I don't expect this to be a well-received diary. I alluded to the issue recently in a comment on another diary and was told, essentially, to go away.
Here's the issue: I live next door to Florida House District 22, a heavily gerrymandered district in Gainesville and Ocala built specifically for republican victory. I've been looking on the web, the newspapers, on the phone - everywhere I can think to look - and I can't find out if there are any Dems running for the seat. I'd like to volunteer, give money, etc., but I can't get any answers. Republicans? Yeah, I know which republicans are running. Easy to get that information. But trying to get information about Democrats is next to impossible.
A little background on the seat: Eight short years ago, despite the gerrymandering, it was a Democratic seat. Then the Dem lost (by fewer than a hundred uncontested votes)to a seemingly harmless republican named Larry Cretul. Who accidentally became Speaker of the Florida House. And he's as wingnutty as wingnuts get. So we know two things from this: First, it MATTERS who wins in every district and second, it is possible for a Dem to win this seat.
Cretul is term-limited. Open seat. Yet no Democrat appears to want the job. If one does, she or he is doing a bang-up job of waiting for a big entrance.
In frustration this morning I called the state party office. I spoke with a very nice young lady who had no clue what I was asking when I said, "Can you tell me if there are any Democrats running for Florida House District 22?" After several minutes she kindly told me she would research it and get back with me - at that point I made it clear once again that I was talking about the FLORIDA House, not Congress (Congressional District 22 is hundreds of miles from me). She asked around, called me back and proceeded to tell me about Congressional District 22.
After more discussion she asked me to hold and put someone on the line who was able to help. That person told me that, no, there are no serious candidates for the Democratic nomination in that district. Sigh.
For those of you who aren't familiar with the area, Gainesville is VERY blue. Not a single republican elected city or county-wide. Ocala is VERY red. As noted above, before Cretul, this had been a Democratic seat. Yet no one wants to even run.
I am often criticized for criticizing the Florida Democratic Party, yet in summation, I'm going to do exactly that. I find it extremely hard to believe we can't find a serious candidate for that seat in this County. I find it UNBELIEVABLE that someone calling to support a candidate - ANY CANDIDATE - in the district was met with such a lack of understanding by the person answering the phone at the state party HQ. Again, the people I spoke with were exceptionally pleasant but completely unhelpful. Nobody said, "Hey, we're sorry we don't have information on THAT district, but here are some ways you could help with this list of OTHER races."
As long as stuff like this continues, we - Democrats - will continue to be unable to find electoral traction in this state. Yes, I know President Obama won Florida's electoral votes, and that's great. It doesn't seem to have gone any further than that.
Thanks for reading this far. I look forward to your comments.