The local and state Democratic Parties selected an out-of-towner (Alex Sink) to contest Bill Young's former seat. She ran a poor campaign (again) and lost. Oh, well. Then, for this fall's election, the Parties chased out a filed Democratic candidate, by threatening him, to clear the path for THEIR candidate. Oops, Sink decided not to run. Plan B: Get an veteran ex-republican to run. Only one problem, he switched parties too late, and has to run as an I. Oops, it turns out he lied about education on his resume (which obviously wasn't vetted). He withdraws, citing he didn't realize a campaign would be so time-consuming (<rolleyes&gt . Deadline has passed to file, so now my blue-trending congressional district has no Dem at all on the ballot. Local and State Party couldn't have fucked it up worse if they tried. Adjoining congressional district has same problem... no Dem candidate on the ballot.
BTW, I should point out that the FDP is firmly in the hands of Third Way Democrats. They expend more effort in keeping progressives and liberals off the ballot than they do defeating Republicans. The "behind the scenes" power brokers are Sen Bill Nelson and Rep Debbie Wasserman-Shultz. So when you ask how is it possible for a blue state like Florida ( 3/4 million more Dems than Reps ) can end up voting solid red... there you have your answer.

United States Senate.

The incumbent (who took over when Rod Blagojevich was impeached) is running against a wingnut Republican gazillionaire (Bruce Rauner), who wants to cut the minimum wage, among other things.

Rauner claims he'll save the state from its financial hole, but offers no specifics. So far, unfortunately, it's a tight race.

Democratic turnout typically is heaviest in the Chicago area and a few downstate pockets.

the governor's race might be close and some of the nearby state house races might be as well.

it is just California. I even posted analysis of the race earlier, but that was seen as somehow pushing the Republican and was alerted on. And I mean the does not matter to many here, by the way.

Saw a gop poll showing the republican up.

but to be honest, Peter's voting record makes me wish for Bilbray... you cover politics you get really cynical after a while.

either.

but hey, I could bend your ear... and everybody else's

I know this district a tad too well

and that might help to drive turnout.

NY is notorious for low turnout.

turnout was 22% two weeks ago.

Hopefully the democrat wins.

Mark Dayton, our Governor, won with a tiny margin and had to get through a recount. It looks better for Al Franken, though, in his Senate race. Even though he also won his office only after a long, long recount, he seems to have gained in popularity during his term, and should win without too much trouble.

A lot will depend on Democratic turnout. That's why everyone in the DFL Party organization here in Minnesota is committed to a strong GOTV effort for November.

In my own legislative districts, both state and federal, our incumbents, all progressive Democrats, will win going away.

GOTV 2014, wherever you are. Someone's depending on you.

His re-election isn't a lock, by any means. If we have a poor turnout by Democrats, he could lose, and so could Governor Dayton. We all have to work hard to make sure that doesn't happen.

Complacency and apathy are not options in this election.

The Senate race between Pryor and Cotton will be close, I predict. So too the governor's race between former congressmen Mike Ross (D) and Asa Hutchinson (R), although I think both Ds will prevail in the end.

And I have no idea about the 2nd District congressional race between former NLR mayor Patrick Henry Hays (D) and banker and arts patron French Hill (R).

appears Crist has lost his double-digit lead . . . and scott and a pile of $$$$$$$$$$$

bad news for us Floridians

cannot understand why anyone would vote for that felon, except that he is an R . . .

Gov and Senate. Hoping for a blue wave.

Your governor is a walking scandal. Wish you guys the best.

hoping Kingston wins the GOP primary in the Senate, he polls far worse against Nunn than does Perdue.

really hoping Wendy Davis can put some better percentages on the chart even if she doesn't win. We may not be quite their demographically (info I've seen in the past indicate we've got to get to 2020-24 before the demographics really trend more in our favor - dinos dying off and young hispanic vote rising).

On a positive note the latin community here loves Hillary Clinton, so there's that.

Her poll numbers keep improving every month. I hope this continues.