The Guardian;Meet Alan Grayson: the brash Democrat who could help win back the Senate

Who is Alan Grayson? Alan Grayson is an outspokenly progressive Democratic member of the House of Representatives from Florida who is responsible for 90% of all scowly leftist congressional zingers posted in your Facebook feed now that Barney Frank has retired. He is running for the Florida Senate seat that Marco Rubio will vacate in 2016 because he really wants to become president.

Why on earth should I care? Because you all smugly mock Florida, then retire here anyway. (Try Arizona.) Also, Democrats are desperately trying retake the Senate in 2016, and Rubio just abandoned a Senate seat that the Republican party could have held for a generation.

Isn’t a Democrat already running for Senate in Florida? Weird how you knew that already, but yes! Patrick Murphy, who is best known for defeating Commie Nazi hunter and Iraqi torturer Alan West, has already been endorsed by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and many Florida officials. But he’s also a former Republican who became a Democrat in 2012 and voted for the Keystone XL pipeline and to weaken Dodd-Frank financial reforms.

Isn’t a centrist Democrat better in a purple state like Florida? Florida Democratic officials think so. In 2010, their gubernatorial candidate was former bank executive Alex Sink, who ran as a centrist and used the word “liberal” the way vampires use suntan lotion. She lost. In 2014, she spent a ton of money to lose a special congressional election to newcomer David Jolly. Also the Democrats’ 2014 gubernatorial candidate was a former Republican who lost to Lord Voldemort. Running to the center can backfire when you don’t sound like an alternative.


http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jul/09/alan-grayson-florida-senate-democrat-marco-rubio?CMP=edit_2221