Bill Nelson has been a moderate and centrist democrat and gone against much of what I've supported. He agreed to extension of Bush tax cuts, voted for S1927 which allows warrentless monitoring of US citizens, Time and again he has voted to fund and support war in Iraq. He voted initially to send troops to Iraq and was critical of Bush for not sending enough troops. He provided the deciding vote which kept the Senate from rejecting torture. He was for bank bailouts Inexcusable.
On the other hand he has supported protecting Florida's environment and has fought hard to reject off shore drilling. He supported the Dream Act. He supported Lilly Ledbetter act, voted to repeal DADT, agreed to the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with Russia, voted for FDA Food safety modernization act, and voted for CHIP. He is a strong supporter of Medicare etc. etc.
He first won election to the senate for the seat of retiring republican senator Connie Mack and is the only statewide elected Democrat in Florida. He'll likely be running against Mack's son Connie in the 2012 election. Mack is a staunch economic and social conservative.
Nelson is a centrist, just what we don't need more of in the senate. So I'll be sitting this one out until Florida democrats send us a candidate who reflects my progressive values.
It's going to be a tough race and the usual election shananigans will be offered by the republicans. So if enough Dems in Fl do what I do we will have Mack as our senator to complete the trifecta of Scott and Rubio. That should teach the democrats and Nelson a lesson. They'll be sorry they weren't true blue democrats in the mold of FDR.
I encourage all democrats who have blue dog or centrist candidates running in their districts or states to reject them and show the Washington Democratic leadership that we will not accept republican lite representation. Then when the senate and house are in minorities we'll have the time to look for candidates who will reflect our true values.
7:22 PM PT: Guess I was too snarky...I wrote this diary to show the reality of having to compromise on voting for a candidate. This is reality here in Fl and probably similar to other areas in US.