Calling all Conservative Floridians

[PRB]

Congressman Al West is being gerrymandered out of a job in Florida...call whoever you can to let them know you are displeased......

"As an outspoken black conservative with a high national profile, Allen West already had a huge national target painted on his back going in to 2012. As part of reapportionment as a result of the 2010 census, Florida gained 2 Congressional seats. Despite that, it appears that the Republican-controlled Florida legislature seems to have somehow managed to make Allen West’s seat much more difficult to defend.Via Shark Tank:

Over the past several weeks, many Republicans have voiced their disappointment towards the Republican legislature after the release of the preliminary redistricting maps. Much of the ire concerns the proposed boundaries of Congressman Allen West’s 22nd Congressional District that would be redrawn to include far more registered Democrats.
West’s congressional district inexplicably sheds the most out support as compared to all other incumbent Republican and Democrat Congressman. A few weeks back we quoted an unnamed legislator saying that, “Allen West was screwed”, a statement which was originally made about made five months before the purposed maps were made public, leading insiders to believe that the fix was in against Allen West. But in light of Weatherford’s comment, it is increasingly clear that this is a fait accompli.

According to Weatherford, those preliminary maps will not change- at the most, any additional changes would be minimal, and those changes would not make any appreciable difference from the preliminary maps. In addition, Weatherford stated that a deal was struck between him, Senate President Mike Haridopolos, and Senator Don Gaetz to finalize these maps and push them through as soon as possible. Weatherford also said that the proposed maps are in legal compliance with both the Voting Rights Act and Amendment 6.

So based on Weatherford’s comments, the 22nd Congressional District is now very much in play for the Democrat Party, and West is at an even larger disadvantage than he was previously- it will be a very difficult and expensive seat for Republicans to defend.

The Florida Senate passed their plan on January 17th and the Florida House passed theirs on Friday. I am not really sure what, if any, distinctions exist between the plans with respect to FL-22 (West’s district). At this point the maps will be subjected to legal review for compliance with the Voting Rights Act and Amendment 6.

If you live in Florida and are a fan of Allen West, now might be a good time to call your state Representative and Senator to let them know how you feel about any action that would harm his chances of re-election in the fall.

[MR2]

Shut out the Tea Party at your peril GOP. You are perilously close to having your mascot changed to a mastodon...

[Peregrino]

The RNC and the State Republican parties are all pro-status quo, anti-conservative. I vote Republican only because it's the least evil of the available choices; not because there's any measure of good in the party.

A decadent Rome burns; looted and despoiled by its leaders and their allies. And the Centurion standing watch at Hadrian's Wall takes a barbarian bride and joins with her people.

[JJ_BPK]

Not sure that the CHANGE will hurt Congressman West??

January 31, 2012, 6:24 pm
Allen West to Switch Districts
By JENNIFER STEINHAUER

Representative Allen West, Republican of Florida, will switch Congressional districts to greatly increase his chances of winning re-election.

Mr. West now represents the Democrat-heavy 22nd Congressional District – which is about to get far more Democratic under proposed redistricting maps. He will move into the newly configured 18th District, which is a bit more Republican than Democratic.

Continued...

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2...tch-districts/

[ZonieDiver]

Supposedly, so are Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich... so it ain't all bad!

[Sdiver]

LTC West has won the primary in Florida's District 18

Allen West takes District 18 race

The Associated Press has called the District 18 Congressional race a win for Allen West at 8:06 p.m. The crowd at West's election night party at his Stuart campaign headquarters started cheering like crazy.

Allen West jumped to big early leads over Martin County Sheriff Robert Crowder in each District 18 county, and the Republican congressman's campaign hub is already buzzing with supporters.

West, R-Palm Beach Gardens, is winning both St. Lucie and Palm Beach counties by more than 60 percentage points each, but only a few thousand of those votes were counted.

Martin County showed a 63-to-37 edge for West over Crowder, and more than 22,000 votes were registered.

Sporting blue jeans and a button-down Polo shirt, West was posing for pictures and signed a few autographs early into election night. His two daughters, wife and sister also were on hand for a few photos.

West thanked the crowd, and sent his daughter Aubrey back on the road to Nova Southeastern University, where she attends school.

"You don't have to thank me because it's an honor and a privilege to serve, and an honor and a privilege to do what is right," West told the crowd.

Shortly after 8 p.m. at the Tin Fish restaurant in Stuart, Martin County Sheriff Robert Crowder conceded the Republican primary to West, and said he wasn't surprised at the outcome, but had no regrets in entering the race.

"It's always a good experience. You participate in the American process and you meet a lot of people and you make it fun or you can be miserable, it's your option and we generally have a lot of fun," Crowder said, while standing with a group of about 50 supporters.

"I'm deeply touched by people who made personal sacrifices to help try to elect me," he said. "When you go into a race like this against a Fox News superstar, and rock star and he's got $10 million and we don't even have $100,000, this is about what you expect."

His race wasn't just about winning, he said, but giving voters a choice.

"We made sure the people had a choice and we have to respect the choice people make, and I do," Crowder said. "I am disappointed that money has somewhat become the God of politics, but that's a fact of life and I would like to see a little more courtesy and civility in our leaders trying to make important decisions that affect all the people, and that's another reason I ran. Because I've always been able to build consensus and used that in every opportunity I've had."

Crowder said from here, he plans to retire, do some traveling, and help his wife Debbie Crowder finish the last 200 miles of a 2,184 mile fundraiser hike that will take them to Maine and New Hampshire.

He said he planned to call West Tuesday night and congratulate him on winning.

West will face Patrick Murphy in the Nov. 6 general election.