You remember Alan Grayson, don't you?
The former Orlando area Democratic Congressman became a folk hero amongst progressives for his outspoken demeanor in the one, lone term he served representing Florida's Eighth Congressional District from 2009-2011. Comments he made on the House floor, such as saying that the GOP's health care plan was "Part one, don’t get sick. Part two, if you do get sick, die quickly," thrilled liberals. But those same
incendiary comments marked him as one of the Republican National Committee's most desired targets during the 2010 Congressional elections, and former state legislator Daniel Webster ended up beating him badly (by 18 points) in that GOP-dominated election cycle.
Grayson has announced he's going to run again in 2012, though he's waiting more news about redistricting before declaring what specific race he'll be competing in. In the interim, he announced this week that he was able to raise a cool $50,000 for Ohio Democrat Dennis Kucinich, who because of redistricting is running in a competitive primary against fellow Democrat Marcy Kaptur.
This article appears in Jan 5-11, 2012.