Discouraged, disgusted and restless, some Florida Democrats want Party Chairwoman Karen Thurman's head on a platter.
The liberal website, Saintpetersblog.com, is posting an online petition to fire Thurman after the Party's disastrous showing in this fall's elections.
"We cant fire the candidates who lost on Tuesday. And its not our place to fire the consultants and staffers who work for the Florida Democratic Party. But we can ask for the immediate resignation of the leader who has driven Floridas Democrats into the political wilderness," the site stated Friday.
"Resign now or be fired now. Either way, Karen Thurman has to go. Now. The fight to regain Florida begins the moment you sign the petition."
The anger is spreading, and recriminations may just be beginning, as the Party reels from the Republicans' record rout.
Democratic faithful wonder how a Party with a 600,000 advantage in voter registration could be shut out in statewide races. Except for the governor's race, none of the contests were close.
While noting that Democrats had a bad year pretty much everywhere in America, University of Florida political science professor Daniel Smith said the state Party suffered from unique dysfunctional divisions.
"The Florida Democratic Party had rifts, tensions and disagreements on mobilization and messaging," he said. "There was a cultural and institutional clash."
The most debilitating division was the split between national "Organizing for America" campaign (rebranded from the 2008 Organizing for Obama operation) and the state Party's "Campaign for Accountability."
Because President Obama's job-approval rating was plummeting throughout Florida, the state Party and its candidates were leery of the "Organizing for America" message.
"For Democrats to hold onto their seats and win they had to distance themselves from Barack Obama," Smith said.
But even that strategy had its limits.
In state House District 11, for example, Democratic Rep. Debbie Boyd openly criticized Obama on the campaign trail. Still, the two-term legislator from Newberry was crushed by Republican Elizabeth Porter.
Smith argues that the state Party miscalculated by making "accountability" its chief election theme.
"People are more concerned about jobs and how to jump-start the economy," he said.
Responsibility for that miscalculation falls on FDP leadership. Thurman, who was elected Party chairman in 2008, is midway through her term, and the fallout from the 2010 election could cut that tenure short.
Within hours of Tuesday's debacle, state Sen. Jeremy Ring, a moderate Democrat from Margate, called for Thurman to resign.
Though county chairmen contacted by Sunshine State News were not willing to criticize Thurman personally or publicly, their restlessness is palpable.
Charles Smith, chairman of the Holmes County Democratic Party in North Florida, complained that the Party "doesn't answer Republican propaganda forcefully enough."
"The GOP sets the tone, and they rally around it. If Democrats don't do something, it will be a disaster," he said.
Party spokesman Eric Jotkoff has refused to speak to Sunshine State News on the record this year. And neither Thurman nor Party Executive Director Scott Arceneaux made themselves available to comment.
But in a statement to the Orlando Sentinel immediately after the election, Jotkoff dismissed any notion of blaming Thurman.
Chair Thurman is focused on personally thanking everyone who volunteered at our Campaign for Accountability offices across Florida, the grass-roots activists and elected leaders who worked so hard to make the Sunshine State a better place to live, and all of the Floridians who contributed to the Florida Democratic Party over the last several years today.
Jotkoff declined to comment further.
Before the election, state Party officials bragged that they had raised record amounts of campaign cash from "grass-roots" donors.
They reported receiving contributions from some 10,000 individuals, far exceeding GOP numbers. Unions also gave liberally.
Yet, despite their financial largesse and supposed grass-roots support, the Democratic Party's efforts sputtered at the polls.
The standing excuse, at least in the governor's race, was that the Party was simply outspent by Republican businessman Rick Scott. But many other factors entered into the equation, notably low Democratic turnout and an energized Republican base.
Smith, in Holmes County, even noted that GOP organizers had effectively "incorporated" the churches in their electoral effort.
UF's Smith said it's "fanciful" to think that transplanting a successful Party boss from California, New York or Connecticut is the answer for Florida Democrats.
"It's not as much personnel as it is the climate," he says.
"That said, the vaunted coordinated Campaign for Accountability was a disaster. It failed to mobilize Democrats and first-time voters who came out for Barack Obama in 2008."
Someone will have to answer for that failure, restive Democrats say.
Smith calls it an open question "whether we have talent" to compete with the GOP. "(Democrats) don't seem to be able to respond."
Giving Thurman & Co. the benefit of the doubt, Seth McKee, a political science professor at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg, recalled, "There's an old saying that when a candidate wins, it's because they ran a great campaign and when they lose, it was because of events beyond their control.
"Let's face it, 2010 was a horrible year for the Democrats and hence I would be willing to expect Democrats to keep this in mind when they reassess Party Chairwoman Karen Thurman's tenure."
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Contact Kenric Ward at kward@sunshinestatenews.com or at (772) 801-5341.
