According to the Tampa Trib's William March, in an interview with the Miami Herald, Morgan claimed Wasserman Schultz is “despised” by national political leaders."

“She is the new Allen West of South Florida. ... She should just become a bridesmaid for Pam Bondi's next wedding.”

West is a conservative political commentator and one-term Florida congressman, and Bondi is Florida's attorney general. Both are Republicans.

Via email, Morgan confirmed to the Tribune the accuracy of the Herald quotes.

“All true,” he wrote. “I will never help her again.”

SoFla's hospitality and leisure workers earn far lower annual wages

"Even with high levels of education and experience, South Florida's hospitality and leisure workers earn far lower annual wages than the overall population, according to a report released Thursday by Florida International University."

Hospitality workers in the West Palm Beach-Fort Lauderdale-Miami area earned an average wage of $24,752, FIU's Research Institute on Social and Economic Policy reported. In comparison, the average annual wage for all workers is more than $43,000, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Restaurant and food service workers are the lowest-paid of all hospitality workers, the FIU report said.

Scott cancels planned fundraiser with felon

"Gov. Rick Scott abruptly called off a South Florida fundraiser planned for Saturday at the Boca Raton home of real estate developer James Batmasian, a convicted felon who did time for federal tax evasion. . . . Though he's a convicted felon, Batmasian, 67, is still a registered voter." "Rick Scott cancels planned fundraiser at felon's Boca Raton home".

FlaGOP climate change denial to be an issue

"As other coastal states and the Obama administration take aggressive measures to battle the effects of global warming, Florida's top Republican politicians are challenging the science and balking at government fixes."

Among the chief skeptics are U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio and former Gov. Jeb Bush, both possible presidential candidates in 2016. Gov. Rick Scott, who is running for re-election, has worked with the Republican-controlled Legislature to dismantle Florida's fledgling climate change initiatives. They were put into place by his predecessor and current opponent, Democrat Charlie Crist.

"I'm not a scientist," Scott said, after a federal report pinpointed Florida — and Miami in particular — as among the country's most at-risk areas.

He and other Republicans warn against what they see as alarmist policies that could derail the country's tenuous economic recovery.

Their positions could affect their political fortunes.

Democrats plan to place climate change, and the GOP's skepticism, front and center in a state where the issue is no longer an abstraction.

Florida AFL-CIO convention

"Two Democratic candidates for Florida governor are seeking union support. Both former Gov. Charlie Crist and former state Sen. Nan Rich are scheduled to speak at the convention of the Florida AFL-CIO on Saturday." "Candidates for Florida gov. seeking union support".

Redistricting ruling expected at end of the month

"After weeks of surprises in the first trial to challenge Florida’s Fair District rules, it ends with a ruling expected by the end of the month." "Redistricting trial ends but conclusion is far from certain."

Bill Nelson's Playbook

"While he never reached the heights of either Lawton Chiles or Bob Graham, Bill Nelson has proven to be the only Florida Democrat to win statewide elections on a consistent basis -- and a rising congressman is taking notes." "Patrick Murphy Follows Bill Nelson's Playbook, Not the Usual Florida Democrat Game Plan".

It might actually take hiring a public employee

"Report: Florida leads U.S. in inmates released without supervision."

"A flabbergasting cocoon of ignorance"

Aaron Deslatte: "Florida's high-stakes redistricting trial may not have exposed a "smoking gun" that Republican legislators intentionally gerrymandered when they redrew the state's political geography two years ago."

But the trial did televise a flabbergasting cocoon of ignorance that lawmakers claimed to have kept themselves in during such a historic process. House speakers and Senate presidents claimed to have no knowledge of how line shifts could help or hurt incumbents.

One Senate staff director who has overseen decades of redistricting, John Guthrie, testified he had no idea that packing more blacks into U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown's Jacksonville-to-Orlando district would make it a safer seat. The same staffer, and the same politicians, staged public workshops with the redistricting software the prior summer for the express purpose of debunking the Fair Districts amendments by showing you couldn't shift lines without helping or hurting someone.

However, this firewall of information asymmetry didn't keep out the political consultants — present at the public meetings, chatting with lawmakers routinely on the sidelines — who worked for the lawmakers, had information on the maps and were busily drawing and sharing minority districts.

Weekly Roundup

"Political Bits and Pieces." See also "Weekly Roundup" and "Arrivals and Departures, June 6, 2014."

The troubling testimony by key players was at times jaw-dropping and gave the public a unique front-row seat where they saw what looked for all the world like political shenanigans behind the U.S. Census-driven, once-a-decade process of redrawing political districts — in short, the slicing and serving up of power. In this instance, to ensure the election of Republicans throughout the state.

• House Speaker Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, and Senate President Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, acknowledged they met out of the public eye to reach agreement on a final congressional map. Is this legal? Sounds unethical, at the least.

• A map identified as coming from a member of the public was touted by legislators as the inspiration for Districts 4 and 5. But at the trial, Jose Posada, 24, testified that his identity was misappropriated. He was identified as the creator of the map, the foundation for as many as seven districts in the final version. If Mr. Posada was telling the truth, who stole his identity?

• A legislative staffer admitted to giving a flash drive of maps to a GOP political operative two weeks before they became public.

• Legislative leaders acknowledged that they met secretly with their staffs and political operatives to discuss strategy. . . .

State Attorney General Pam Bondi . . . has all the evidence that she needs to launch a criminal investigation.

Backlog of bills for Scott

"More than a month after the annual legislative session ended, about two- thirds of the bills passed still haven’t been sent to Gov. Rick Scott’s office." "Legislature has backlog of bills for Scott."

Conservatives don't like Amendment 1

Nancy Smith argues that "passing Amendment 1 will not -- repeat, not -- guarantee a no-tax-increase future for a clean water supply, or anything else, in Florida as its proponents claim. Quite the opposite. In a state where population is projected to grow to 30 million by 2035, there is no sure-thing magic bullet to funding every priority in 67 counties." "Amendment 1 a Nightmare for Conservative-Thinking Floridians." But see "Florida-Loving Conservatives Have Many Reasons to Support Amendment 1."

Scott claims state has right to inspect federal facilities

"After six rebuffed attempts to inspect Veterans Affairs hospitals in Florida this spring, the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration filed suit in federal court Thursday trying to force the federal agency to allow state inspections." "Florida sues Veterans Affairs seeking right to inspect VA hospitals".

"Session was a light lift"

Paul Flemming: "With the wisdom of a month's hindsight, we can characterize the 2014 legislative session: The Light Lift. Here's the evidence." "This year's legislative session was a light lift."

Wingers go after Garcia

Kevin Derby: "The Libre Initiative, a conservative Hispanic group, waded into one of the most competitive congressional races in Florida this week, launching efforts in Spanish against U.S. Rep. Joe Garcia, D-Fla., for saying 'communism works.'" "Conservative Hispanic Group Targets Joe Garcia".

Ros-Lehtinen can't give it up

"The Obama administration says it is not negotiating for the release of Alan Gross, the U.S. government contractor arrested in Cuba in 2009 on alleged spy charges." "Despite administration denials, U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen thinks Obama wants Cuba spy-swap."

Backroom Briefing

"To the delight of his handlers, Gov. Rick Scott departed from his much-mocked, on-message, talking-point mantra last weekend during a gaggle with a handful of reporters after a Republican Party of Florida meeting."

Scott revealed his softer side when asked about how campaigning for re-election is different from his first time on the stump four years ago.

Scott immediately mentioned his wife Ann, who was perpetually by his side in his 2010 bid for governor. This time around, the first lady is traveling the state on her own, Scott said, promoting reading at schools and visiting children in hospitals.

Her marriages, divorces, and out-of-wedlock relationships are her business – not state business.

But it’s hypocritical of this serial bride to use sanctimonious arguments to try to convince a federal court to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union and SAVE on behalf of gay and lesbian couples seeking to have their out-of-state marriages recognized in Florida.

The Republican attorney general could only wish to be as blessed with as strong a union as many gay couples enjoy – marriage-like relationships that have lasted longer than all of Bondi’s marriages put together. Many of these are couples raising children who are thriving in families composed of two moms or two dads. So why shouldn’t their unions be legalized and afforded the law’s protections?

They’re demanding nothing less and nothing more than the rights heterosexuals enjoy.

But in recently filed court documents, Bondi demonizes gay marriage with conservative rhetoric ironically similar to that with which she has been attacked for her lifestyle by ultra conservatives. . . .

The least Bondi could do is follow the lead of other attorneys general and get out of the way.

Her response falls in the same two-faced category as the Republican state legislator who voted in favor of drug-testing state employees – exempting elected officials like himself – all the while he was developing a nasty drug habit for which he was forced to resign.

Nan Rich picks up another endorsement

"Nan Rich Wins National Women's Political Caucus Endorsement."

Scott crowd wants Dem debate

Raoul Lowery Contreras, a political consultant who contributes to Fox News Latino, trumpets: "In Florida today, recent polling has concluded that 89 percent of Florida Democrats want to see a debate among Democratic candidates for governor." "Florida Hispanics Especially Need to See a Charlie Crist-Nan Rich Debate."

Scott Appointee Indicted

"Suspended Orlando expressway-authority board member Scott Batterson [who was originally appointed by Rick Scott], former state Rep. Chris Dorworth and his girlfriend were indicted Wednesday by a grand jury, charged with violating state public-records laws." "Grand jury indicts Batterson, Dorworth on violating public-records law." Earlier in the week another Scott appointee agreed to plea: "Scott appointee to plead guilty to sunshine violations."

Lawsuit could lead to "unraveling the state legislative political geography"

"The two-week trial over Florida's new rules of the road for drawing political boundaries concluded Wednesday with the fate of the first-of-their-kind “non-political” congressional maps in the hands of a Tallahassee judge."

The case has generated a treasure trove of insider political intrigue. But if Leon County Circuit Judge Terry Lewis decides this month to order a reboot of the 2012 map-drawing process, the stakes for voters could be felt for decades.

If Lewis decides the congressional maps were intentionally drawn to help Republicans, he could order the Legislature to re-draw the maps or require a court-overseen process.

Any decision will be quickly shuttled to the Florida Supreme Court, which has repeatedly ruled against parts of the Legislature’s 2012 map-drawing handiwork. . . .

And invalidating the lines could cause “chaos” for candidates – even if new maps won’t have to be in place until 2016 – because it could lead to unraveling the state legislative political geography, the defeats of more longtime incumbents, and shake up the calculus of which seats candidates seek.

“It would put everybody into a tremendous scramble,” said University of Central Florida political scientist Aubrey Jewett, who called such a scenario “a difficult process to undertake this close to an election.”

Long-term, even GOP control of the Legislature could be eroded.

Both sides say the trial will help decide how Florida’s “Fair Districts” amendments passed by voters in 2010 will be enforced for decades to come.

"Rubio’s Walmart Mentality"

Stephen L. Goldstein: "Republicans have just discovered poverty and income inequality — a remarkable revelation, considering they have caused so much of it."

The Tea Party GOP has declared Lyndon Johnson’s “War on Poverty” a failure. And with the 2014 elections looming, following the advice of their pollsters and word-testers, Republicans are trying to remake themselves as sympathetic and empathetic, instead of apathetic, to the plight of the poor and the middle class.

So in January, just a day after he voted not to allow the Senate to vote on extending unemployment benefits for 1.3 million Americans, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio had the chutzpah to say he was proposing “the most fundamental change to how the federal government fights poverty and encourages income mobility” in 50 years. In “Reclaiming the Land of Opportunity: Conservative Reforms for Combating Poverty,” he rattled off a compendium of political kitsch, a Walmart of social solutions with the impact of anesthesia.

"Mountains out of a Molehills"

Talk about making a mountain out of a molehill, Jeff Henderson breathlessly reprts that the, as he would have it,

liberal media are breathlessly reporting that Leslie Dougher only getting more than 60 percent of the vote to become chairwoman of the RPOF this weekend shows that Rick Scott is in trouble -- and, as usual, they are barking up the wrong tree.

Instead of sensible districts that follow geographic boundaries and keep communities intact, legislators drew snake-like districts that slither through as many as eight counties.

But now we have gobs of witnesses, evidence and testimony to prove it.

•Former Speaker Dean Cannon's office deleted emails related to redistricting.

•Lawmakers routinely staged secret meetings — while proclaiming the process "transparent."

•Lawmakers' offices shared internal data and drafted maps with political consultants before finalizing them.

•Some of the districts — which legislators had claimed were drawn and submitted by an average citizen — appear to have actually been created by a GOP operative and submitted under a phony name.

•One political scientist testified that it would have been "virtually impossible" for legislators to have drawn the warped districts they did without intentional political bias.

•Another expert — one who has studied gerrymandered districts all over America — called Florida's districts the most biased he had ever seen.

Afterward, House Speaker Will Weatherford still tried to claim the redistricting process was "extremely open and transparent." His pants immediately burst into flames.

Brown attends redistricting trial

"With her district essentially on trial in a Tallahassee courtroom, Democratic U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown ripped into a lawsuit brought by a coalition of voting-rights groups challenging the state's congressional districts."

Brown, whose sprawling district has emerged as the central focus of arguments against the map drawn by the Legislature in 2012, appeared in a Leon County courtroom as the trial in the lawsuit continued for a 10th day.

"If they called your names as many times as they've called mine, you would show up," Brown told a reporter who asked why she had decided to attend Monday's court session.

Bondi responds

"Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi responds to editorial on same-sex marriage." See also "Pam Bondi Defends Traditional Marriage Law, Opponents Plan to Ignore It."

Miami-Dade Democrats singing out of different hymn book

Jeff Henderson writes: "Annette Taddeo-Goldstein, the chairwoman of the Miami-Dade Democrats, is singing out of a different hymn book than most of her party’s leaders across Florida."

Right now, there’s only one major Democratic challenger running against a sitting Florida senator. Few Republicans in the Florida House are facing credible Democrats.

But Taddeo-Goldstein is trying to put up a fight in South Florida. On Tuesday, she announced every Miami-Dade Republican in the Florida House would face competition this year. Seven Democrats filed to run for seats currently held by Republicans on Tuesday -- with some of them offering somewhat credible threats to sitting House members.

Conservative coalition booted from gay marriage case

"Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Sarah Zabel ruled that a conservative coalition can’t become co-defendant in the county’s gay marriage case. . . . Florida Democratic League, Florida Family Action and People United to Lead the Struggle for Equality (PULSE) asked [Judge] Zabel to let them join the case. Tuesday, she said no." "Judge: Conservative coalition can’t legally defend gay marriage law".

"FSU Committee Pauses Again"

"FSU search opens, Thrasher no longer exclusive." See also "FSU Committee Pauses Again, This Time on John Thrasher Interview."

Scott appointee to plead guilty to sunshine violations

Rick Scott appointee to the Orlando expressway authority board, "Marco Peña will plead guilty Wednesday to breaking state open-records laws as a grand jury considers more charges in its probe of the agency, State Attorney Jeff Ashton said Tuesday." "Former Orlando Expressway Authority board member Marco Peña to plead guilty to violating open-records laws."

She continues:

So far the Democrats' broad strokes on Charlie's behalf -- expanding Medicaid, building railroads and spending on climate change, for example -- are producing abstracts that plain haven't resonated with Floridians. By his body language, I don't think they've resonated with Charlie either.

As for his one-line pronouncement on Obamacare ("I think it's great!"), Charlie is going to find himself eating the oft-repeated words he first spoke in February 2010 when he gave the three reasons why he would oppose it:

"Number one," he said, "it would raise the rates people would have to pay for health insurance. Number two, it would raise taxes at a time when we don’t need to be raising taxes at all. And number three, it would have the incredible effect of taking about half a trillion dollars out of Medicare."

Watch the 2014 general election become a referendum on Charlie Crist, not Rick Scott.

The Week Ahead

"The Week Ahead for June 2 to June 6, 2014".

Chamber-types "cautious" about rail

Right-wing"TaxWatch cautiously says rail has ‘potential’".

A political budget

"Gov. Rick Scott signed a record $77 billion, election-year budget Monday that boosts spending on schools and the environment while sparing hundreds of millions in local projects from the threat of vetoes." "Scott inks $77 billion budget; spares the veto rod." See also "As Expected, Scott Vetoes Higher Speed Limits, Citing Unacceptable Risk of More Crashes," "Scott goes easy on vetoes in budget," "Tampa mostly unscathed by Scott vetoes" and "Rick Scott Inks Record Budget, Spares Most Projects."

"Florida Democratic Party went on the attack against Scott on Monday"

"Gov. Rick Scott and former Gov. Charlie Crist, his leading Democratic challenger, clashed on Monday over education and the budget."

The Florida Democratic Party went on the attack against Scott on Monday, launching a new video hitting him on education spending. But Allison Tant, the chairwoman of the Florida Democrats, tried to ignore Crist’s record on the matter. Tant noted that per-pupil spending is below 2007 levels, the first year of Crist’s term as governor.

FlaBaggers in a dither

"Florida must cut carbon under Obama climate plan."

FlaGOP consultants drop appeal to Supreme Court in Redistricting Case

"An emergency petition to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is being withdrawn. A Republican political consulting firm wanted Thomas to stop a Florida judge from hearing evidence in an ongoing trial. The trial centers on whether state legislators broke the law when drawing up new maps for Congress." "In redistricting case, lawyers withdraw request to US Supreme Court".

Bondi applauded by FlaGOP base

Kevin Derby: "Pam Bondi Draws Fire and Applause for Defending State's Traditional Marriage Law".

Rubio goes to Iowa

"Marco Rubio’s not on the ballot in Iowa, but he is well-positioned to become one of the big winners emerging out of Tuesday’s Republican primary as the GOP looks for a candidate to replace Tom Harkin in the Senate." "Marco Rubio's Iowa Bet Could Pay Off in 2016."

"Revolving door"

"Citizens officials and watchdogs call for review of the revolving door of employees leaving to work for companies that get contracts from the state-run insurer." "Inspector general is asked to investigate Citizens ethics."

Redistricting, the once-a-decade process of redrawing congressional and legislative boundaries, isn’t something that’s the stuff of big laughs.

But the lawsuit accusing legislative leaders of improperly drawing some congressional districts — chiefly for Republican gain — has dug up enough evidence to show that politicians’ talk about government in the sunshine is a big joke.

“It was an extremely open and transparent process,” Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford, after giving testimony in the redistricting lawsuit, deadpanned to reporters.

Too bad he wasn’t intentionally self-mocking. . . .

The lawsuit shows that Weatherford and his counterpart, current Senate President Don Gaetz, met out of the public eye to work out differences in the redistricting maps. But Gaetz said in court that it wasn’t really a closed meeting.

“The door was open,” said Gaetz.

Oh, yes. So many open doors. Ha. Ha.

The lawsuit shows that they, their staffs and their lobbyist-operative friends sure had a lot of contact."

There were numerous private meetings between lawmakers, staffers, state and national GOP consultants and lobbyist go-betweens. House and Senate staffers were assigned to meet privately to work out arrangements.

Emails that could have been used in the case were destroyed.

A top Republican consultant, Pat Bainter, is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to shield his emails, saying they’re trade secrets and that the lawsuit infringes his First Amendment rights. Before evidence involving Bainter’s emails is mentioned in court, the press and public are escorted from the room so the hearing can be in . . . secret.

In another instance, a top House staffer gave a Republican consultant and lobbyist a flash drive of maps two weeks before they became public.

A third Republican operative had one of the top minds at the Republican Party of Florida draw up a congressional map. Then identical elements of that map were offered in the name of Alex Posada, an FSU college Republican who also spoke at a 2011 public meeting. . . .

Now out of college, Posada said in a sworn deposition that he doesn’t remember much and that he never submitted any maps. Who did? How did the maps go from a party official to a consultant to someone who falsely used Posada’s identity?

No one knows or is saying. Or maybe they know and they’re just fooling around.

Joke’s on us.

SoFla Bacon

"Miami-Dade County has the most money on the line among Florida's counties as Gov. Rick Scott decides what to veto from a record election-year budget." "Miami-Dade Easily Brings Home Most Money in Budget".

F.S. Koch-U.

"Florida State University is under fire for accepting funding from the Charles G. Koch Foundation." "Florida State University Koch Grant Supports Free Enterprise; Critics Cry Foul".

"Funny things happen when politicians switch parties"

"Funny things happen when politicians switch parties – former adversaries become allies and vice versa."

Case in point: Former Gov. Charlie Crist, who switched from the GOP to the Democratic Party in 2012 ahead of his bid to reclaim the Governor’s Mansion this year, and Rick Minor, who joined the Crist campaign late last month as its new policy director.

Minor, former chief of staff to Tallahassee Mayor John Marks, served several years in the mid-2000s as chair of the Leon County Democratic Executive Committee. His duties included helping Democrats get elected and, from time to time, making trouble for Republicans.

In 2006, according to media reports, Minor filed a complaint with the Florida Elections Commission over a $1-million donation from the Republican Governors Association to the Republican Party of Florida. Minor alleged that the money had been earmarked for Crist in violation of state law. Crist was the Republican attorney general at the time and running for governor.

RPOF officials said the money was given to the party, not Crist, and that it would be used for get-out-the-vote efforts.

Nothing came of the complaint – the Elections Commission tossed it out for legal insufficiency. . . .

Susan Hepworth, communications director for the RPOF, said the hiring was part of a “pattern of desperation” from the Crist campaign.

Few incumbents face tests this year

"Close to half of this year’s state legislative races are no races at all, with incumbent lawmakers in those districts running unopposed for re-election." "Many Florida incumbents safe, but few face tests this year".

Lobbyist Luv

"Nestled away in Tallahassee is Metz, Husband & Daughton. Since 1999, the lobbying group has established a reputation of providing, ranking them No. 10 on Sunshine State News' Top Lobbying Firms in Florida." "Political, Business Connections Fuel Metz, Husband & Daughton's Success".

Are "deals are being prearranged for photo ops"?

"The state’s chief business recruiter peddles the presence of the governor as opening doors for Florida businesses during past international trade missions."

However, as Gov. Rick Scott’s re-election effort moves deeper into campaign mode, the much-traveled governor isn’t penciled in to join any foreign trade missions this year. . . .

Florida Commerce Secretary Gray Swoope, who is also the president and chief executive officer of Enterprise Florida, highlighted the impact of Scott on trade missions during the agency’s board of directors meeting Thursday at The Breakers hotel in Palm Beach.

“You’ve seen our boss, the chairman of this board, go in there, open the door from the leadership of the countries that we’re in, to the business leadership, and introduce Florida products to that market, and it’s been successful,” Swoope said. Enterprise Florida claims the Scott led-trips — to Panama, Canada, Brazil, Israel, Spain, the United Kingdom, Colombia, Chile, France and Japan — have resulted in sales topping $474 million for the companies that have participated in the missions.

Such numbers, however, remain suspect to some.

Dan Krassner, executive director of the nonpartisan group Integrity Florida, continues to push for better public accounting from Enterprise Florida, which has its expenses covered by private and public dollars.

“The public might be suspicious that deals are being prearranged for photo ops rather than put together by state officials,” Krassner said. “If there was more transparency about how the public’s money is being spent to increase trade, then the costs and benefits could be better understood.”

Water wars

"A group representing a wide range of interests in the dispute among Florida, Georgia and Alabama over a shared river system said the quest for a solution has been slowed by Florida’s latest lawsuit in the so-called 'water wars.'" "Water Plan Moves Closer Despite Florida Lawsuit."

Sachs, Bogdanoff Rematch?

"Ellyn Bogdanoff is thinking of returning to Tallahassee and, if she runs, her rematch with Maria Sachs becomes one of the most competitive legislative races in Florida. " "Rematch With Maria Sachs for Ellyn Bogdanoff?".

Dems fail to find a candidate two months after nearly winning congressional seat

"Question: What do you call a third-party candidate who suddenly finds himself in a two-man race?"

Answer: Legit.

And for this Lucas Overby should blow kisses to local Democrats. They not only did a spectacular job of bungling the Congressional District 13 race for themselves, but they opened the door for Overby, who hadn't planned on running.

Of course, this doesn't mean the Libertarian candidate will overtake Republican incumbent David Jolly in November. I'm guessing the unofficial odds would fall somewhere between remote and zilch.

But won't it be interesting to watch the mating dance between Overby and Democrats in the coming months?

This, of course, will preclude local liberals from voting for one of their own, but it doesn't mean a lot of them won't still show up just to stick it to the Republicans. . . .

Considering Sink and her supporters couldn't beat Jolly while spending $6 million, it's nutty to think Overby can win on a shoestring budget.

Almost as nutty as Democrats failing to find a candidate two months after nearly winning a congressional seat.