Florida Republicans Take Aim at Florida Dems at Orlando Event

Florida Republicans gathered in Orlando Friday evening for theStatesman's Dinner Contemporary Resort at Walt Disney World, not wasting any time in knocking Florida Democrats for a series of political mishaps that have plagued the party in recent weeks.

Republican Party of Florida Chairman Lenny Curry called Democrats a "laughingstock" and took aim at Charlie Crist, who is highly anticipated to run against Rick Scott for governor in 2014.

"This guy is not fit to govern and we can demonstrate that," said Curry, citing Crist's decision to seek the U.S. Senate after just one term in office instead of trying to help the state's economy to recover as a reason why Crist was unfit to be governor another time.

The Florida Democratic Party has struggled to keep its head above water recently, with Chairwoman Allison Tant catching flak for backing Allie Braswell for chief financial officer. It was later discovered that Braswell had filed for bankruptcy three times and he promptly withdrew from the race. There was also turmoil after House Democrats dumped Rep. Darryl Rouson, D-St. Petersburg, as their next leader and chose Rep. Mark Pafford, D-West Palm Beach, to take his place.

According to an Associated Press report on the event, there was not much mention of the government shutdown. Gary Fineout reported there wasa fleeting remark regarding the president's health care overhaul, even though a key portion of the law took effect earlier this week.

Gov. Scott had originally planned to make an appearance at the event, but backed out of it at the last minute to help officials prepare for Tropical Storm Karen, which is expected to make landfall on the Gulf Coast late Saturday evening.