Could the Florida Democratic Party and the Republican Party of Florida be any further apart than they are right now?
One party wanders dazed and desolate on empty streets, the other is as rejuvenated as Lazarus skipping out of the tomb.
Yet, we're hearing just one side of the election story.
We're hearing how appallingly bad Florida Democrats performed. We're hearing they failed to deliver this key battleground state to Hillary Clinton, failed to get black voters to the polls, failed to produce winning down-ballot candidates.
But there's more to it than that: The FDP didn't lose the election as much as RPOF came in slick as a cat burglar and took it from them.
For my money, the lion's share of the credit goes to RPOF Chairman Blaise Ingoglia who had to navigate state Repubs through what was the most volatile presidential election cycle in many decades.
And Ingoglia did it playing with a considerable handicap.
For one thing, the GOP operates at a deficit in Florida. Democrats outpace Republicans in number of voters, 38 percent to 36 percent.
For another, because of Hurricane Matthew and a federal judge's ruling, Florida's voter-registration period was extended by a week. It was a ruling that greatly favored a Clinton advantage.
For still another, newly drawn districts favored Democrats in many key areas of state.
Oh, yes, and one more thing: RPOF had to do battle with extremely limited resources. Don't forget, on Jan. 18, 2015, Ingoglia defeated Leslie Dougher, Gov. Rick Scott's personal choice to lead the party. Scott simply never made his peace with an "establishment" that rejected his top choice. After the election, the Senate Majority pulled its $800,000 out of the RPOF treasury, leaving Ingoglia only $10,000 to work with. Not only that, the governor actually directed GOP donors NOT to give to the RPOF, but to put all contributions directly into his own "Let's Get to Work" PAC.
Scott, as beloved as he is by all RPOF leaders, has basically abandoned the RPOF. He no longer makes calls to help raise money.
Certainly I realize a lot of the Republican magic Nov. 8 came from Trump himself. He brought a promise of change that super-charged middle America -- including middle Florida. With all the high-flying surrogates crisscrossing the state on her behalf, Hillary Clinton somehow couldn't generate the excitement among her base that Trump did among his.
In the end, though, it was all about which party did a better job on the ground game, getting voters registered and motivating them to vote.
Donald Trump, with 4,605 votes, plain got more votes in Florida than any candidate here in the last two presidential cycles. More even than Barack Obama, with 4.237 million in 2012.
In August Republican National Committee spokesman Sean Spicer laughed at the Clinton camp's boast that it had a superior number of field offices. “The Clinton camp knows that the Trump campaign and the RNC’s combined efforts are outpacing their field organization, and their touting how many offices they have cannot cover up the fact they lag behind our effort in organizers, volunteers, and voter registration in key states.”
Trump critics scoffed. But Spicer had good information. In Florida in particular, he stayed in touch with RPOF Chairman Blaise Ingoglia, who got a head start on the state's ground game. Between January 2016 and March 2016, Ingoglia and his team had flipped seven of the state's 67 counties. The seven counties include Baker, Bradford, Columbia, Hardee, Holmes, Pinellas and Washington.
During the last two years Florida established itself again as a force within the national GOP. The highlight probably was Ingoglia's gamble: He pulled off a Presidency 6-to-Sunshine Summit switcheroo, making GOP candidates qualify to be on the primary ballot in Florida by gathering petitions, paying up or showing up to engage Florida voters. All 14 major GOP presidential candidates showed up in Florida to speak. The Sunshine Summit was widely regarded a big success.
My point here is, while the FDP scrambles to find a fresh face and a formula to lead their party into a winning future, the RPOF has no such leadership deficit. They know where they're going, they have the organization to get it done, they have an embarrassment of riches in terms of candidates to run in 2018. Most important, Florida Republicans have an entirely credible chairman who -- against all odds -- did what he promised.
Todd Lewis, one of the posters on Ingoglia's Facebook page, summed it up best the morning after the election, when most of the world was still in shock:
"The victories Republicans saw up and down the ballot, all over the state are a credit to the state and local parties. They were able to accomplish what the 'experts' thought was impossible. These historic victories were possible thanks to the leadership and vision of RPOF Chairman Blaise Ingoglia . When he took over the state party 2 years ago he promised that 'on November 8th we will all be able to raise a glass and toast our new Republican president!' While he was technically wrong (2:40 a.m., Nov 9), he knocked this out of the park. ... we are blessed to have him as the head of our party."
Reach Nancy Smith at nsmith@sunshinestatenews.com or at 228-282-2423. Twitter: @NancyLBSmith
