Steve Bittel visits Tallahassee to rally Democrats to ‘move forward now’

Florida Democratic Party Chairman Steve Bittel came to Tallahassee Monday to detail his efforts to rebuild following the November disaster.

“It’s been a disheartening time,” Bittel said, but he urged members of the Leon County Democratic Party to transform their disappointment into action.

“We should be angry. We lost Florida, and we shouldn’t have lost Florida. I candidly say all over the state, that loss is on us. We could have done more. It was close. We all regret it. We can only move forward now.”

He sees a chance to pick up three seats in the state Senate next year, for 18 total in the 40-member body. (Rene Garcia will be term-limited out, and Frank Artiles and Dana Young seem gettable, he said.)

He believes Bill Nelson will win re-election to the U.S. Senate.

Especially if Donald Trump inspires a pro-Democratic wave election.

“But there’s a lot to do,” he said.

“I was criticized during my campaign — they said I think it’s all about money. I don’t think it’s all about money. We need resources to fund people who knock on doors, buy water, buy pizza, but tablets so we can register voters online. … So we can have the greatest voter registration drive this state has ever seen.

Bittel vowed to maintain neutrality during intra-party contests. “I will not be in the incumbent-protection business,” he said.

And he promised the first-ever statewide field office for 2018.

The wealthy developer has been traveling almost constantly since becoming party leader in January. He’s also upending the party’s rules and structure.

He criticized the old process for choosing party leaders, saying he’d already formed a committee to revise the rules to “make running for office more accessible to all and voting more accessible to all.”

The procedure, he said, was “45 years old and we hadn’t touched it. It was written in an era when we ran everything as Democrats, and we don’t anymore.”

He promised a “massive investment” in the small and medium-sized counties and local Democratic clubs.

He said the party would distribute $100,000 in grants on Saturday in St. Petersburg.

Bittel described crashing a reception at the Governor’s Mansion. “Everyone was shocked to see me there. People kept saying, ‘What are you doing here?’ I said, ‘I thought we should look around and see what it was like before we took it back.’

“Some of them grimaced and others smiled broadly, depending on which team they were,” Bittel said.

Bittel gave a shout out to a member of the Progressive Democratic Caucus who’d also attended a recent gathering in Tampa, during which caucus members had given him a relatively warm reception.

He got a bit of push-back when he argued against any kind of purity standard for candidates, mentioning Blue-Dog Democrat U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia as an example of someone to his own right but with whom he shares basic values.

“I wish I could love every candidate. But I can’t love every candidate. I like the ones that are with us on almost every issue and that can win. And that’s what we need.”