The Stalinist and Daniel Webster

Came across ‘The Stalinist and Daniel Webster’ in Canada Free Press, posted on Sunday, October 31st. Written by Dr. Norman Berdichevsky, an author and professor who grew up in the same neighborhood as Alan Grayson, the article gives a detailed and accurate description of Grayson’s environment during his early years.

Dr. Berdichevsky particularly disputes Alan’s claim that he grew up ‘in the projects,’ along with other pleas of poverty in his biography. This article has a lot of detail, much of it new information. It puts much of Alan’s bragging in stark perspective.

The Biggest Mistake in Politics

Now is the time to kick our election efforts into high gear. Why risk disappointment on election night if we can put in the extra effort before the election occurs.

The week of an election is a time when underdogs take the lead, and leaders are humbled. Are we willing to help our favorite candidates maintain their lead or reverse positions with the leader? Enthusiasm and hard work count for a lot in the last week of an election.

There are plenty of close elections in Florida. Let’s all pick one and give as much support to it as we can. Let’s Get to Work! (with apologies to Rick Scott)

Dunmire Campaign Receives FEC “Failure to File” Notices

While Peg Dunmire claims she is the “candidate who believes in the people,” she has established a pattern of filing late or filing improperly formatted reports.

Only she knows the reasons for her filing problems, but the effect has been to deny access to her campaign’s financial records from the people she claims to serve.

Early voting will end on Saturday, and many absentee ballots have already been filed without access to Peg Dunmire’s complete campaign financial records. Should we expect better from a candidate who wishes to be a representative of the people in Congress?

FL-8 Pre-Primary Financial Reports

Candidate pre-primary financial reports are now available for the 8th Congressional District. The data is current as of August 4th, and provides a snapshot of candidate finances on that date.

This is an update to the data reported in my previous article.

The figures reflect heavy spending by each candidate as the primary election approaches. Except for Daniel Webster, who raised more than $85,000 during the 35-day reporting period, fund-raising activity was modest.

Does Campaign Funding Matter?

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Florida’s 8th Congressional District has raised more money for the 2010 election than all but six other Congressional districts. Over $5,054,102 was raised by June 30th, according to campaign finance reports prepared for the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

Unfortunately for Republicans, over $3.5 million of that money was raised by the Democratic incumbent, Alan Grayson. To make matters worse, more than $400,000 of the remainder belonged to two Republicans who are no longer in the race.