The news is out on Swing State Project: Raul Martinez and Joe Garcia have made the list of South Florida candidates-to-back by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Read it here.
MORE in the body. Crossposted from www.miami-dade-dems.blogspot.com

On Mother’s Day, what better than to talk about a mother’s love for her children. And here is a mother with tender thoughts about her 2-year-old daughter, and about her own mother, and how it translates into a run for Congress against steep odds.

MORE under the fold, cross-posted on www.miami-dade-dems.blogspot.com with photos and a YouTube video of her speech.

A think piece in Tuesday’s NY Times helped me understand the flurry of activity we’ve had in the last few days chasing John McCain in Miami and Tampa: We’re part of a smart strategy. Hey, I like it. Better than sitting around sucking our gums and waiting for something to happen in two or three months when our nominee finally emerges.

The headline told the story: "Its candidates otherwise engaged, Democratic Party goes after McCain."
MORE in the body, also posted on www.miami-dade-dems.blogspot.com, where a slide show awaits you.

For those not used to Planet Miami, this ad from Joe Garcia's backers gives some indication of what we have to contend with.

You see the Diaz-Balart brothers in the ad, Mario (FL-25) and Lincoln (FL-21). Joe Garcia is running against Mario, who complains that Joe is backed by a "left-wing extremist" named Charlie Rangel, Korean War veteran and chair of the House Ways and Means Committee. Well, Joe just called from New York where he raised some money last night with the help of Charlie Rangel, and said his principles are still intact.

An email rolled in from Democracy for America and hit my Sign-Petition button right on center. Signing helped me recover from the helpless feeling that followed the ABC debate the other night.
MORE and a video and a link to sign below

The one-note politician toots it again: Run against him/them, and you’re a "left-wing extremist."

It’s in the Miami Herald Wednesday in all its silliness, but at least Joe Garcia got his smiling face pictured on the front of the Metro section.
MORE below, a version posted on www.miami-dade-dems.blogspot.com

Those who have been energized by all the recent fuss about Democratic members of Congress who aren’t 100 percent behind the new and strong candidates in South Florida: Have you taken the step of making a donation to the candidates?
HERE'S HOW under the fold

The Democratic congresswoman from Florida’s District 20 held a town meeting Thursday evening and defended herself against assertions that she's not doing enough for three Democratic challengers for U.S. House seats in South Florida.

MORE and a version on www.miami-dade.dems.blogspot.com

Our campaigns for Congress in South Florida are not just for their districts, important as they are. They are for Florida and the United States and the wider world, and we’re getting confirmation of this day by day.

Monday’s news: Joe Trippi joining the Joe Garcia campaign as senior media adviser. This is a development with national punch. We now have one of the top campaign people in the United States. I like to think of Joe Garcia as inhabiting the same rank: campaign thinker of national impact, due to his work with NDN directing its Hispanic Strategy Center, so this is a pairing that should be a multiplier of effectiveness.
MORE under the fold. Cross-posted on www.miami-dade-dems.blogspot.com and Florida Progressive Coalition blog.

We may have a hard time getting our local Democratic congressmen to back fellow Democratic challengers, but how about a nice letter from Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer, James E. Clyburn, Rahm Emanuel and Chris Van Hollen.

Dated today March 14, the letter from the five top figures in the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee congratulates Joe Garcia on a "strong start" to his campaign for Florida Congressional District 25.

It concludes: "We look forward to supporting your campaign and helping you become our newest Democratic partner for change in Washington."

Identical letters went to Raul Martinez, challenging in District 21, and to Annette Taddeo, candidate in District 18.
MORE below the fold

This was a headline loaded with pain: "Democrats torn between party, GOP allegiances." Page 1 of Sunday’s Miami Herald.  I already knew about this, but seeing it there made me sick. Now is the time to look at this deep problem we have in South Florida, and see if we can fix it – well before we have to vote in November.

http://www.miamiherald.com/...

(Why aren't links loading???)

In a nutshell, as I see it: We have two Democratic members of the House of Representatives who will not do anything to help three fine Democrats run against the three Republicans who misrepresent about 1.5 million people in Miami-Dade, Monroe, Collier and Broward counties. Their two seats are so safe that Republicans run no one against them, yet they will not venture out to help fellow Democrats.

How wrong can things get?

MORE below

Couple hours ago DailyKos tipped me to the AP national poll showing Democrats with a large and growing lead among people identifying themselves as one party or the other.

Then OpenLeft showed a similar margin from Rasmussen, along with the analysis that the extra-long primary season has helped bring more people into the Democratic fold.

Now it occurs to me: Florida has the chance this year to be both early and late in the primary process: We did it in January. We're talking about a revote that counts. Crazy Florida could decide it, after all.

MORE below, and a version posted on www.miami-dade-dems.blogspot.com

Fidel Castro resigns, and the biased and ill-informed stuff flows. Not everything was like that, to be sure. And this one blogger can only look at so much. But a fair amount of early media coverage in South Florida seems to be excessively Republican, excessively defeatist when it comes to Cuba.
MORE below the fold. A version on Miami-dade-dems.blogspot.com

In this Sunday’s NY Times Week in Review section something put me off my train of thought, and I’m throwing it in the pot here in case someone else can figure it out.

The lead article about vanishing political establishments included this declaration: "This year will have the first presidential election in half a century in which neither a sitting president nor a sitting vice president is vying for major-party nomination." I’m wondering which election we’re talking about here, after all these Bushes and Clintons in recent years.
EXPLORATION below the fold. Also on www.miami-dade-dems.blogspot.com

OK, the battle commences. Weasly Republican words vs. solid Democratic challenges.

This is South Florida, and Joe Garcia, a Democratic strategist and progressive leader, launches his challenge to the three-term Republican rubber-stamper, Mario Diaz-Balart, for the U.S. House in Congressional District 25.
MORE below, also posted on www.miami-dade-dems.blogspot.com with photos

Here’s great news from South Florida: Joe Garcia, chairman of the Miami-Dade County Democratic Party and a national leader among Hispanic electoral strategists, will announce on Thursday he’s running for the U.S. House in Florida’s District 25.

What a landslide awaits the Republicans – not only nationally with their meager presidential offerings, but also in Congress where once "invulnerable" incumbents now face strong challengers.
MORE below the fold

A few weeks ago the Miami Herald was opining that the Florida primary vote wouldn’t count. To HELL with a newspaper’s civic responsibility! Citizens, don’t bother to vote. But that changed. I guess Florida’s flagship newspaper noticed that their darling, Rudy Giuliani, wouldn’t get his anticipated boost from Florida’s primary if the vote doesn’t count.

So the political tune has a new verse. Vote like crazy, they're telling us.

MORE down in the body.

During the weekend a dozen or so backers of John Edwards formed a steering committee to launch unofficial campaigning in Florida. Y'all know, we have this problem with the DNC and Florida's advanced-way-too-early primary on Jan. 29. Too complicated to explain, but one result is that the leading Democrats agreed not to campaign in Florida before the big primaries.

Help! We want our candidate. The call has gone out. Would John Edwards please come to Florida and do a little fund-raiser, maybe in a public venue, so we can see the best of the bunch.
MORE below the fold.