Win, Gwen. Win.

win rocky win

“What are we waiting for?” bellows a crinkly-eyed Burgess Meredith and moments later the Greatest. Training. Montage. Song. Ever. (Courtesy of Bill Conti) starts to play.

As any boxing/movie/sports/Sylvester Stallone fan recognizes, I am, of course, referring to the goose-bump inducing scene from Rocky II in which Adrian, who has just woken from an inexplicable coma, tells the man who almost beat Apollo Creed that there is just one thing she wants Rocky to do for her.

“Win.”

Adrian’s words, like the line from Casablanca in which Rick definitely DOES NOT ask Sam to play it again, became something larger … something almost mythical.

“Win, Rocky. Win.”

Of course, after running through the streets of Philadelphia, catching a chicken, learning how to fight right-handed (Rocky famously was a southpaw), and standing up one second before he and Creed are both counted out of the fight, Rocky does, in fact, win.

“Yo, Adrian, I did it!”

Unfortunately, what followed these amazing moments is a movie in which Rocky fights, um, Mr. T.

Believe it or not, there is lesson or a metaphor or something in all of this for former U.S. Rep. Gwen Graham.

I guess it would be … Graham is Balboa; her husband, Steve Hurm, is Adrian; and the gray-haired man standing in the corner, eager to get started is Bob Graham (imagining the former U.S. Senator/Governor in a sweaty wool cap makes me laugh).

Hurm may not have been in a coma, but, as he has so bravely shared, he has been battling prostate cancer. The state of his health has been the main reason Graham has not yet announced what everyone expects her to do: run for Florida governor.

There isn’t a soul who could criticize Graham for putting the needs of her loved one before her political ambitions. In fact, it’s been inspiring to watch them from afar make this journey together.

Fortunately for Hurm — and for Florida Democrats, if not the entire state — his cancer is now in remission. God bless!

It’s almost as if Adrian has awoke from her coma, looked up and told Rocky what to do.

Maybe there was a moment in Southwood when Hurm turned to Graham and said, “Now, you need to go win this thing.”

It’s time, Gwen.

Chris King is assembling an army. Andrew Gillum is criss-crossing the state. With his hesitating, John Morgan has given you a window.

The Bill Conti music is about to begin.

Ding. Ding. Ding.

Senator Graham is ready to get started.

Win, Gwen. Win.

Peter Schorsch

Peter Schorsch is the President of Extensive Enterprises and is the publisher of some of Florida’s most influential new media websites, including Florida Politics and Sunburn, the morning read of what’s hot in Florida politics. Schorsch is also the publisher of INFLUENCE Magazine. For several years, Peter's blog was ranked by the Washington Post as the best state-based blog in Florida. In addition to his publishing efforts, Peter is a political consultant to several of the state’s largest governmental affairs and public relations firms. Peter lives in St. Petersburg with his wife, Michelle, and their daughter, Ella.


One comment

  • JOSEPH KREPS

    April 19, 2017 at 1:24 pm

    How refreshing. A candidate we can all be proud to support. Time to turn Florida Blue.

Comments are closed.


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