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National GOP turns on Florida candidate
Politico ^ | March 7, 2014 | ALEX ISENSTADT

Posted on 03/10/2014 3:41:37 PM PDT by Clintonfatigued

Their frustration had been mounting for weeks. But by late January national Republicans had had it with David Jolly, their candidate in Tuesday’s nationally watched Florida congressional special election.

The candidate had just told the state’s top political reporter that he disagreed with an ad the party was airing against his Democratic opponent — a spot paid for with the nearly $500,000 the GOP had already spent on Jolly’s behalf.

“Are you f—-ing kidding me?” a senior National Republican Congressional Committee official told a Jolly staffer over the phone, according to two sources familiar with the conversation. Would the Jolly campaign prefer that the NRCC stop spending money in the race altogether? the official asked.

Over the past week, a half-dozen Washington Republicans have described Jolly’s campaign against Democrat Alex Sink as a Keystone Cops operation, marked by inept fundraising, top advisers stationed hundreds of miles away from the district in the state capital and the poor optics of a just-divorced, 41-year-old candidate accompanied on the campaign trail by a girlfriend 14 years his junior. The sources would speak only on condition of anonymity.

(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...


TOPICS: Politics/Elections; US: Florida
KEYWORDS: alexsink; davidjolly; florida
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1 posted on 03/10/2014 3:41:37 PM PDT by Clintonfatigued
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To: Clintonfatigued

Yes, anonymous insider source. Always believe that.


2 posted on 03/10/2014 3:44:32 PM PDT by Hildy (Falling down is how you grow. Staying down is how you die.)
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To: JulieRNR21; Joe Brower; fieldmarshaldj; AuH2ORepublican; Impy; GOPsterinMA; randita; Sun; ...

Of all the people Republicans could have chosen, they had to choose a cradle-robbing D.C. lobbyist with no local roots and a messy divorce. No wonder we’re called The Stupid Party. What’s astonishing is that we could still win this thing.


3 posted on 03/10/2014 3:46:14 PM PDT by Clintonfatigued (The War on Drugs is Big Government statism)
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To: Clintonfatigued

Makes perfect sense once you accept the fact that the GOP is the gateway drug to get people liberalized.

Get them to a state of hopelessness and there you go.


4 posted on 03/10/2014 3:48:31 PM PDT by Norm Lenhart
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To: Clintonfatigued

I know this is Politico talking, but it sure doesn’t sound good.


5 posted on 03/10/2014 3:52:50 PM PDT by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
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To: Clintonfatigued
His girlfriend is 27. She is a full-blown adult, not some teeny-bopper.

Sheesh, no wonder why the GOPe continues to lose. Every candidate has to be as pure as the falling rain.

6 posted on 03/10/2014 3:56:15 PM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist (15 years of FReeping! Congratulations EEE!!)
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To: Clintonfatigued

“Of all the people Republicans could have chosen, they had to choose a cradle-robbing D.C. lobbyist with no local roots and a messy divorce. No wonder we’re called The Stupid Party”

from the article

“After longtime GOP Rep. Bill Young died in October, House Speaker John Boehner called Rick Baker, a popular former mayor of St. Petersburg, and pressed him to run for the vacant seat. The Baker courtship didn’t stop there: Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush also pushed the former mayor to run, according to two sources. (Bush has since gotten behind Jolly, appearing in TV ads calling him “the best candidate to go to Congress.”)

After mulling it over for a few days, Baker turned them down. By that time, Jolly’s name had emerged as a possible candidate. But national Republicans went after two other possibilities — former Clearwater Mayor Frank Hibbard and Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri — both of whom also declined. That left Jolly to face off against state Rep. Kathleen Peters and one other candidate in the Republican primary.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/03/david-jolly-alex-sink-florida-special-election-2014-104397.html#ixzz2vbYg4hLd";


7 posted on 03/10/2014 4:17:01 PM PDT by staytrue
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To: staytrue
Rick Baker, a popular former mayor of St. Petersburg,

Interesting tidbit about Rick Baker turning down the GOP...

He would have walked all over Alex Sink...as a matter of fact she might not have even run...

8 posted on 03/10/2014 4:23:42 PM PDT by Popman ("Resistance to Tyrants is Obedience to God" - Thomas Jefferson)
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To: Extremely Extreme Extremist

“Sheesh, no wonder why the GOPe continues to lose.”

Read post 7, this guy is not GOPe, he is likely teaparty.


9 posted on 03/10/2014 4:27:47 PM PDT by staytrue
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To: Norm Lenhart

read post 7, GOP wanted nothing to do with this guy.


10 posted on 03/10/2014 4:28:35 PM PDT by staytrue
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To: Clintonfatigued
cradle-robbing

41 and 27...so no, not really. That's 14 years. 39 and 25 would actually closer than 41 and 27, though because that's one decade number apart rather than 2. When it gets to be 44 and 30 it will seem less so again.

11 posted on 03/10/2014 4:29:57 PM PDT by Republican Wildcat
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To: Clintonfatigued
http://www.davidjolly.com/issues

No wonder Boehner and his ilk didn't want to touch David Jolly...

He's a conservative...

12 posted on 03/10/2014 4:35:12 PM PDT by Popman ("Resistance to Tyrants is Obedience to God" - Thomas Jefferson)
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To: Clintonfatigued

With friends like the gopE, who needs enemies?


13 posted on 03/10/2014 4:39:53 PM PDT by VerySadAmerican (".....Barrack, and the horse Mohammed rode in on.")
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To: Clintonfatigued

http://lucasoverby.com/
Some polls have Lucas Overby over 12% he did well in the debates The GOPe just never learns. The Libertarian will pull from both sides Alex Sink is a typical socialist dem.


14 posted on 03/10/2014 4:40:53 PM PDT by scottteng (Tax government employees til they quit and find something useful to do)
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To: Clintonfatigued

You’ve got your candidates confused. Jolly was born and raised in the district. Sink lost the governor’s race and was then recruited by the DNC to run for Young’s vacant seat. She doesn’t live in the district and only rented a condo at the foot of the bridge to where she lives outside the district. When asked if she was actually planning on moving to the district even if she lost she gave the non-response of “I don’t plan to lose.” What is actually going on is the GOP-e sees that Jolly’s numbers don’t look favorable so they are leaking hit pieces to blame him for the loss. However, he is right to be critical of the ads that the GOP-e is running. Yes, Obamamcare is unpopular but they have saturated the airwaves with nothing but generic anti-Obamacare ads that are probably being run in every other district with GOP-e ads. Young would always win the district easily on local and veteran issues. Jolly was his assistant. Rather than seizing the mantel of Young and running as a local product and his heir, the GOP-e ran generic national issue ads. Young’s name and Jolly’s ties to him have gone unmentioned. Now, they are blaming Jolly for their attempt to impose on him what the “smarter” GOP-e consultants are saying how his campaign should run. Meanwhile, the carpet bagger will probably win. Since she won’t be representing the district because she has no ties there, she will just be representing Obama and Pelosi in congress. Talk about taxation without representation. Their was a better candidate than Jolly in the republican primaries, but Jolly would sure be better than Sink.


15 posted on 03/10/2014 4:43:24 PM PDT by Armando Guerra
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To: Extremely Extreme Extremist
Sheesh, no wonder why the GOPe continues to lose. Every candidate has to be as pure as the falling rain.

That's not just a GOPe thing. It's the fatal flaw of conservatives of all stripes who believe that politics is philosophy.

16 posted on 03/10/2014 4:48:54 PM PDT by BfloGuy ( Even the opponents of Socialism are dominated by socialist ideas.)
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To: Armando Guerra

Young would always win the district easily on local and veteran issues. Jolly was his assistant. Rather than seizing the mantel of Young and running as a local product and his heir, the GOP-e ran generic national issue ads.


Great update, thanks. The whole fiasco reeks of lazy beltway GOPe consultants. Probably Romney campaign veterans. Born losers.


17 posted on 03/10/2014 4:55:52 PM PDT by lodi90
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To: Hildy
I live in the district, and I tell you, today has been very interesting. We have had six (6!) phone calls today asking us to vote for Sink. Four calls were robocalls with recorded messages, and two calls were live people asking if they "could count on our support for Alex Sink."

And just 10 minutes ago, at 7:50 pm, some young man came to our door again asking if we would vote for Sink.

Perhaps Jolly is leading after all?

18 posted on 03/10/2014 5:02:35 PM PDT by RightField (one of the obstreperous citizens insisting on incorrect thinking - C. Krauthamer)
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To: staytrue
By that time, Jolly’s name had emerged as a possible candidate.

Just who is backing Jolly?

19 posted on 03/10/2014 5:44:08 PM PDT by Rudder
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To: Clintonfatigued; Impy; SoFloFreeper; left that other site; seekthetruth; theothercheek; ...
I heard on Michael Medved's nationally syndicated radio show today that early voting reports show more Pubbies than 'Rats casting ballots in this race, for what that's worth. Medved touted Jolly as a good candidate and urged listeners in the district to go out and vote for Jolly tomorrow. He pointed out that Obamacare was the major issue and he seemed optimistic that Jolly would win.

The posted Politico article is carefully crafted by 'Rat hacks there to overplay discord in the Jolly campaign in order to help his opponent. (Of course, every political campaign has its internal problems, most of which are better dealt with within the campaign itself rather than letting these internal discussions leak out to the enemy media.) Seems as if that same Politico article was posted a couple of days ago on another FR thread.

20 posted on 03/10/2014 5:51:03 PM PDT by justiceseeker93
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