Post-Election Forum with a Focus on Florida, part 2

Obviously, we had much to discuss in the wake of the dramatic/historic 2010 Mid-Term Elections -- the mood of the country; overwhelming concern about the state of the economy; the rise and (mixed?) influence of the Tea Party movement; the Republican "tsunami" and dramatic pick-up of 60 seats by Republicans in the US House, who have taken over the House of Representatives; voter turnout (or lack thereof, in the case of the estimated 29 million Obama 2008 voters who did not come out in 2010 (compared to the estimated 19.5 million McCain voters who were no-shows) and in particular youth voter turnout, campaign finance, and more

Then we turned our attention to Florida - where arguably the Republican "tsunami" struck harder: the GOP picked up seats in Congress, the Florida House, the Florida Senate, and the Cabinet (CFO, and also retained control of Ag Commn'r, AG, and Governor), as well as downballot races, such as County Commissioner. In an anti-incumbent year -- how/why did the Republicans do so well? (Republicans were already in control of the Governor's Mansion and the House and Senate; despite the recent scandals involving the RPOF, the Republicans increased their majorities)

Now that the Florida Legislature has a "veto proof" majority, what's next? Will the leadership decide to re-visit controversial bills vetoed by the Governor in the last session?

Perhaps the one "bright spot" for Democrats in Florida: Constitutional Amendments 5 and 6 passed with the needed super-majority of voters in support of reforming the redistricting process. Florida's seats are so badly gerrymandered that in this election 25%, yes, 25%, of the state legislative races candidates had NO opponents. We discussed the need for free and fair elections, and the need for legislative district lines to be drawn in a way that creates more competitive districts, so that the power is in the hands of the people (who vote).

In 2010, 32 members of the Florida legislature will go to serve in Tallahassee without having won an election - they will go there automatically, because there was no opponent. Perhaps this will change with the new system/constitutional amendment that was approved overwhelmingly by Florida voters?

We had a robust discussion of these and other issues. The students had some great questions and were very engaged

I am looking forward to teaching the Campaign Course at ULIM next week. I am designing that class to be more of a workshop, with an eye towards lessons that the students could put to good use if they work on a campaign leading up to the parliamentary elections here, on November 28th.