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FL-Sen: Corrine Brown Explores Senate Race

by: James L.

Sat May 30, 2009 at 6:18 PM EDT

Well, this sure is unexpected:

U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown, D-Jacksonville, confirms that she is launching an exploratory campaign for U.S. Senate, and said an internal statewide poll shows her comfortably ahead of any Democratic contender including Kendrick Meek.
"Experience," she said, when asked why the 17-year U.S. House member would be a stronger candidate than Meek. "I like Kendrick and I love his mother but this is about making sure we have someone at the table when we're talking about energy, we're talking about education, we're talking about jobs, we're talking about health care."

I'd be pretty surprised if Brown actually went through with her primary threat, considering that she'd be starting behind the eight ball in terms of fundraising and endorsements (two things that Meek has been gobbling up at a decent clip so far this year). At last glance, Brown held a paltry $81K in her House campaign war chest.

Brown's 3rd District is safely Democratic territory -- its PVI is D+18 and it delivered 73% of its vote for Obama last year, so we'd have nothing to worry about should the seat become open. Brown says that she expects to announce a decision "within a few weeks".

James L. :: FL-Sen: Corrine Brown Explores Senate Race

Tags: 2010 House Open Seat Watch, Corrine Brown, FL-03, FL-Sen, Kendrick Meek, (All Tags)

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FL-Sen: Corrine Brown Explores Senate Race | 39 comments

HA, HA, HA, HA.

by: andgarden @ Sat May 30, 2009 at 17:27:03 PM CDT

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A Theory

Her fund raising sucks. While her district is safe, it's always disconcerting to have less than six digits in the bank. So what does she do? She puts her name out there as a potential Senate candidate, raises some money from those who don't like Meek, then quietly withdraws and transfers the money over to her House account.

Plausible?

Mad At Thad: A Blog Devoted To Ousting Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, Republican - Michigan

by: Sean Fitzpatrick @ Sat May 30, 2009 at 17:50:00 PM CDT

by: you @ soon

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Or the Republicans are paying her off

by: andgarden @ Sat May 30, 2009 at 17:53:34 PM CDT

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by: you @ soon

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Why?

Why would the Republicans want her to run? Crist is a runaway favorite, and Meek is, at least from what I've seen, an underwhelming candidate. It seems like a waste of money.

Besides, if national Republicans wanted to screw around with the Florida election, they should be recruiting another really conservative candidate to run in the GOP primary. Split Rubio's vote, and guarantee that Crist is the nominee.

Mad At Thad: A Blog Devoted To Ousting Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, Republican - Michigan

by: Sean Fitzpatrick @ Sat May 30, 2009 at 17:58:22 PM CDT

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by: you @ soon

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Insurance against a scorched earth

win by Rubio.

by: andgarden @ Sat May 30, 2009 at 18:05:47 PM CDT

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by: you @ soon

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Oy!

I think you hit the nail on the head. Brown is one of those that gives a bad name to liberal Democrats everywhere being unaccomplished, self interested, and paying lousy attention to her constituents. She's got an agenda here, definately.

That said, I hope someone, be it Gelber or anyone else, gives Meek a tough challenge. Now, I'm firmly in Meek's corner and have been since this started, but I think he needs to actually win a contested primary to strengthen him as a candidate and neutralize to some extent the criticism that he's not ready for prime time.

Check out Blue Arkansas:
http://bluearkansas.blogspot.com/

by: ARDem @ Sat May 30, 2009 at 18:06:23 PM CDT

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Go for it, Corrine!

She'll crash and burn in the primary and we can get a non-crappy Democrat in her seat.

by: Johnny Longtorso @ Sat May 30, 2009 at 17:57:45 PM CDT

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just what I was gonna say

We'll finally be rid of her.

by: fatcathobbes @ Sat May 30, 2009 at 18:11:43 PM CDT

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by: you @ soon

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OK let's get the cart waaay ahead of the horse

Who are some likely candidates to run for her open FL-03 seat?

(This would be great news: potentially get a better Dem in that district, and help toughen up Meek for the general election contest.)

by: homerun @ Sat May 30, 2009 at 18:18:58 PM CDT

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Gator Robe

The first image I have of Rep. Brown is when she donned a blue-and-orange robe (or something that sure looked like on) to talk during the resolution praising the Florida football team for winning the national championship. Nothing in the comments here provides evidence against that caricature of her.

Now if we could get Tim Tebow to run as a Dem, we'd be in good shape. Minus the Senate's age requirement and the likely political implications of Tebow's fundamentalism.

by: bkarbour @ Sat May 30, 2009 at 18:49:10 PM CDT

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I want to see pictures of that!

Check out Blue Arkansas:
http://bluearkansas.blogspot.com/

by: ARDem @ Sun May 31, 2009 at 01:44:12 AM CDT

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How about video?

I'm pretty sure this is what bkarbour was talking about:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

by: Fitzy @ Sun May 31, 2009 at 11:49:55 AM CDT

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...what.

The hell was that? A speech on the floor just to gush about her home team? Was there a debate on some sort of national championship program going on at the time?

Also, "I want to gratulate the University of Florida..."...what?

Bill Posey is not half-alligator...and is outclassed by Davy Crockett anyway

by: Glenn Magus Harvey @ Sun May 31, 2009 at 12:49:33 PM CDT

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Those happen all the time

whenever the home team wins something, that congressman will offer a "resolution to congratulate so and so for winning such and such." Congress will "debate" the bill, which mostly consists of said congressman giving a long speech praising the team and describing the game that they probably didn't even watch. The speech invariably ends with "Go insert team name here!" Then congress will vote on it and the congressman who represents the losing team will invariably vote "Present." It's a pretty nice waste of time if you ask me.

"[Rush Limbaugh] is a sorry excuse for a human being and a has-been hypocrite loser who was more lucid when he was a drug addict." Congressman Alan Grayson (D-FL)

by: Menhen @ Sun May 31, 2009 at 13:49:55 PM CDT

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What's a "present" vote?

Bill Posey is not half-alligator...and is outclassed by Davy Crockett anyway

by: Glenn Magus Harvey @ Sun May 31, 2009 at 13:55:50 PM CDT

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It means

"I won't vote no, but I also won't vote yes" It's bascially when they abstain from taking a position but still let it be known that they were there. Barack Obama was criticized for voting "Present" in the state senate during the primaries by Hillary Clinton.

"[Rush Limbaugh] is a sorry excuse for a human being and a has-been hypocrite loser who was more lucid when he was a drug addict." Congressman Alan Grayson (D-FL)

by: Menhen @ Sun May 31, 2009 at 14:04:56 PM CDT

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In a Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego episode

then-Senator Joe Biden "called" ACME right before the final round to inform host Greg Lee that he "proposed a Congressional resolution" to congratulate him. Check it out for yourself.

http://www.dailymotion.com/rel...

Check out the 2010 California races and help us take back Red California!

by: californianintexas @ Sun May 31, 2009 at 15:05:16 PM CDT

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Wow

That takes me right back to 1990.

by: andgarden @ Sun May 31, 2009 at 15:11:38 PM CDT

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Wow indeed.

Biden's a dick!

by: trowaman @ Sun May 31, 2009 at 17:18:51 PM CDT

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What the hell???

LOL...?

Somehow, I totally see it in-character for Biden to do something like that, too. That's just funny.

Bill Posey is not half-alligator...and is outclassed by Davy Crockett anyway

by: Glenn Magus Harvey @ Sun May 31, 2009 at 17:34:20 PM CDT

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Also, dang, I'd forgotten what that show was like.

The Chief really reminds me now of Chief Eclipse from Kiddy Grade.

Bill Posey is not half-alligator...and is outclassed by Davy Crockett anyway

by: Glenn Magus Harvey @ Sun May 31, 2009 at 17:36:30 PM CDT

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Go gator. nt

by: zac @ Sun May 31, 2009 at 13:48:20 PM CDT

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I won't mind

losing a decent at best Democrat like her but I doubt she jumps in.

In other news according to Florida blogger Kenneth Quinnell's twitter feed Gelber is probably out.

Gelber pretty much officially announced he's out of the senate race. #fdpjj #pfla #p2 #flsen

by: Populista @ Sat May 30, 2009 at 19:18:04 PM CDT

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More

http://twitter.com/adamsmithtimes

crowd on feet 4 gelber's non-surpise: "i am for the moment today going to step back from my us sen bid" to mull "other positions on cabinet"

by: Populista @ Sat May 30, 2009 at 19:35:38 PM CDT

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He'll likely run for AG

The state party has been pushing that for awhile now. They want Gelber for AG and State Senator Dave Aronberg to run for FL-16 against Tom Rooney (Aronberg is currently looking at the AG race). Sad thing is, even if Gelber runs for Attorney General, he may still lose to '06 gubernatorial candidate Rod Smith in the primary.

by: DFLer @ Sun May 31, 2009 at 13:15:24 PM CDT

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Is the FL Democratic Party beginning to grow a backbone?

Shocking!

Bill Posey is not half-alligator...and is outclassed by Davy Crockett anyway

by: Glenn Magus Harvey @ Sun May 31, 2009 at 13:54:58 PM CDT

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Is that a bad thing?

Rod Smith's populist in a good way, from what I understand, whereas Gelber has a good legislative record but lacks executive experience.

Am I missing something? Is Smith way too conservative?

by: Englishlefty @ Sun May 31, 2009 at 18:34:35 PM CDT

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Rod Smith for AG

A cleared primary for Rod Smith would be great. He's a Dem that North Florida will vote for and South Florida will more than live with his populist appeal.
My hope is Aronberg goes for FL-16 too.
As for Corrine, go for it, I'm glad Kendrick is vacating his house seat so we can get a real progressive in there, but Corrine shouldn't expect any of Kendricks early endorsements to secondguess, she can't show them the money or the path to win.

by: inhoc75 @ Sun May 31, 2009 at 22:00:04 PM CDT

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Smith would be fine

I'm just saying that Gelber could be screwed no matter what he does. He's a fairly talented pol, but the bench is pretty deep for the Democrats (a good thing). Either way, we should have a strong lineup for the statewide races.

My dream ticket:
Meek-Sen, Sink/MannyDiaz-Gov/Lt. Gov, Smith-AG, Lawson-CFO, Boyd-Ag

Would really represent the diversity of the Florida Dems, compared to the country-club image of the GOP ticket.

by: DFLer @ Mon Jun 01, 2009 at 10:03:08 AM CDT

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Maybe

But there's one problem with your dream ticket. Tallahassee loses a US Rep in it's FL-02. Without Boyd OR Lawson, who do we have. Now, it may be carved up beyond recognition anyway, but I don't know this is assured.

by: Tiger in BlueDenver @ Mon Jun 01, 2009 at 16:39:26 PM CDT

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"I like Kendrick and I love his mother..."

What the heck does that mean? Seems somewhat patronizing.

My Can Of Contemplation is now open to all for perusal.

by: Don't Tase Me, Bro! @ Sat May 30, 2009 at 22:04:31 PM CDT

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His mother was Carrie Meek

Who served in Congress beforehand.

Follow the elections in Georgia at the 2010 Georgia Race Tracker.

by: TheUnknown285 @ Sat May 30, 2009 at 22:28:33 PM CDT

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It's a great jab.

Point out that Kendrick only has his job because his mommy had it first. It doesn't even have to be literally true, it'll hurt anyway and people won't forget it.

by: texas dem @ Sun May 31, 2009 at 01:12:52 AM CDT

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It's totally patronizing

A lot of folks in the Florida delegation don't like the way Kendrick got his seat, when his mom announced with only 10 days left to file that she was going to retire, essentially assuring that only her son would have the money and infrastructure to win the seat. Even if she ran against him though Kendrick will destroy her. I agree with the conspiracy theorists, she's trying to boost her profile or some other ulterior motive.

by: DFLer @ Sun May 31, 2009 at 13:18:09 PM CDT

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If we get into sufficiently roundabout conspiracy theories

I'd venture that she's aiming to raise money to fend off potential primary challengers.

Bill Posey is not half-alligator...and is outclassed by Davy Crockett anyway

by: Glenn Magus Harvey @ Sun May 31, 2009 at 13:55:29 PM CDT

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Wait...

...what.

Bill Posey is not half-alligator...and is outclassed by Davy Crockett anyway

by: Glenn Magus Harvey @ Sat May 30, 2009 at 23:18:34 PM CDT

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From Kendrick Meek's website

Dan Gelber has withdrawn from the US Senate race.

http://www.kendrickmeek.com/in...

by: trowaman @ Sun May 31, 2009 at 14:19:44 PM CDT

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Good

I normally don't mind primaries but with the primary as late as in Florida it does start to get to be a issue. IMO. Less time to rally around the nominiee. Hopefully Aronberg will switch to FL-16 and the rest will stay out of the AG and Sen races.

by: Populista @ Sun May 31, 2009 at 17:28:48 PM CDT

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Time To Send This One Home

Hopefully she will go for it. This will allow us to send her home finally as well as free up her seat in the house for a conservative. It's time this train wreck of a representative went home for good.

www.corrinebrown.blogspot.com

by: Ishimo @ Mon Jun 29, 2009 at 03:26:51 AM CDT

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FL-Sen: Corrine Brown Explores Senate Race | 39 comments