Republicans smell blood in the coastal waters off South Florida's 20th Congressional District, where Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz is running for a fifth term.
Four GOP hopefuls are vying for the right to take on the Fort Lauderdale congresswoman, who also chairs the Democratic National Committee. Coming off the 2010 elections, when Florida Republicans picked up four House seats, Wasserman Schultz's challengers figure she's ripe for a fall in 2012.
"If not now, then when?" asks Joe Kaufman. "She's killing herself on the issues."
Joe Goldner says Wasserman Schultz "threw her constituency under the bus for Barack Obama." Citing her extensive travels as DNC boss, Goldner contends that the congresswoman is "not connected to the district anymore."
Ozzie deFaria, focusing on fiscal issues, contrasts his business experience against "a career politician who is not serving her district on a full-time basis."
Karen Harrington, who faced Wasserman Schultz in 2010, calls the incumbent "a highly polarizing figure" who repels independent and swing voters with "offensive rhetoric and demagoguery."
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus is mildly bullish on the GOP's chances to oust one of the Democratic Party's most high-profile and hyper-partisan elected officials.
Will she suffer the same fate that caustic Democratic Rep. Alan Grayson did in Orlando in 2010?
"She'll have to pay attention to her back yard," Priebus advised.
While Wasserman Schultz has hosted fundraising events for Obama along Florida's Gold Coast, Priebus suggested there's a political price to be paid for cozying up to an increasingly unpopular and "extreme" president.
"She's one of the few willing to stand next to him. Others suddenly have scheduling conflicts," Priebus noted.
Winning the CD 20 seat vacated by Peter Duetsch in 2004, Wasserman Schultz capitalized on the district's sizable Jewish vote. Wearing religion on her sleeve, the congresswoman was sworn into office by placing her hand on the Jewish holy book, the Tanakh.
Since then, Wasserman Schultz pushed through a congressional resolution (signed by President George W. Bush) designating every May as Jewish American Heritage Month. She opposed the idea of a Christian Heritage Month, arguing that Jews are "an ethnicity."
While adhering to her party orthodoxy of being pro-choice, pro-gun control and pro-gay rights, Wasserman Schultz also helped to form the National Jewish Democratic Council.
Wasserman Schultz's Jewish support helped her beat Harrington in 2010 after encountering only token challenges in previous re-election runs.
Kaufman and Goldner -- like Wasserman Schultz, both native New Yorkers and both Jewish -- figure they're the logical heirs to the Jewish vote. Both strongly support Israel and denounce what they see as Wasserman Schultz's equivocation on that nation's borders and security.
Rick Wiley, the RNC's political director, says that Obama's popularity among Jewish voters has fallen by 20 points, and the GOP candidates figure that Wasserman Schultz's base has crumbled as well.
"If you don't get the Jewish vote and the senior vote, you don't win here," Goldner said.
One big wild card is redistricting. Most proposed maps knock Miami Beach out of CD 20, and that could make the heavily Democratic district more competitive for Republicans.
Roger Stone, a veteran GOP consultant based in Miami, says, "Harrington is the clear choice for this seat." But he added that her prospects for victory hinge on redistricting.
"As currently constituted,the district would be tough for anyRepublican," Stone said.
Indeed, Wasserman Schultz will be no pushover. The DNC chair's national party connections give her a decided edge in fundraising. A savvy user of social media, her Twitter account was ranked No. 1 among Florida politicians by Klout, a service that scores online impact.
Rejecting the notion that Wasserman Schultz is an absentee representative, her spokesman, Jonathan Beeton, said, "Debbie Wasserman Schultz has a strong record of working hard for the people of South Florida, both in Washington and at home.
"The people of South Florida know that no one fights harder for them, which is why she consistently receives theoverwhelmingsupport of the people."
Still, her peripatetic partisanship has been mocked by Republicans inside and outside Florida.
Traveling to western Pennsylvania on Tuesday, the DNC chief appeared to set a double standard while stumping for the Senate Democrats' proposal to spend $60 billion on infrastructure projects.
Wasserman Schultz declared that Republicans should be "ashamed of themselves" for blocking Obama's earlier jobs bill, but she gave fellow Democrats a pass for opposing the measure, saying, "We're a party that doesn't require unanimity."
Anthony Bustamante, Harrington's campaign spokesman, said Wasserman Schultz "has no other choice in this campaign but to defend the indefensible -- an unpopular president whose agenda has failed and divided the country, devastated our economy and alienated our closest ally in Israel."
Bustamante said Wasserman Schultz is primed for defeat "because she has married herself to the fate of President Barack Obama."
Harrington -- endorsed by conservative talk-show host Mark Levin, as well as state Reps. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, and Scott Plakon, R-Longwood -- enjoys an early advantage of name recognition from her 2010 campaign.
She handily won an Oct. 27-29 poll on the political website Shark Tank, whose owner, Javier Manjarres, supports her candidacy. Of the 541 votes cast, Harrington garnered 65 percent. DeFaria finished a distant second with 14 percent. Goldner received 10.35 percent and Kaufman got 9.61 percent.
But a smaller online contest hosted by Red Broward showed Kaufman winning 48 percent of the vote. DeFaria grabbed 24 percent, Harrington garnered 16 percent and Goldner finished with 13 percent.
Though both polls were anything but scientific, the results suggest that the GOP nomination is up for grabs, and that this primary campaign could be the liveliest in years.
As Priebus observes that "Florida voters are focused like a laser on the economy," the Republican contenders in CD 20 are unanimous in asserting that Wasserman Schultz, a lifelong politician, is more vulnerable than ever.
"When she claims that Obama has created millions of new jobs, people just scratch their heads and ask where are those jobs?" Kaufman said.
Contact Kenric Ward at kward@sunshinestatenews.com or at (772) 801-5341.
