Peter Schorsch
I want to be clear about something. If my wife Michelle ever ran for office, I would pretty much do anything I could to help her get elected.
How far would I go?
I don’t know. I wouldn’t break the law or anything. And as tempted as it might be, I also wouldn’t pull a Nancy Kerrigan on any of her opponents. But if it were something my dearly beloved truly aspired to (just FTR, at this point in our lives, I am pretty sure that is not in the plans.) I would call in all my chits, beg all my friends to help, and stay up very late at night figuring out ways to make it happen. I would reach deep into whatever bag of tricks I had at my disposal.
Which makes me wonder how dinner table conversations are going in the Negron household these days.
In case you’re not quite following along, allow me to spell it out for you: One member of the Negron family (Joe) is the prohibitive frontrunner to be Senate President in 2016 and he definitely – definitely! – wields a pretty big broadsword. The other member (Rebecca, also a Republican) is making a run for Congress in what is currently Patrick Murphy’s congressional seat; a seat that is, at the present time, a true swing seat.
Let’s keep a close eye on the “currently” and the “at the present time” in that statement.
With the recent Florida Supreme Court ruling, the Florida Legislature must quickly begin redrawing our Congressional seats. Yes, the very same Legislature where Senator Joe wields that above-referenced sword – and he will have a lot to say about how the new congressional districts are drawn.
Including the one Mrs. Joe Negron is running in.
With a nip and a tuck and a few block groups here and nudge to a precinct line over there, that seat can fairly easily become more favorable to the GOP nominee.
A week ago, this wouldn’t seem like much of a temptation, not with the fairly weak Democratic field forming. But with AshBritt CEO Randy Perkins potentially jumping into the race (and likely coming with the backing of people named Kennedy and Shriver, not to mention a healthy checkbook and a robust fundraising list) the outcome of that race is far less certain than it was pre-Perkins.
So if my wife were running, I might be tempted to, you know, drop a few precincts here, add a few there.
After all, who would notice?
EVERYONE!
Everyone is watching. The redrawing of the maps will be center stage for the next 90 days. And that audience includes a few pissed off Justices* and a Judge who doesn’t appear to have much fuse left.
So get out your popcorn, grab a seat, put on your 3-D glasses and watch closely. This chapter alone – the redrawing of this one little seat – will be worth the price of admission.
(Have you read Barbara Pariente’s ruling? She doesn’t sound like she’s kidding around if you ask me.)
