Dems: spinning the Florida defeat.

Not since the Dems had lost a Congressional by-election in California have we seen such a torturous attempt to label a defeat VICTORY as we witness re the election in Florida 13. This is how CNN put it: "David Jolly eked out a win with less than 50% of the vote over two-time loser Alex Sink." Congresswoman Debbie Schultz put it this way:  "Republican special interest groups poured in millions to hold onto a Republican congressional district that they've comfortably held for nearly 60 years. Tonight, Republicans fell short of their normal margin in this district because the agenda they are offering voters has a singular focus - that a majority of voters oppose - repealing the Affordable Care Act."

We have learned that when Dems are involved (especially Debbie Schultz), it is advisable to check facts. So, what are the facts?

David Jolly was a relatively unknown candidate vs his Democrat opponent (Alex Sink) who was a previous gubernatorial candidate. Jolly fell 1.5 Million short of Sink in fundraising. The  Dems spent 9 million dollars on negative advertisement against Jolly.

How about the vote? In 2010, Van Buchanan received 183K votes (68%) and in 2012, Bill Young won with 189K votes (57%). Jolly's votes (89K) amounted to 48.5% of the vote vs 85.6K votes for his Democrat opponent. After all this was a by-election.

Two more pertinent facts: 1. This is an urban district and was reapportioned to contain even more urban areas in 2012; 2. What is missing from the reporting is that during the last week or so of the campaign, the Dems accused Jolly of being a "climate change denier." The Dems figured that a lot of the recent newcomers to Pinellas County are snowbirds from the North East and the Midwest and would be susceptible to the global warming argument. This winter has been the coldest since 1912 and arguments based on the idea of global warming did not fly.