The 2014 general elections are more than 14 months away but the fur is already flying in the Sunshine State as the two major parties are ripping into each other.
Under fire for her role in backing Allie Braswell for state CFO, Allison Tant, the chairwoman of the Florida Democrats, is up in arms about the attacks coming from the Republican Party of Florida (RPOF). After jumping in at the end of last week, Braswell left the race on Monday after reports emerged that he had filed for bankruptcy three times. The short-lived candidacy raised questions and concerns about Tant and the Florida Democrats especially as Braswell appears not to have been vetted yet received the partys support.
Looking to change the conversation, in a statement released on Wednesday, Tant complained about the Debbie Dunce attacks from the RPOF against U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., the chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the Tant Rant jabs thrown her way.
What exactly is the Republican Party of Floridas problem with female politicians? From Debbie Dunce to Tant Rant, Lenny Curry and the RPOF have repeatedly attacked women in language that they would never use for a man, said Tant. This is mudslinging of the lowest order. Attempting to discredit female leaders by referring to them as ranting or attacking their intelligence is offensive at best and sexist at worst. When the Florida GOP keeps resorting to juvenile and sexist name-calling, its hard to take their outreach to women seriously.
Tant did not call out the RPOFs Crist-ory series of attacks against former Gov. Charlie Crist who is expected to run for governor next year as a Democrat.
The RPOF fired back on Thursday about the attacks and promptly brought up Braswells short-lived candidacy which had been heralded by Tant and the Florida Democratic Party last week.
The Florida Democratic Party is desperate to divert attention away from a solid week of failures and embarrassments in failed CFO candidate Allie Braswell, a disastrous Obamacare roll-out, and no positive message to articulate on the issues most important to Florida voters jobs and education, said Susan Hepworth, a spokeswoman for the RPOF, on Thursday. Their attacks are completely baseless and desperate and they are grabbing for any headline they can get. Its now clear they will say and do anything to take attention away from the fact that Governor Scott has led on issues and Floridas economy is on the right track.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com.
