Cl was just at the (extremely modest) party headquarters for Moving Hillsborough Forward, the group that was pushing for the transit tax that would help fund light rail in Hillsborough County.
That measure is getting crushed, 58% to 42%, with 359 of 383 precincts reporting.
Former Tampa Democratic Congressman Jim Davis worked tirelessly over the past few months to see the measure pass. He waxed philosophically in trying to evaluate that overwhelming defeat.
"We didn't get to pick the time to do this, " he said, in reference to the fact that raising taxes, never a popular notion, was a large barrier to overcome in 2010, even if it was to provide construction of a light rail system that promised thousands of new jobs.
"We made the case, and it was just a very difficult time to make a long term investment like this."
He added that there was considerable opposition to the fact that the details weren't written down in stone before hand, as the first route has yet to be selected by HART (and won't be obviously anytime soon). "This is one of those years where people wanted every detail, and it was just too difficult."
This article appears in Oct 28 – Nov 3, 2010.