Florida is going to be Ground Friggin' Zero in the political realm after the Democratic National Convention winds down — Tampa Bay, especially. Trump's here raising money Tuesday; Clinton made sure it was one of her last stops before the convention.
Apparently Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders knows how important we are as well.
That's why, as the News Service of Florida reports, he paid a surprise visit to the Democratic National Convention's Florida delegation's breakfast Tuesday morning, less than 12 hours after calling on his supporters to back Clinton in the effort to fend off a Trump presidency — and 24 hours after Florida delegates loudly protested outgoing DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz at a similar breakfast event for her role in stacking the cards in favor of presumptive Dem nominee Hillary Clinton.
The hope?
To end the bitterness and party infighting in order to ensure a Clinton victory in November.
"Now, whether you supported me or you supported Secretary Clinton, we all know what our task is, and that is to make sure that Donald Trump is not elected president of the United States. … We've got to elect Hillary as the next president of the United States," Sanders said, according to NSF.
Florida, of course, is the biggest swing state in the country. Without it, it's unlikely anyone could win the presidency.
Plus, there are plenty of down-ballot races throughout the state for which Democrats want to get progressives out to the polls — especially the U.S. Senate race, in which incumbent Marco Rubio, a failed Republican presidential candidate, is seeking reelection but could be vulnerable if Dems turn out en masse.
The convention got off on the wrong foot or tentacle or whatever, in part due to the DWS Florida fracas making national headlines and Sanders's own supporters booing him a bit later.
Party luminaries hope to avoid the embarrassment Republicans suffered last week during their convention, which culminated Wednesday night when Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, another failed prez candidate, refused to endorse Donald Trump and got furiously booed for it from the convention floor.
U.S Sen. from Florida Bill Nelson brushed off the notion that it could get that bad for Democrats.
"That's a one-day story," he told reporters Tuesday, according to NSF, speaking of the DWS affair and its aftermath. "That's over and done with, and what you're going to see is a lot of unity coming out of this convention. It started last night, and it will just build in a crescendo all the way through Thursday night."
Over the course of Monday's convention happenings, the nastiness seemed to subside inside the arena.
But given that Clinton's speech is more than 48 hours away, during which — by our rough but sarcastic estimate — about 93 anti-Hillary protests from the left and right will take place, time will of course tell.
This article appears in Jul 21-28, 2016.