Willful ignorance, blatant hypocrisy, campaign mistakes it was all in a year's work in the election year that was. Here are my observations of 10 key political developments that brought us to the state we're in.
1. Kendrick Meeks lack of respect from Democratic voters
The former Miami Congressman was never taken seriously in 2010, and for that the Florida Democratic party must take blame/credit. When Meek quickly earned endorsements from some of the states major public employee unions and then was aided by Bill Clintons fundraising prowess in 2009, no major Democrat dared get into the race. Not necessarily because they feared Meek no, they feared Charlie Crist, the most popular politician in the state at the time.
You know the rest: Marco Rubio and Crist dominated headlines for nearly a year, until Jeff Greene (remember him?) got into the race and compelled the media to follow the Democratic race for Senate.
But even though Meek trounced Greene at the end, a substantial portion of Democratic voters was never loyal to Meek, telling pollsters all year long that they really didnt know their nominee that well. And by the time Charlie Crist went indie, many of those voters fell all over themselves to back the governor and his newfound indie religion, rather than the solid party man.
Although race was never mentioned in mainstream press accounts about the lack of party love for Meek, it always lurked underneath. In January, when former Miami Mayor Maurice Ferre still thought he might have a chance at the nomination, he told CL he could beat Meek in the primary because whites in the panhandle/North Florida region would overwhelmingly support him because of his race.
And when the Dennis Stackhouse story broke, some Dems seized on that story to discredit Meek forgetting the fact that Crist and Rubio had mini-scandals of their own, which is why all three earned the distinction of making Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics Top 10 list of crooked candidates.
2. Local Tea Party hypocrisy
Although liberals mocked them in 2009, the influence of the Tea Party was evident all over the landscape this past year. But that doesnt mean that everything they said made sense.
For example, tea party activists insisted in 09 that they wanted to get rid of career politicians and those who spent money excessively, right?