There's a lot going on in Florida's fightin' 13th (Congressional District):
Sewage dumps in local waterways as a result of bad infrastructure, bad decisions and, as is the root of all problems, too many damn humans. A baseball team whose decision on whether or not to leave town is dependent on how much money we give them. A coastline that's slowly closing in on lovely waterfront homes and businesses.
Chief among these major political happenings is the race to determine who will represent the diverse district in Congress, America's favorite legislative body.
After a Senate run foiled by one Marco Rubio, Republican incumbent David Jolly began the fight to keep his job in June.
Former Governor Charlie Crist jumped in the race in October of last year.
The two were polling neck and neck for a while in the newly Democrat-leaning district — Crist is, after all, is a former Republican and something of a political Rorschach who still has to make his case to many Democrats.
Jolly now has a substantial record (for his short time in office) that includes going against his party a few times — but it might not be enough, if a new poll is to be believed.
A University of North Florida poll out today shows Crist in the lead by some 18 points — 54 to 32 percent.
The poll comes a couple of days after Crist's camp (or, more accurately, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, a D.C. juggernaut that aids Dem Congressional candidates in seats they deem winnable) put out a television ad that linked Jolly to GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump — if only by way of photoshopping the two together in still images shown on screen, something Jolly campaign spokeswoman Sarah Bascom called "a new low" for Crist's people. Jolly's campaign may even sue to have it taken down. After all, it was a scummy thing to do regardless of how much on the right side of history you think your party is.
Jolly has had to weather criticism over what seems like unspoken support of Trump, whose popularity in Florida's 13th falls somewhere between finding a live palmetto bug in your shoe and driving on Ulmerton at any time that's not 3 a.m. He has said he's not a fan, but has not said who he would support at the top of the ticket.
He has said he's never even met the guy, and Crist is the one who has actually had past ties with Trump.
But even if Crist's past photo-ops with Trump were more than just the superficial glad-handing in which well-placed white dudes tend to partake, that bridge has long been torched. Crist has been campaigning hard for Hillary Clinton, and even introduced former president Bill Clinton at a rally in Safety Harbor Tuesday night.
But no worries; no feelings were harmed in the making of this incredible show of an election year — except for the Donald's, repeatedly, and those of half the people on your Facebook feed, whose drinking water has apparently been tinged with traces of gasoline.
This article appears in Oct 13-20, 2016.