts pretty much acknowledge they are right-wing extremists and just count on tired anti-Castro rhetoric to get them elected over and over, Ros-Lehtinen though voting almost exactly the way the Diaz-Balarts vote (for the war, for illegal wiretaps, against children’s health care, for tax breaks for the rich, etc), tries to paint it over with a thin veneer of being a “moderate.” She isn’t. Since October 10, 2002 she has participated in 63 votes regarding the war in Iraq. She voted the straight Bush-Cheney line 62 times and voted “against” them when the House decided to transform a grant into a loan. But when it comes to supporting our troops with health care or sufficient armor and pay increases, she voted against the troops each and every time— 22 votes against the troops, zero votes for the troops. The fake moderate voted the exact same way on aid to veterans: 23 times against the vets, zero times for the vets. Does this sound “moderate?” Ileana Ros-Lehtinen opposes a woman’s right to choice, even in the case of rape and/or incest. She isn’t a moderate and she isn’t an independent. She’s no less extreme than the Diaz-Balarts— and that is extreme.

Recent polling by Lake Research, the most respected Beltway polling firm, shows a very different story from the one Wasserman Schultz has been surreptitiously pushing out to the media. Although Annette is just starting to get known to most of the district, the poll shows she is already “positioned for a strong general election contest against [the] incumbent… After hearing a mix of positive and negative on both women, Taddeo pulls into a narrow lead over Ros-Lehtinen: 44% for Taddeo to 42% for Ros-Lehtinen.”

Personally, I think Taddeo can do it — but she’ll need to go more negative against Ros-Lehtinen than has so far been her taste. Goodness knows there’s so much to be negative about…

As for what Klein has to say about Wasserman-Schultz’s continued failure to support our candidate, I’m very sorry to read that she hasn’t learned her lesson from last time (see Wasserman Schultz Deserves Her Bad Publicity). So here’s my message to Rep. Wasserman-Schultz: Let’s get Taddeo on the “Red to Blue” list ASAP.

And don’t think we won’t remember this when you run for state office.

Full post as published by Discourse.net on July 14, 2008 (boomark / email).