If, as the Wall Street Journal reports, the Obama White House is chatting with Charlie Crist, I wonder A) how expected Democratic senatorial nominee Kendrick Meek feels about it and B) how African-American turnout is if real-estate mogul Jeff Greene beats Meek for the Democratic nomination.
And, of course, how all that impacts the down-ticket races. Note that Republican Bill McCollum still looks pretty healthy in the governor’s race. On my list of 99, four of the vulnerable Democrats were in Florida:
Suzanne Kosmas, Florida: The space coast is getting slammed by Obama’s NASA cuts, it’s an R+4 district, and Kosmas voted for the health-care bill.
Allen Boyd, Florida: The eastern part of Florida’s panhandle isn’t usually Democratic country (both McCain and Bush won easily), and Allen Boyd is one of those classic “How the heck is this guy representing this district?” incumbents. Eleven Republicans considered running against him this year; nine remain in the race, and Steve Southerland, co-owner and president of a chain of funeral homes, appears to be the most well-funded. Southerland is hitting Boyd hard on votes that cost the district jobs.
Ron Klein, Florida: This is a D+1 district, but you probably don’t want to stand in the way of Republican challenger Allen West.
Alan Grayson, Florida: This obnoxious, loudmouth, partisan Democrat represents a somewhat Republican district. Grayson won only 52 percent of the vote in 2008, even with the Obama wave carrying him. Grayson has almost unlimited funds, but a small army of Republican candidates are setting out to defeat him; the two most likely include popular former state senator Daniel Webster and current state representative Kurt Kelly.