Although you would hardly know it by all the speculation that has filled the blogosphere over the past week, Florida Democratic party chair Karen Thurman has actually still been nominally in charge since last week's election debacle.

Until now.  Shortly after 2 p.m., Thurman issued out this letter, which you can read below.

November 12, 2010

Dear Florida Democratic Party Leaders,

Over the past six years as Chair of the Florida Democratic Party, I have been honored by the trust

and confidence you have placed upon me to lead our efforts to empower the grassroots and build a

lasting infrastructure for our party.

Working together, we have upgraded our technology, modernized our strategies, cultivated a new

generation of Democratic leaders, and raised more funds than at any point in our party’s history. We

have worked to register new Democratic voters, leading to record gains in our party’s membership.

Our investments in building and sustaining our Voter File have allowed us to accurately target and

actively engage voters across the Sunshine State.

We have built a successful new media communications program, which allows us to regularly

communicate with hundreds of thousands of Floridians through email to recruit volunteers and

fundraise online. And I am especially proud of the fact that of the over 38,000 donations to the

Florida Democratic Party since I became Chair, nearly 65% of these donations were grassroots

contributions of $250 or less.

Recently, while we have watched the Republican Party of Florida face arrests and indictments for

their party’s activities, we have shown the Sunshine State that Florida Democrats are the party of

honest and ethical leadership.

We have put in place the best professional staff of any Democratic State Party in the nation, who I

would like to personally thank for their tireless work and selfless dedication to our party. Providing

the guidance and leadership for our staff, as well as helping them accomplish the goals we set, has

been the most rewarding part of my tenure as Chair. I hope you will continue showing our staff the

same respect and level of support that you have provided over the past many years.

This article appears in Nov 11-17, 2010.